180 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



DEC. r, ls!S 



LARGE YIELD OF CORN— MODE OF CUL- 

 TIVATION. 



To the Eiliior of the American Farmer : 



Sir: As you were kind enoiicrli to request me to 

 pive you my system of farming corn, I lake up my 

 pen to do so, though not ^^itholIt considerable hesi- 

 tation, as I am yet but a young farmer, and cannot 

 take the credit of originating altogether the plan 

 which I follow ; but have taken the ideas generally 

 from your valuable journal. I have an entire copy 

 of the " JJmerican Farmer," from its first publica- 

 tion, and refer to it on every occasion, and always 

 tiiid sufficient information on any subject connected 

 with agriculture. I consider it, in itself, a first 

 rate Farmer's Library. 



I cannot give you my system better than by de- 

 tailing the manner in which I cultivated my last 

 crop of corn. But before I proceed farther, let me 

 give you a correct statement of the result of actual 

 measurement, as 1 was very particular in having 

 the field surveyed and the corn accurately measur- 

 ed. When I wrote you my last letter, I merely 

 gave you the result of the measurement of one 

 acre, and guessed at the average. 1'he field proved 

 to be smaller than I had estimated it, containing 

 but 15 1-2 acres, and produced 205 barrels, averag- 

 ing 85 bushels per acre.* 



Now as to the mode of cultivation I have adopt- 

 ed for several years with the most satisfactory re- 

 suits. I plowed the field, which is a light gravelly 

 limestone soil, being a tough blue grass and clover 

 sward, about the first of last November, to the 

 depth of 9 inches ; harrowed it the 6th of April, 

 lengthwise the furrow ; tlie ground being at that 

 time remarkably light and mellow. Manured it 

 with fresh barn-yard manure, at the rate of 15 five- 

 horse wagon loads per acre. I spread and plow in 

 my manure immediately after the wagon. The 

 manure was turned under but about two inches 

 deep. I like to keep it as near the surface as pos- 

 sible, so that it is out of the reach of absorption 

 from the rays of the sun. Harrowed the ground 

 lightly with the plowing, and laid off the rows five 

 feel distant, running the rows north and south. I 

 I had boys to drop, and I directed them to drop it 

 a good step apart, (about 20 inches,) and from 5 to 

 7 grains in a hill. This may seem close; but if 

 you take into consideration the width of the rows, 

 the distance between four hills will be something 

 upwards of ten square feet. 1 am convinced that 

 if corn has a free circulation of air one way, it can 

 be planted almost as thick as it can stand the other. 

 I did not harrow the field in question, which I al- 

 ways had done heretofore, as soon as the corn is 

 up, and plaster. The season being so wet at the 

 tune, I did not like to work it; when the ground 

 was sufficiently dry, the plants were too high for a 

 large harrow to pass over them, and having but a 

 poor opinion of the one-horse harrow, I treated my 

 crop as follows : 



1st. Cultivated it June Island 2d, merely setting 

 up what corn was covered, going three times in 

 each row. 



2d. June 7th and 8lh, cultivated it as before, 

 thinnin" it down to four stalks, and it' a hill had 

 loss, left enough stalks around it to make up the 

 deficifmcy. Gave it a thorough hoeing; that is, 

 chopped away the old hill and gave it fresh ground, 

 cutting up every spear of grass. 



3d. Plowed it with shovel plows June 13Lh, 14th, 



• Que— Will 205 barrels give an average of 85 bush- 

 els ?— Ed. N. E. F. 



and 15th, going four times in each row, throwing 

 the ground well up to the corn. Having given it 

 a good hoeing before, it as quite clean, and might 

 have done without it this time. However, I made 

 my hands follow the plows and level off around and 

 between the hills. 



4th, and last time, I used a large iron fork with 

 three prongs, about 14 inches long, attached to a 

 shovel plow. 1 prefer this implement to the culti- 

 vator for the last working, aa it cultivates the 

 ground deeper, and can be run nearer the corn 

 without injury. 



The last working 1 consider of the most impor- 

 tance ; by leaving the surface level and well pul- 

 verized, you insure to the roots every advantage in 

 searching out for nourishment. Nothing, in niy 

 opinion, is so much calculated to check the growth 

 of corn as leaving deep furrows in the rows. We 

 all know that the roots of corn extend for many 

 feet around the liill, and also that their depth in 

 the soil is regulateti by the season. Knowing this 

 to be the fact, how can it be otherwise when a root 

 comes in contact with a deep furrow, than that it 

 has to turn down into the cold uncultivated ground, 

 and, as a natural consequence, the stalk becomes 

 sickly and decrepid. I have often been surprised 

 that intelligent farmers should continue to have 

 their fields gutted, by having so many ditches run- 

 ning through them, extracting the substance from 

 the soil, when a moment's reflection would have 

 convinced them of the absurdity of the system. 



One great advantage of the mode which I have 

 adopted, is, that iho manure is applied in the 

 spring, while it is yet warm, and contains all the 

 gases and salts ; a great part of which it loses by 

 remaining in the yard subject to the absorption of 

 the atmosphere, not to mention the great loss sus- 

 tained by the heavy spring and summer showers. 

 Whether manure loses as much by being applied 

 in the spring to corn, as it does by remaining in 

 the yard till fall, is, in my opinion, a very doubtful 

 point. I believe it is a general opinion that corn 

 docs not require the same kind, or at least does 

 not extract that portion of the manure which is 

 more particularly adapted to wheat ; hence I have 

 concluded, that taking a crop of corn does not im- 

 pair its capabilities for producing a crop of wlieat; 

 but, the contrary, prepares it for wheat by having 

 it fully incorporated with the soil. 



I find that I have consumed my sheet, and have 

 not said all yet I intended, but will, if you think 

 this sample of my farming worthy of notice, give 

 you my system of rotation of crops. In conclusion, 

 I believe that the greatest art in farming is, making 

 manure : it is the farmer's bank, in which he must 

 deposit liberally, or his drafts will be limited and 

 his creditors troublesome. 



Yours, truly, AUG. SHRIVER. 



Westminster, Md., N'ov. 9. 



Wo shall be thankful to our correspondent for 

 his system of rotation, and while wo return him 

 our acknowledgements for this communication, 

 beg leave to assure him that the communications 

 of practical farmers are doubly acceptable when 

 they give results and the method pursued to pro- 

 duce them, as in the present instance. Theory, 

 when founded in true philosophy, is beautiful — but 

 theory supported by practice and crowned by bril- 

 liant results, is transcendantly so. — Ed- Am.tr. Far. 



The secret of getting rich is not in earning but 

 in saving: Almost any man can earn money, but 

 few can keep it. 



ANTHRACITE COAL ASHES AS A MA 

 NURE. 



We find the following paragraph in the Novei 

 ber number of the American Agriculturist : 



"Will some of our readers furnish us the resu 

 of experiments on the application of the Antlirac! 

 ashes to difierent crops in dissimilar soils and u 

 der various circumstances ? We have rcpe;iif:i 

 asked for the above information personally, b 

 h:ive met with no one able to give a satis(:ii;i( 

 answer to the inquiry. By many their utility 

 doubted, and others assort that they are posilivt 

 injurious. We believe, on the contrary, they C( 

 tain highly concentrated principles of nutriti( 

 which only require the proper treatment to add i 

 niensely to the fertility of our vegetable giu Ju 

 and farming lands." 



We do not know that the information we i 

 about to give will prove "satisfactory" to the e 

 tors of the Agriculturist, but having had the ex| 

 rience of several years in the use and applicati 

 of these ashes, we feel oureelf called upon to e 

 what we do know of their efficacy aa manure, a 

 shall leave it to these gentlemen to determine 

 themselves whether the data upon which we has 

 our opinion of their effects were such as to just 

 us in the favorable opinion we formed of their i 

 live virtues in the melioration of the soil. 



In the spring of 1836, we had a small piece 

 ground bordering on the main road, which v 

 separated from the field by a run. It contained 

 acre and 10 perches of r.s hard, elastic, ungai 

 clay as christian man ever undertook to impro 

 Its situation was a western exposure, rising ger 

 to the east, so as to form a kind of inclined pla 

 The eastern part of it was a tenacioua white cl 

 bordering on fuller's earth ; the rest a red cl 

 equally hard, and the whole worn out by that 

 provident system of culture, which looks to tak 

 all out and putting nothing in. As it was loca 

 on the public road, we were not a little anibiti 

 to get it in good tilth, so as to relieve na froa 

 burning an eye-sore. From its indurated coi 

 lion we felt conscious that before we could brin 

 to a condition of creditable fertility, it would 

 necessary to change the texture of the soil, in 

 der to give play to the action of the atmosphi 

 Had a sand bank been accessible to us, we she 

 at once have covered it with sand, at the rati 

 a hundred cartloads to the acre, so as to br 

 down its tenacity, and admit the air. But hav 

 no such resource at hand, we determined on ap| 

 ing what we believed would be a good substiti 

 and accordingly procured gas-house cinders, wf 

 we intended applying at the rate of twenty doul 

 horse cart loads to the acre. As the westernn 

 part of the ground lied convenient to the entrai 

 the cinders were spread thereon first, but as 

 could get but twenty loads, only one acre was 

 nished with them, so that the upper part of 

 piece, consisting of the white clay, and contain 

 10 perches, was left uncovered. After spread 

 these cinders, we put on and spread stable mar 

 at the rate of 20 double-horse loads to the a 

 The manure was plowed in as spread, the gro 

 then rtdled to break down the clods, harro' 

 twice lengthwise, and once crosswise, which broi 

 it but to a tolerable state of pulverization, 

 then sowed millet on the whole piece, at the i 

 of half a bushel of seed to the acre. It came 

 well, and on that part where the gas-liouse cini 

 were spread, the crop of millet was as luxurian 



