- OI.. XXI. NO. 30. 



A'ND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER. 



POUDRRTTE. 

 ^Icssis. rjreck S,- Co.— Gcnllemeri :— I notice that 

 I ndvoilise Pouiirette for sale, made in Brook 



235 



SALT AND TIIR GRUB WORM. 

 A writer in the Snutli Western Farmer says :— 

 ' Tlironijli the columns of your valuable paper, I 



-. .„„»., viio ,,„ ^aif, imiuu 111 jirooK- I ^"|""K" me columns ot your valuable paper I 



U ill you oblije me by informinfr me where | 'mpe to make the public acquninlod with the vallio 

 , an learn some particulars in rcfrnrd to its ap- <>f the common black gnib, iis an asent in the cul- 

 :ation to grass lands— pasture and mowing— the I tivation of corn, when their labors are directed by 

 de ot application, lime, and cost. the senilis of mnn Tl,;.. „:, :„ :.:._ 



f application, lime, and cost. 

 If iiny publication has been made by the nianii- 

 turers, giving results, 1 should bo pleased to re 



I am, very respectfully, . 



We insert this business letter, omitting date and 



writer's name, for the purpose of giving a gen- 

 answer to many similar inquiries wliicli are 

 ie of the publishers and editor. 

 The Poudrette advertised in our columns, comes 

 n a new manufactory in Brookline, Mass., (near 

 iton ) The operations there were comnienced 

 ate last season, that there has been no opportu- 



to determine by experiment the value of the 

 cle thence furnished. The men concerned are 



ng the most skillful and flourishing farmers of 



vicinily. They are well acquainrcd with the 

 )erties and action of the raw material from 



h they manufacture, and know well what is 

 d in the way of making soil productive. They 

 3 good material to work with, are men of mucli 

 :tical skill in the compounding of manures gen- 

 ly, aud we are satisfied that it is their endeavor 

 jrnish Poudrette of a very good quality. 



I answer to the specific questions, we take the 

 ■wing from the accounts published in New 

 i, by D. K. Minor, 

 ur wheat, 40 bushels per acre; for corn, half 



II in the hill at the time of planting, and as 

 ,}i more after the corn is up. 



o account of the use on grass has been given, 

 r as we remember. The price of Poudrette 

 .oston is $1 75 per bbl. — Ed. N. E. F. 



CULTIVATING CORN. 

 L> Isaac Slingluff communicates to the editor 

 ■e American Farmer the following particulars 

 3 method of cultivating corn. His last crop 

 iured871.2 bushels to the acre. The an- 

 d statements are in reply to some inquiries 

 ;o him : 



■My ground was stirred with the barsliare plow. 

 run the harrow literally over the corn. Be- 

 doing so, I raise a row of the centre teeth, or 

 them out, allowing that part of the harrow 

 which the teeth have been taken, to pass over 

 ills : this process fills the furrows and leaves 

 rround level ; and the absence of the teeth pro- 

 the corn from being pulled up or broken off. 

 le shovd plow penetrates the ground as deep 

 e first, or October plowing; and if the shovel 

 jpen'y constructed, it will penetrate deeper if 

 ground be mellow. The shovels I use are 

 la to 15 inches in length, and are well drawn 

 point. I consider that I am greatly indebted 

 3 depth I work the ground with my shovel 

 a, for my large yields of corn, together with 

 istance I observe in planting, for the extraor- 

 y size of the ear, many of which measure 

 12 to 14 inches in leni^th." 



the genius of man. This, sir, is a new position— 

 a position which has for its foundation that there 

 has nothing been made in vain, but that all things 

 were made for the benefit and service of man, and 

 subject to his direction ; and that it is only in the 

 Ignorance of man that worms and insects become a 

 scourge upon the face of the earth. The grub has 

 been literally cursed for following the instinct of 

 lii.^ nature, which teaches him to eat the corn and 

 reject the grass and sorrel, with which our fields 

 are generally filled. Now, sir, if those who have 

 cursed the grub, and have advised the agrieiiltu- 

 nst to follow him with a sharp knife or a piece of 

 tin to decapitate him, had but applied common salt 

 to the hills of corn in the place of gypsum, then, 

 throughout the land, the merits of the grub would 

 have been duly appreciated, for he would have de. 

 stroyed the gra.ss nnd sorrel in place of the corn- 

 thus materially aiding the agriculturist. 



In my humble opinion, the introduction of salt 

 as a manure, and to prevent the ravages of the 

 grub, will be an incalculable benefit to the coun- 

 try. Upon our farm we have used salt as a ma- 

 nure and as a protection to the com from the grub 

 for seven or eight years. We ought to be capable 

 of judging of the benefits we have received from 

 using It. During this period we have missed the 

 application but one season— the result was the loss 

 of our crop: from a field of about twenty acres, 

 wo harvested hut one cartload of corn, where, had 

 not the grub injured it, we should in all probabili- 

 ty have harvested fifty bushels to the acre. 



Last season. 1841', we planted about twenty 

 acres ; the grubs were so plenty that we despaired 

 of protecting it from them ; indeed, upon an ave- 

 rage, I should think there were twenty to every 

 hill of corn. We applied one bushel of salt to the 

 acre: the protection was ample ; scarcely a sinn-|e 

 blade was touched, but every spear of 'grass a^nd 

 sorrel was destroyed by them, and in this way they 

 assisted in the cultivation. The application should 

 be made just as the corn is peeping out of the 

 ground. The salt should be put exactly upon the 

 hills, and at the rate of one bushel to the acre ; 

 this IS suflicient if properly applied. 



THOS. N. ALLEN. 



Sinoiti/r Corn firoac'casl. — Wo find in the reports 

 of the Washington Co. 'A -.rriculturnl Society, tho 

 following account of an experiment made by Mr 

 Holmes, in sowing corn broadcast: 



"On the .')th of May, I sowed brnndcnst nnd har- 

 rowed in, 13 quarts of corn on half an acre and 

 eleven rods of ground, without manuring, and it 

 was not touched again until the 22d of Sept., when 

 I cut it up, and set it up on the ground, in the same 

 way that I did the corn which I planted in hills; 

 and on the .5th of Ocl. I husked from it 4fi bushels 

 of ears, (i. e. nearly Ol per acre.) I have got a 

 much larger amount of fodder than from any piece 

 of the size which I have planted, and I have no 

 hesitation in saying that the stalks will more than 

 pay all the labor of raising it." 



Farmers will doubtless another year, many of 

 them at least, try the experiment of sowing corn 

 broadcast, as a resource for winter fodder, as in 

 every instance where it was tried the last, either 

 for soiling or for winter use, it was eminently suc- 

 cessful. — Alhnmj Cult. 



Importation of Wool — The following is from a 

 Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, communi- 

 cating to Congress a statement of the Commerce 

 of the United States, for tho year ending Sept. 30, 

 1841. All wool, not exceeding 8 cents per pound 

 at the country or port purchased, was admitted into 

 the United States free of duty : 



Whence imported. 

 Danish West Indies, 

 Dutch West Indies, 

 England, 

 Gibraltar, 



British West Indies, 

 British N. American Colonies, 

 France on the Mediterranean, 

 Spain on the Mediterranean, 

 Italy, 



IS well not to depend altogether upon hired 

 in the tending of stock in winter. A daily 

 to the stable yourself, will tell well for your 

 Jst at the end of winter. 



Ruh for Ascertaining the Height of Cattle by 

 Mensuremtnt.—A correspondent communicates to 

 the Albany Cultivator, the following from an Eng- 

 lish paper :—" Measure the girt close behind the 

 shoulder, and the length from the fore part of the 

 shoulder-blade along the back to the bone at the 

 tail, which is in a vertical line with the buttock, 

 hoth in feet. Multiply the square of the girt, ex- 

 pressed in feet, by five times the length, and di- 

 vide the product by 21 : the quotient will be the 

 weight of the four quarters in imperial stones of 

 14 lbs. avoirdupois. Example :— If the girt be 

 '- 1-2 feet, and the length 5 1-4 feet, we shall have 

 ('J-2 multiplied by (i 1-2=42 1-4, and 5 1-4 multi- 

 phed by 5=26 1-4; then 42 1-4 multiplied by 

 20 1-4, = 11 09 1-16; and this divided by 21, gives 

 52 4-5 stones, nearly ; or 52 stones 11 pounds! It 

 18 to be observed, however, that in very fat cattle, 

 the fore quarters will be about 1-20 more, and those 

 very lean 1-20 less than the weight got by rule" 



Austrian Adriatic ports, 



Turkey, 



Morocco, 



Texas, 



Mexico, 



New Grenada, 



Venezuela, 



Brazil, 



Cisplatine Republic, 



Argentine Republic, 



Chili, 



Peru, 



Africa generally, 



Patagonia, 



Value, $081,281. 



Pounds. 

 89,910 

 19,099 

 228,36G 

 72,460 

 50 

 7,160 

 213,820 

 7,894 

 194,414 

 44,564 

 2,546,289 

 435,573 

 310 

 287,129 

 197 

 684 

 665,879 

 118,712 

 8,870,799 

 458,846 

 21,461 

 60,695 

 65,747 



14,4p9,76 



Powerjul Microscope. — A London paper gives 

 the following description of a new microscope re- 

 cently exhibited at the Polytechnic Institute, which 

 IS said to be the most powerful ever made. " It 

 consists of six powers. The second magnifies the 

 wings of the locust to twentyseven feet in length. 

 The fourth, the sting of the bee to twentyseven 

 feet. By the sixth, each lens in the eye of tlie fly 

 13 so magnified, that it appears to be fourteen in- 

 ches in diameter ; and a liuman hair four feet ia 

 circumference." 



He is richest who is contented with least. 



