1S37_1 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



70} 



I have ciilliviifed eweet and Irish potatoes for 

 mni)}- year?;, hut I am candid in sayiiiir, tliat the 

 information I have oblained from roadinir 'he Re- 

 gis'er has enabled nie to double my small crops of 

 these articles. 



STRAWBKRRY CrLTURK. DISTANCE OF CORN 

 — KXPERiaiENTS WITH MAKL AND GYP- 

 SUM. 



To the Editor of the Fiirmers' Register. 



Powhatan Hill, lOth Feb., 1837. 



The last No. of the Retjister, just received, sug- 

 gests some reHeciions upon which you may place 

 any or no value, as you [)leiise. In the first place, 

 it is recommended in an article extracted from the 

 Villaae Record, on the cultivation of strawberries, 

 to mow the vines and cover the bed with rotten 

 wood. I have pursued a different course with 

 mineforseveral years, and experience recommends 

 my practice. My beds are weeded once a year 

 only — inthefdl — the plants are at that time thinned 

 to the usual planting distance: after the beds are 

 cleaned thoroughly, they are covered with either 

 cut straw or chaff — the first is best, as the chaff 

 generally contains seeds of wheat, cheat or weeds. 

 The plants are thus kept warm through the win- 

 ter — they spring up thiouo-h the straw early in the 

 spring with great vigor. When the li-uit ripens, the 

 straw protects it from the dirt — it smothers weeds; 

 and by its decay before the autumn, it furnishes 

 sufficient manure to enrich the beds. This is the 

 mode of culture practised by a gentleman living 

 near Baltimore, who supplies that market with 

 many thousand quarts during the delicious straw- 

 berry season. 



In the second place, I desire to recommend "Six 

 and Two" to plant his corn, if he prefers the drill 

 system, (in which preference my opinion coincides 

 with his,) five feet by two in good land — five feet 

 by two and a halfj or by three, in thinjand. That 

 writer prefers six feet by two, because, "the greater 

 the distance one way, the less your corn will be 

 ridiied by ploushing; and, therefore, the more dirt 

 you can throw immediately around it without in- 

 jury." I prevent my five feet beds from being 

 ridged too hiofh by running upon the beds, soon 

 after the corn comes up, a larjie two-horse harrow, 

 which I term a cultivator-harrow, the horses walk- 

 ing on each side of the corn, which passes between 

 the two foremost teeth.* The hindmost part of 

 the harrow is five feet wide, and conse(|uently 

 reaches the water furrow on each side of the bed. 

 The ridge is thus drawn down to a sufficient level: 

 the corn is worked so well, that an observer would 

 presimie that it had been weeded — the hoe work 

 is, therefore, facilitated greatly, and the corn 

 worked more rapidly than it would have been in 

 the usual mode. Unless the land is very stiff, 

 there is no necessity for sidins; the corn with the 

 plousrh in the first instance. After the corn is too 

 hifrhfor the cultivator-harrow to pass over it, the 

 land is easily kept clean, and the corn sufficiently 

 worked by the common cultivator or harrow. At 

 the usual time of laying by, as it is termed, you 



* A httfe boy follows the cultivator-fiarrovv with a 

 small rake to remove the clods which may cover some 

 of the corn. 



may "throw as much dirt as you please around it;" 

 but not "withoiU injury," if we adopt the opinion 

 of the most judicious northern farmers, wdio con- 

 tend that the dirt ought never to be thrown around 

 the corn, the growth of which is thus checked 

 itntil the new roots put out iuid grow in the fresh 

 soil. I am disposed to adopt this opinion, and 

 shall try the practice with a portion of my coming 

 crop. My experience, limited it is true, favors the 

 /ere/ system of cultivatin<r corn; but I have not 

 yet (riven it so full and satisfactory a trial as to 

 venture to recommend it. I do not flatter myself 

 that I have assigned sufficient reason to change 

 the views of "Six and Two." I am convinced by 

 trial, that 5 by 2 is not too close in stronij land: 

 there are more stalks, of course, than in beds of 

 6 by 2; 6 by 2 is too close in thin land; 5 by 3 would 

 bear the same number of stalks as 6 by 2 1-2: beds 

 six feet wide require one furrow more, at the least, 

 with the plough, in breaking up the land: the corn, 

 when well jxrown, docs not shade the land, and 

 consequently preserve the moisture so well in wide 

 as in narrow beds. 



I will now mention an experiment made by me 

 last year. I planted a part of a cut of corn about 

 5 feet b}^ 2, single stalk, and another part of the 

 same cut 5 feet by 3, double stalk. Several gentle- 

 men, whose attention I directed to the trial during 

 the summer, did not hesitate to express the opin- 

 ion, that the single corn would produce the most. 

 When the corn was hauled from the field, I had 

 the product measured by the cart bodies, and there 

 was no sensible difference in the yii-ld. Tlie num- 

 ber of ears from the latter, was, of course, greater; 

 but they were much smaller — more trouble was 

 imposed in gathering and shucking; con.sequently, 

 the advantage was on the side of the single stalk, 

 which was somewhat diminished, however, by the 

 necessity of weeding a larger number of hills. 



I hauled some marl on my corn land last winter. 

 I put some on a very poor spot, without any pu- 

 trescent manure: the corn was improved by it most 

 sensibly — so much so, that the negroes, on cutting 

 the corn to sow the land in wheat, stopped of their 

 own accord, (and you know, they are the least ob- 

 servant of the human species,) at the row where 

 the marl stopped. I want no better proof of its 

 efficacy, and am usinir it freely, and shall do so as 

 lonsr as I am a farmer. 



I have imposed more on your patience than I 

 intended; but beflire I close, permit me to recom- 

 mend some of your experimenting readers to try 

 the efficacy of plaster of Paris upon the Irish po- 

 tato. Sprinkle the cuts heavily with it beflire the 

 dirt is drawn over them. I think that I owe a 

 large increase of my crop for two years to the 

 plaster. 



ED. T. TAYLOE. 



From the Silk Culturist. 



THE NATIA'E, OR COMMON RED MULBERRY 

 AS FOOD FOR SILKWORMS. 



Lancaster, Ohio, Dec. 7th, 1836. 

 F. G. Comsfock, Esq. 



Sir: — Having learned from the "Culturist" and 

 other authorities, that seven or eicrht pounds of 

 cocoons are usually required to produce a pound 

 of reeled silk, I can hardly hope to be credited 

 when I state the result of an experiment or two 



