268 



NE^V ENGLAND FARMER. 



From the Massachusetts Agricultural Repository. 

 INDIAN CORN. 



TO THE TRPSTEES OF THE MASSACHUSETTS AGRICUL- 

 TDRAL SOCIETY. 



[Continued from pagt 260.] 



I have the present year, caused tho Indian 

 corn, srathered from an acre and twenty-five 

 rods of rov corn field, tn be measured, and it pro- 

 duced two hundred and twenty-six bushels of 

 ears. A part of it only has been shelled, and 

 two bushels of ears produced a little more than 

 a bushel of shelled corn. 



In July 1822, the land was mowed, and yield- 

 ed about a ton of hay to the acre. 



Early in September of the same year, it was 

 ploughed. It remained in this situation, until 

 April, 1823, when it was harrowed. A few 

 days after harrowing, it was ploughed across 

 the furrows about two inches deeper than the 

 first ploughing in September, when it was first 

 broke up. After remaining in this situation a 

 week, it was harrowed thoroughly, until the 

 principal part of the sods were displaced and 

 pulverized. About the middle of May, it was 

 l^iirrowed with a horse plough, the furrows 

 three and a half feet apart, for planting. It 

 was planted about the 20th of May, in hills, 

 three feet and a half apart one way, and one 

 foot and a half the other way. 



About eight cords of compost manure were 

 put on this acre, and 25 rods. It was compos- 

 ed of barn yard manure, made in the summer 

 of 1822, hog dung, and the clearing of ditshes, 

 in equal quantities. This part of the manure 

 was carted into the field, and mixed in tlie au- 

 tumn of 1822. In April 1823, it was shovelled 

 over, and six casks of unslacked lime was equal- 

 ly mixed, and covered in the heaps, which con- 

 tained about forty cords. After lying about 

 two weeks in this situation, it was again shovel- 

 led over, and the lime was found to be slacked 

 and pulverized, and the whole heap had be- 

 come a fine body of compost manure. Every 

 part appeared to be entirely dissolved and pul- 

 verized. 



The corn was planted about the 20th of May, 

 and as I before observed, about eight cords of 

 manure taken from the before described heap 

 were carted on this acre and twenty-five rods. — 

 A common shovel full was put to each hill in 

 the furrows which had been ploughed eighteen 

 inches apart. The corn was then planted four 

 kernels in a hill, five inches apart. It was 

 ploughed with an horse plough twice, and 

 twice hoed. After the second hoeing, the 

 ground was left nearly level. 



This acre and twenty-five rods was measured 

 from a field of about six acres, the greatest 

 part of which was planted in the same manner 

 here described, which I consider, from several 

 years experience, the best mode of planting In- 

 dian corn. On the remaining part of this field 

 the residue of the heap of manure was carted, 

 in about equal quantities to the iicre, with the 

 acre and twenty-five rods. Some part of the 

 field was planted in hills three and a half feet 

 apart each way, and some part in rows three 

 and a half feet apart. The part first described 

 yielded the greatest quantity of corn, although 

 the quality of the land, and the quantity and 

 quality of the manure, were the same. 



It was my intention to have ploughed and ho- 

 ed the whole field a third time, but the corn 



had become so large, and spread to such a de- 

 gree, that a horse could not travel through it 

 without injury. There was, however, scarcely 

 a weed or a spire of grass in the whole field. 

 That part planted in rows yielded more than 

 that planted in hills, three and a half feet each 

 way, but not so much as that planted in the 

 manner first described. 



No more attention was paid to the acre and 

 twenty-five rods, than to the other part of the 

 field, and it was not done under any expectation 

 of obtaining the society's premium for the larg- 

 est quantity, or the best mode of cultivating 

 this article. If however it merits any distinc- 

 tion, I shall be happy. 



With great respect, 

 I am your most obedient servant, 



WM. HULL. 

 (^To be contimied.) 



From the Gentleman's Magazine. 



UTILITY OF THE LARCH. 



Blr. Uri!an, — Larch, by experiments made, is 

 found to be full as durable for naval purposes 

 as the oak, and is therefore the best succedane- 

 um for it. As I live within sight of the Mal- 

 vern hills, I cannot help lamenting that they are 

 not planted witii Larch, which would thrive 

 well, the same may be said of many spots on 

 the Cotswould hills on one side ; and it may al- 

 so of the Welch hills, on %vhich oak would ne- 

 ver grow to any size. How many hills in Sur- 

 rey, Hampshire, Wiltshire, are too steep for the 

 plough, and so dry in the summer as scarcely 

 toaflord a scanty bite to a few sheep, yet, plant- 

 ed with Larch, might become useful ornaments 

 to this country ! When passing I'rom London to 

 Portsmouth, the brims of the Devil's Punch- 

 bowl strike the eye as a spot which, thus plant- 

 ed, might become as pleasant an object as it is 

 now disagreeable or frightful in dark or cloudy 

 weather. This idea strikes more particularly 

 as being so near to the great naval repository. 



The Larch is equally useful for many purpo- 

 ses in husbandry, and in domestic uses. For 

 the latter it has one quality that renders it pe- 

 culiarly desirable, viz. that it is the least sus- 

 ceptible of fire of any timber. Added to these 

 useful purposes, it will not take up any grounds 

 fit for the oak, for strong soils are the only ones 

 on which it does not thrive. 



These considerations, Mr. L'rban, tempt me 

 to send you an account of an easy and expedi- 

 tious way of raising them, not founded on theo- 

 ry, but on the practice in which willovvs have 

 been planted in some of the coldest situations in 

 Scotland, where they are of a remarkably quick 

 growth, and yet the wood is very fine grained. 

 The planter has now many trees of his own 

 planting, which are six feet in circumference at 

 the height of three feet from the ground. The 

 Duke of Athol has now Larches, planted in 

 1743, which are upwards of eight feet in cir- 

 cumterence. 



The method of getting these seeds out of the 

 cones is, not to gather them till about Candlemas, 

 when they begin to drop off the trees. At the 

 enil of April, or beginning of May, sooner or lat- 

 er, as the weather serves, prepare some beds 

 in a nursery, to which the sun has free access, 

 and lay the cones on that bed as thick as they 

 lay clear of one another, and the sun will soon 

 open them, and they will shed their seed. The 



owner should, from time to time, examine what 

 quantity of seed they have shed ; and as soon as 

 he finds that there is seed enough to fill the 

 ground with plants, the cones should be car- 

 ried ofi" the ground, and set on them about a 

 quarter of an inch thick of good mould. The 

 cones may then be carried to another bed, and 

 laid as before, and they will fill it with seed in 

 good time to yield plants that season. If the 

 cones are kept dry during the winter, more seec 

 may, in the same manner, be procured next sea* 

 son. 



When the plants are two years old, they maj 

 be planted in the autumn, or next spring ; bu' 

 the autumn is thought the best, particularlj •■ 

 in dry soils ; for, if the spring is dry, the grounf ^ 

 will be so dry as to kill the plants. The] *' 

 are planted out with a narrow iron spade witB " 

 which a cross-cut is made to receive the plant 



When the plants stand another year in tbi 

 seed-bed, or have been a year in a nursery, thej' 

 then push out to such a height, that it is nece» 

 sary to dig small pits for them, which is the sui' 

 est way. The young plants must be well fence* -^l 

 from cattle, aspecially sheep, which are ver» jli 

 fond of them; and, when the head is cut ofTta* 

 any accident, it impairs the heart of the tree ^ f 

 the very root. ■" 



As they overtop almost every other tree, thei !■ 

 are the more exposed to every high wind ; othet 'f 

 quick-growing trees should, therefore, be plairt ''' 

 ed among them ; or they may be planted il ■• 

 clumps, so as to protect one another. 'f 



Another advantage might attend the plantim » 

 the dry eminences ; that, when the young tre(> ti 

 have grown up, the earth is so much shadw <ii' 

 that the dews and rain are not so soon exhalmpri 

 by the sun and winds as in open situations. I(p« 

 this means the moisture penetrates deeper, ijK 

 it meets with a substance impervious to watei 

 it then descends on that substance till it aga 

 reaches the surface and breaks out in sprinjiff 



Thus water may be procured in such dry 

 tuations, where it may be much wanted fori 

 fording drink to cattle and sheep feeding on tl 

 plainer grounds below. Some years ago m€<;, S 

 tion was made, in the " Annals of Agriculture" i, 

 of a method of making ponds in such dry sitl 

 tions, which must be of great advantage the) 

 The want of water in extensive plains oflH 

 obliges the inhabitants to build their housejj* 

 the neighborhood of the nearest stream. T|^ 

 distance may create great expense, both in |< 

 bss of time, and in the carriage of manure 

 and the articles of growth from, such pi; 

 Farmers are not at all times sufficiently a 

 of the value of time thus lost ; and, as it ia.- 

 master's eye that makes the horse fat, so 

 master's eye may be much wanted in such 

 tant spots. AcRico 



Remarks. — The tree described in the a 

 article is, Vve believe, found in great plenl 

 the northern parts of New England,' 

 well as in Canada and Nova Scotia. It gr 

 best in poor soils either wet or dry, and tW 

 lands, which will produce no other kind of U 

 ful vegetation are best fitted for this forest tt 



In the Massachusetts Agricultural Repositi 

 for June 1822, is an account of this tree, WJ 

 ten by John Lowell, Esq. Mr. Lowell says 

 known by the names of Juniper and HacF 

 tack as well a? that of Larch, and observes 

 '• Hackmatack grows more rapidly than the» 

 Juniper, commonly called the red Cedar, anflrlj,;"' 



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