J^EW ENGL-AND FARMER, 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL. 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGE C. BARRETT, NO. 52, NORTH MARKET STREET, (AanicuLTORAL Warshouse.)— T. G. PESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



►L. XIV, 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL 27, 1836. 



NO. 48. 



INDIAN CORN 



MADE WITHOUT TILLAQE AFTER PLANTING. 

 I the Editor of tile Farmers' Rccister : 

 By experiment, I have arrived at some conclu- 

 )iis in regard to tlie onltnre of Indian corn, 

 hicli 1 think are of importance to planters in the 

 iithern states. I commiinieate them for the nse 

 ■ the pnblic with great hesitation, because they 

 e directly at variance with the received opinions 

 1 the subject. 



The early part of my life was spent in agricul- 

 iral pursuits — and hence, if there were no other 

 lasou, I feel a deep interest in every thing rela- 

 og to agriculture. L noticed, very early, the 

 -eat difficulty in transplanting siiccensfully the 

 oung corn plants. Whence comes this, but from 

 reaking the roots in taking the plant up ? How 

 it th^n, that intelligent planters affirm the doc- 

 ine, that one chief object of ploughing corn, is 

 cut its roots ? If breaking the roots of young 

 om in transplanting it, is really fatal to its future 

 TOWth, must not breaking its roots with the 

 tough, when it is older, and the season hotter, 

 a serious injury to it? Any other conclusion 

 eeins to mc to be at variance with the general 

 Bonoiny of nature. It seems to me that there 

 en be, in truth, but two reasons for ploughing or 

 loeing corn — 1st, to destroy grass and weeds ; 

 md 2d, to keep the soil loose, that the roots may 

 •enetrate easily, in search of their proper food. 

 :5ut in accomplishing these two purposes, great 

 ujury must be done to the corn, by breaking its 

 oots. Can we not accomplish both the.se end.s, 

 nd at the same time keep clear of the attendant 

 nischief? I think we can. 



Last spring I planted a small piece of poor 

 'round — first breaking it up well. The rows 

 were made three feet apart, and the stalks lefl 

 ibout a foot apart in the drill. The ground had 

 jeen very foul last year with crab grass, whoso 

 seed matured. The corn was not well up this 

 spring before the grass began to appear. \V'heu 

 the corn had about four or five blades, the young 

 irrass completely covered the ground, and the corn 

 was turning yellow. I spread a small quantity of 

 stable manure around the corn, and covered the 

 whole ground three or four inches deep with 

 leaves from the forest, taking care to do this when 

 the ground was wet, and the leaves also, that they 

 might not be blown away, and to leave the tops 

 of the young corn uncovered. In ten days there 

 was not a particle of living grass to be found, and 

 the corn had put on that deep bluish green which 

 always betokensa healthful condition of the plant. 

 From the day the corn w.is planted until after 

 the fodder was pulled, and the tops cut, nothing 

 more was done with it, and the result is a product 

 at the rate offortytwo bushels to the acre — al)out 

 one third of the stalks having two ears on each of 

 them. 



1 noted, in the course of the summer, the fol- 

 lowing facts : — 



1st. The corn treated thus, was always ahead 

 ofsome planted alongside of it, and treated in 

 the usual way. 



2d. It ripened at least ten days sooner than 

 other corn, planted at the same time. 



3d. During the hottest and dryest days the 

 blades never twisted up, as did other corn in the 

 neighborhood. 



4th. In the dryest weather, on removing the 

 leaves, the ground was found to be moist to the 

 surface, and loose, as deep as it had been at first 

 broken up. 



5th. The heaviest rains had scarcely any effect 

 in washing away the soil, or making it hard. 



It certaiidy will require less labor to produce 

 corn in this way, than in the usual mode. And 

 even if it required piore, we have the consolation 

 to knosv, that while, by tlie old mode, every hour's 

 work is an injury to the land, by this mode, every 

 hour's work is making the land better ; for few 

 things can lie better manure than the coating of 

 leaves put on in smnmer, when ploughed in the 

 winter or spring following. 



I used leaves raked up in the forest, because of 

 these there is an ample supply within the reach 

 of almost every person — and beciuse there 

 seems, from my observation, to be a strong anti- 

 pathy between dead and decaying forest leaves, 

 and crab gras.s, that most harassing foe of agricul- 

 turists. 



I make this communication, as I have already 

 said, with hesitation, because the idea of raising 

 corn without ploughing aivd hoeing, and at the 

 .same time improving the land, by protecting it 

 against the influence of a scorching sun and wash- 

 ing rains, is so directly in the teeth of the univer- 

 sal practice for ages. The thing is, however, at 

 least, worthy of further trial. It may lead to most 

 important results. Those who think the plan 

 worth any attention, may easily make an experi- 

 ment with an acre or two, and note carefully its 

 progress through the summer. If they are satis- 

 fied, after the trial, that there is anything in it, to 

 extend the o])eration will not be a difficult matter. 



If, on experiment, it should be found advisable 

 to extend the operation, the proper way would be, 

 I think, to collect the leaves in winter, and depo- 

 site them in heaps on the ground on which they 

 are to be used, and the next spring, during a wet 

 season, after the corn is up, spread them, taking 

 care to leave the tops of the young corn uncovered. 



There is one very important result that must 

 follow the success of this plan on a large scale — 

 and it was with an eye chiefly to that result, that 

 my experiment was undertaken. The constant 

 e.Tcuse for not improving our land, is, that where 

 cotton is grown, the time necessary, first to culti- 

 vate the growing crop properly — next to gather 

 it, and then to prepare for a new crop, leaves the 

 planter no time to collect manuie. My jilan will 

 put an end to that excuse at once ; for wherever 

 leaves are to be had, half the time usualiy bcstc.v. 



ed on working the com crop in the usual way, 

 spent in gathering leaves and putting them on the 

 ground, instead of ploughing it, may in a short 

 time, accomplish everything that can be desired in 

 the way of manuring. 



Why may not the same process answer in the 

 cultivation of cotton * If it keeps the ground sort 

 and moist, and prevents the growth of grass and 

 weeds in a corn crop, it will surely have the same 

 effect with cotton — and be the moans, further, 

 of preserving the cotton, when the; bolls open, 

 from all the injury it sustains from the soil in wet 

 seasons. This is, however, but speculation. Let 

 it be tested by actual experiment. 



James CaMak. 



Mherts, Ga. Oct. 10, 1835. 



PREMIUM ON liAND AND CROPS. 



At the late Annual Meeting of the Agricultural 

 Society, Mr William Clark, Jr. of Nortliam(Pton, 

 presented his claim, and obtained the Society's 

 iiighest premium, offered "on the greatest quan- 

 tity of land reclaimed and crops therefrom, accom- 

 panied with a written description of the manage- 

 ment, condition and worth of the land, before and 

 since reclaimed." The Executive Committee 

 have the privilege of presenting a detailed account 

 thereof, and would be very happy for the oppor- 

 tunity of exhibiting many other similar experi- 

 ments made by our enterprLsing farmers. Mr 

 Clark also obtained the Society's highest premium 

 for the greatest quantity of Indian Corn raised the 

 past year upon another tract of land. 



To thfi Executive Commiuee of the Hampshire, Hampden and 

 Franklin ,\gricultural Society : — 



Gentlemen — In the spring of 1834, I com. 

 menced ploughing for a crop of corn, a field of 

 about fourteen acres. In various parts of the field 

 were swales, wet, springy places and swamp holes, 

 some parts of which were covered with water 

 most of the season, sonle with moss and small 

 bushes, and others with sedge and coarse grass, 

 amounting in all to four or five acres. The best 

 part of this wet land was mown in 1833, and gave 

 of poor hay but little more than eni ugh to pay 

 the expense of gathering ; the remainder was 

 entirely unproductive and probably ever had been. 



As it was desirable that these (ilaces should be 

 something more than mere nuisances, and if ;;os- 

 sible, the whole field wear the appearance of civ- 

 ilization ; it became a question for consideration, 

 whether it could be done in such manner as that 

 the produce would pay the expense. After a, 

 careful view of the ground, it was thought that 

 the plough would be the readiest and least expen- 

 sive instrument for draining ofi" the water as well 

 as subduing the wild grass and shrubs, 



A long swale running nearly through the lot 

 with a moderate descent, gave a good opportunity 

 to drain with the plough, not oidy the water that 

 was oozing out over its surface, but also that froiT» 

 the springs anil wet lands on either side. 



The largest basin or swamp hole — amounting 

 io about half an acre, including the belt of smal! 



