No. 8. 



Indian Corn. 



235 



ploy it when the g^round is properly prepared 

 for lis use. When this is done, it is believed 

 that the foilowinfi; advantages v. ill be derived 

 from its application to the corn crop. 



1. Considerable economy in the lahor of 

 planting. The whole process will be per- 

 formed with the same team and labor, and in 

 the same time as would be required to furrow 

 outthegroundinonedirectionintheusualway. 

 The dropping and hoeing would be saved. On 

 large estates, and where despatch is required, 

 this would be an important item. On the 

 contrary, it is objected that as much additional 

 labor would be required in preparing the 

 ground for the drill as would be saved in plant- 

 ing with it But ground properly prepared for 

 ordinaryplanting will answer for thedrill with- 

 out additional labor. Besides, if the ground is 

 not prepared before planting, it must be done 

 after, and with greater labor and expense.— 

 The farmer should always look to the increase 

 of his crop to compensate him for good hus- 

 bandry. 



2. Greater certainty that the corn will ve- 

 getate. In the ordinary method, the furrow 

 sometimes becomes quite dry before it can be 

 planted by the tardy process of hand labor, 

 and if rain does not speedily follow, the seed 

 will suffer from want of moisture. Either it 

 will not vegetate — or merely sprout and then 

 perish. In 1836, many fields of corn were 

 greatly injured in this way. The drill always 

 plants the corn in fresh earth, when it is im- 

 inimediately covered in a way to receive mois- 

 ture. 



3. An increase of the crop. — This is the 

 great object which every farmer should seek 

 to attain, and is the primary advantage af- 

 forded by the corn drill. There can "be no 

 doubt of the greater vigor and productiveness 

 of corn when the stalks stand separate, than 

 when growing in hills of three or four to- 

 gether. Common sense, apart from al! obser- 

 vation, must teach us that several plants can- 

 not grow together without sustaining a mu- 

 tual injury. And so does experience. Place 

 a dozen grains together, and they will produce 

 weak and slender stalks with little or no grain. 

 Diminish the number, and the growth and pro- 

 duce will increase in the same or a greater 

 ratio till you arrive at the maximum of both 

 from a single grain. I am aware that some 

 intelligent and observing farmers deny this, 

 and say that two stalks together grow better,' 

 and produce more than whea separate. It 

 appears to me that they have made their ob- 

 servations in the wrong field. When corn is 

 planted in hills an insect may destroy a whole 

 hill except one stalk, and it is easy to perceive 

 how the destroying cause may seriously in- 

 jure *.he survivor. Because this injured stalk 

 ooes not thrive and produce well, it is unfair 

 to infer that plants grow and produce better 



m hills than when single. But let the obser- 

 vation be made in a field where the stalks 

 grow single in drills, and the result will pro- 

 bably be very different. I have no doubt that 

 if the same, number of stalks were planted in 

 a similar soil— one parcel in drills, and the 

 other in hills of three or four together, the 

 former would produce ten per cent", more'than 

 the latter. 



Many persons object to drilling com be- 

 cause they cannot work it cross-wise with the 

 cultivator, and must make use of hand-hoeing 

 to keep it clear of weeds. When dropped 

 drill fashion by hand afler the plouo-h, the 

 gram will scatter the width of the furrow, 

 and a considerable strip will remain untouched 

 by the cultivator. But when the drill is used, 

 the stalks stand in a direct line; so that no 



appreciable space need be left uncultivated 



not even so much as in the usual croes cul- 

 ture. 



Several drills have lately been constructed 

 for pla/iting corn, which I have not particu- 

 larly examined— some of which have been 

 thought deserving of a patent. Without in- 

 tending any invidious remarks, I maybe per- 

 mitted to say that some of their defects are 

 thought to be remedied in the one which I 

 have constructed. Ezra Micheneh. 



New Garden, llth mo. 10th, 1838. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Indian Corn. 



"There ig nothing like Indian Corn." 



The raising of 10, 15, or 20, or even 25 

 bushels of Indian corn to the acre, is a poor, 

 mean business, and he who does no better 

 than this is not worthy to be called a farmer ; 

 you should never go under forty, and this is 

 no great scratch in these limes of agricultural 

 improvement. Fifty to sixty bushels to the 

 acre is a good honest crop, and any thing 

 above it may be called extra in our part of 

 the world, and when it descends much below 

 this quantity in a favorable season, there must 

 be something the matter either with the 

 farmer or his land ; and an efficient remedy 

 should at once be sought for, and applied to 

 one, or the other, or both, as the exigencies 

 of the case may require. 



There is no crop cultivated that pay? better 

 for doing it right than corn ; neglect it in any 

 one particular, and you are sure to suffer a 

 severe penalty for your neglicrence; this can 

 be testified to by hundreds' if you require 

 proof of it. 



There is not a farmer in the country but 

 what will insist on his possessing the know- 

 ledge requisite to produce a first' rate crop of 

 corn ; and yet how small is the proportion of 

 those who accomplish it, even when the sea- 

 ' son is the most favorable for that purpose. 



