1836] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



423 



would have been in favor of cutting it up without 

 delay, and setting it in small slooks ; but its green- 

 ness in the present case, caused an objection. One 

 old farmer said that corn would ri|)en when de- 

 prived of its tops by tlie knili', and why should it 

 not ripen when deprived of its leaves by the Irosl? 

 Bui not all the leaves were killed, and the pjices 

 were li-esh in the slalk. He thought the best man- 

 agement was to let It alone. 



We listened without speaking, but we have 

 since been told by some who have examined ears 

 oi corn from time to time, that there is a prospect 

 of its ripening much better than was expected. 

 We allude to that which remains uncut. 



Some farmers however, have tried the experi- 

 ment of cutting up a part and leaving a part to 

 stand ; and we hope to be favored hereafter with 

 the result. 



On sbme farms, we observed that the old prac- 

 tice of topping corn still continues ; but we believe 

 it is entirely confined to the old fashioned farmers : 

 such as know too much to need an agricultural pa- 

 per. We are not ambitious to undertake the task 

 of inslructing them, but our readers may do well 

 to remember that exact experiments have shown 

 a great loss from that kind of mutilation. The 

 leav^es are a most important appendage to the 

 plant. In these the so/) is elaborated into ju.? eg; 

 and fruits deprived of this benefit are general I v, 

 if not always, insipid or nauseous. Strip the vine 

 of the leaves and the grape is worthless. Wheth- 

 er the flavor of corn is materially injured by this 

 process, or not, we cannot say ; but the loss in 

 quantity admits of no dispute. Ch. Woodson, of 

 Virginia, had the tops and blades taken from seve- 

 ral rows of (nLhan corn, leaving the same num- 

 ber of rows uniouched ; and discovered when the 

 grain was harvested that the corn of the nnmuti- 

 lated part, weighed more than t\p- corn and fodder 

 put together oC the pan which was topped and 

 bladed. He says, " the whole labor of gathering 

 and curing the fodder and tops (no hiconsiderable 

 item) was entirely lost." 



As the sufjject is one of great interest, we 

 again present to our readers a remark of the editor 

 of the Farmers' Register which was appended to 

 the communication: " If the absolute loss of la- 

 bor in this usual and long prevailing practice of 

 Virginia, is as great as we have supposed, and 

 even half as great as may be inferred from the re- 

 sult of this experiment, — the amount of the tohole 

 annual loss and tax so paid, if saved, would be 

 enough to defray the cost of constructing all the ca- 

 nals and railways now in progress in the state, and 

 the expenses of the General jissembly to boot.''' 



From tlie Genesee Farmer. 



LOSS OF WEIGHT IN RIPE GRAIN, FROar DRY- 

 ING. 



In the Georgical Essays, it is stated that, from 

 experiments carefully conducted, it was shown 

 that wheat, gathered rijic, lost in 49 days nearly 

 one-tenth of its weight; barley in 40 "days lo.st 

 one-seventh of its weight. This vvas in Septem- 

 ber. In October whea't lost in 24 davs 2 lbs. 1 oz. 

 in the bushel of 70 lbs. Grain stacked till April, 

 sustained a loss of nearly 35 per cent. The Far- 

 mers' Magazine states, that Indian corn gather- 



ed dry and shelled in October, had lost in the 

 May following, nearly 7 per cent, in measure. 

 This was in England ; in this country but few ex- 

 periments of this kind have been conducted ; and 

 it is very desirable, in order that all interested in 

 the selling and buying of grain may fiilly under- 

 stand the ground they are going u|)on, that this 

 subject of the shrinkaije of grain should be pro- 

 perly investigated. Every farmer knows that 

 grain shrinks rapidly, though the exact amount is 

 rarely made the subject of calculation. 



It' the above estimates are correct, and we know 

 no reason why they are not, farmers should calcu- 

 late careitilly the probable chances of a rise in the 

 price of grain, beibre they conclude to keep theirs 

 on hand lor any length of time, or over the vi^in- 

 ter. That the loss, in shrinkage and wastage, in 

 a lot of wheat kept fi'om September until April or 

 May, will fully equal 10 or 12 per cent, we fully 

 believe. In other grains the loss would be still 

 Greater. Unless, therefore, a farmer has v.'ell 

 founded expectations of quite an advance in the 

 spring prices over those of the fall, it is clearly his 

 interest to thrash and sell as soon as the fall prices 

 are fiiirly established. The calculation of chances 

 is, however, rather nice work for the fiirmer, and 

 the best rule lor him to adopt is, to dispose of 

 whatever he has to sell, whenever an ofler is made 

 giving a decent profit on the cost of production. 



From ttie Quarterly Journal ofAgricuIlure, for June. 



ON PRESERVING POTATOES AND RAISING 

 TIJE3I FROAI SEED. 



By Sir G. S. Makenzie, Bart. 



The Highland Society, always anxious to pro- 

 cure inlbrmation, has ofl'eed a premium for the 

 best and approved account, founded on experience, 

 of the most successiul metliod of preserving pota- 

 toes in good condition, in their natural state, for a 

 period of not less than ten months from the time 

 of their being taken up. I hope to be able to give 

 to the Society satisfactory infbrmatiou on the a- 

 bove subject, having paid long and particular at- 

 tention to the potatoe, and to state some circum- 

 stances which do not appear to be so generally 

 known as I presumed they were until I saw the 

 offer above quoted. 



Of various methods I have tried for preserving 

 potatoes from frost, that practised most common- 

 ly seems to be the best, viz: Making a shallow 

 pit about a foot and a half deep, on a dry spot, and 

 heaping the potatoes like a roof to the height of 

 about four feet. On the heap thus formed, straw 

 is laid to the thickness of about eight inches, and 

 over this the earth taken out of the pit — the whole 

 being beaten firm by the back of a spade. Some 

 time about the end of February, or beginning of 

 March, the pit is opened, and the potatoes turned 

 over, all the shoots being picked off. I may here 

 remark, that where a few side roots have proceed- 

 ed li'oin the shoots, I have planted them, and had 

 almost as large a product as from sets. The mode 

 of planting them is to cut a drill with a spade so 

 deep that the shoots may be covered about two 

 inches. They are laid inclined upwards towards 

 the soil, covered, and another drill made, and so 

 on. The only risk is from frost ; for if once nipt 

 down, their shoots do not recover so readily as 



