THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



DEVOTED TO AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE AND RURAL ECONOMY. 



Vol. JII—Vo. 4.] 



KovcB»l>cr 15« 1838. 



["Whole Rdt 46. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



The following letter was addressed liy Joseph Paxton, 



Esq., an honorary niemlKjr of lli<> Pliila. Agricultural 



Society, to a member of .said Society, residing in 



Ulis city. 



Catawifsa, Columbia Co. Fa., Octr. 11, 1833. 

 Dear Sir,— Knowing the deep interest 

 that you have taken in the promotion of agri- 

 culture, and possessing something of tlie same 

 spirit, induces me to communicate to you the 

 manner that 1 have pursued in farming a lot, 

 containing three acres and three quarters, ad- 

 joining our town. I have also farmed 130 or 

 40 acres to very good effect, a part of which 

 has produced quite equal to the lot ahove men- 

 tioned. This lot is on the second rise from the 

 river Susquehanna, and was formerly cov- 

 ered with yellow pine saplings— the soil is 

 rather light— I purchased it 14 or 15 years 

 since. I farmed it for seven or eight years 

 with wheat and clover alternately, mowing 

 the first crop of clover and ploughing down 

 the second, and sowing wheat after one 

 ploughing, and harrowing it in. I have had 

 40 bushels of clean wheat to the acre in this 

 way of farming, and found my land to improve. 

 In the autumn of 18:^3, I sowed timothy 

 seed shortly after my wheat, and in the spring 

 fbllowmg clover seed also, and had a good 

 crop of wheat in 1634. 

 In July 1335 I cut 16Uons of excellent tim- 

 othy and clover hay from this piece of land, 

 say worth $12 per ton, amt'g to $198 00 

 July ia36 cut 14i tons of hay at .1f!l2 174 00 

 July 1837 cut 15^ tons of hay at .$12 

 Oct. 18S6 had 636 bushels of corn 

 in the ear from 3^ acres of it, say 

 318 bushels of corn at 75c. per b. 

 Oct. 1838 had from i of an acre of 

 headlands of lot, 30 bu?hels of po- 

 tatoes at 75 cts. per bushel 

 Oct. 1638 had 200 pumpkins grown 

 among corn at 1 ct. each 



Prod, of 3| acre.' tor 4 successive yrs. $S2i 00 

 Cab.— Vol. III.— No. 5. i05 



In the statement of the corn I have not 

 included 10 or 12 bushels of ear?, sold or taken 

 from the lot for boiling. The crop is rather 

 extraordinary for the season. Last fall I 

 ploughed down the sod that had been mowed 

 for liie three previous years, which sod had 

 been well manured the spring before — early 

 this spring it was well harrowed, and at 

 planting time it was furrowed out three feet 

 apart each way, and four grains put in each 

 hill, and two rows of p^^tatoes planned around 

 the lot The Cultivator was principally used 

 in dressing the corn, and at the last dressing, 

 one half the lot was reduced to two stalks to 

 the hill, leaving three stalks in the other half, 

 and taking care to let the thriftiest plants re- 

 main. In furrowing out, care was taken not 

 to turn up the sod. 



On examination of the ear.'?, it was found 

 that where tliere were three plants to a hill 

 they were more numerous, but where there 

 were two only, the ears appeared to be larger, 

 ft was the large yellow corn that was grown, 

 and some of the ears were eight inches in 

 circumference, and many of them from 13 to 

 14-^ inches in length. The seed was taken 

 from stalks that had two or tliree ears on each, 

 taking the upper and the best one. The lot 

 has been sown with wheat since the com was 

 taken off; it bad been topped, and as the plough- 

 ing progressed, a man and boy pulled Cip the 

 sUlks and placed them in the furrows, with 

 the butt or root end towards the plough, and 

 in this way the whole of them are completely 

 buried, and if I mistake not, will decompose 

 and make a good i^ftanure. The ploughing 

 turned up the old sod which had not been ais- 

 turbed during the season, and it presents at 

 this time on the surface the appearance of a 

 rich coat of manure, and I v.-onld not exchange 

 the chance for wheat from this piece for that 



186 00 



238 50 



22 .50 

 2 00 



