842 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



IJOSTO.N. WEDNESDAY EVCMNU, MAY i, IS36. 



-- PARHERS' WORK. 



Indian Corn.— Tlie pruper soils fur tliis kind nf grain, 

 ere the sandy, sandy loam, gravelly loam, and rich red, 

 <,r dark eolorud earlhs, wliich have but little clay in 

 them. A clover sod, well toriaJ ov«r, after having been 

 well covered with long manure, makes the best prepara- 

 tion for this (rop. It will he of .service lo cjo over the 

 -ground with a roller, and then harrow Icnglliwi.-ie of the 

 f:rrro-,v,_ JMSt before jilaritin^. Al! fe^ds flourish best 

 when put into fresh stirred mould. The lime of plarit- 

 tng should vary according to the season and part of the 

 country. Ur Deane observed that the right lime of 

 (danting may be from iho first to the third week in May ; 

 er a little sooner or later, according to the ilryness of the 

 Eoil, and the f)rwardnes3 of the spring. 'I'be farmers 

 (live a rule in this case, said to be borrowed from the 

 Indians, which is, lo plant corn when the I -aves of the 

 white oak begin to appe.ir. But if much time is likely 

 to be consumed in planling. it will be necessary lo begin 

 i:j the driest part of the lielrl a little earlier than ihis rule 

 .;irecls. Judge Buel i>bserved, " My ruje has been to 

 <danl wher. the apple is bursting its blossom bud.-!, wliic h 

 lias geiieially been between the 12tli and 2(llh of Hay." 

 Sliell the seed gnilly by hand that it may not bo torn 

 •c.T bruised ; and if any corns appear with black eyes, let 

 • them be reji'Cled. The preparlion of seed for plantirig 

 ias been diHernnt by diff. rent cultivators ; we will give 

 wave'al modes of ireparing seed-corn, and the tiller will 

 take his choice. Judge Buel observed, " The enemies 

 to be combated are the wire worm, brown grub, birds 

 end squirrels. Of these, the first and two last prey upon 

 t'le kernels, and against these tar offers a complete pro- 

 <eonon. 1 soak my seed twelve to twenty hours in hot 

 -water, in which is dissolved a few ounces of crude salt- 

 pclTC, and ihen add (say to eight quarts of seed) half a 

 ^)int of tar, previously warmed, and diluted with a quart 

 of warm water. Tho mass is well stirred, the corn taken 

 <.ut, and as much plaster added as will adhere to the 

 grain. Tliis impregnates, and partially coals the seed 

 *viih tar. The e.vperieiice of years will warrant me in 

 confidently rcc-immenrting this as a protection for the 

 fc.:ed." 



A writer for Uoodsell's Genesee Farmer, with the sig 

 ralurn W. T. W., recnninirnds wetiing seed corn will) 

 ^oft soap, and rolling it in plaster, and ijives the details 

 - ©fan experiment which tested the utility of the practice. 

 A solution of copperas in water has been rc:;on)mend- 

 cd as firming a good preparation for seed corn. .Mr J. 

 Ellsworth, of Connecticut, in a communication published 

 in the N E Farmer, vol. x, p. 331, stated as follows :— 

 ." Last year I soaked our seed corn in very strong cop. 

 V)Cras water, as near as I can recollect from twenlyfour 

 to thirtysix hours ; every kernel was made as black as 

 charcod ; tho man who planted the corn called me a 

 /oul, and said it would never vegetate. But every hill 

 planted came up well, and during its g.'owth excited the 

 remarks of all who saw it, as being the most even field 

 of corn they ever saw. Not one hill in tho whole seven 

 Bcres was injured by worms; and we had often in previ. 

 ous years been conipi lied to replant several times, when 

 it had been cut down by the worms. We had over sixty 

 biisliels to the acre." 



With regard to the sort of corn to be planted, there is 

 mneli (o choose. The Hon. Samuel Lathrop, in an ar. 

 |iclc published in the N. E. Fanner, vol. xiii., p. 185, 



stales, that he hud procured a tort of corn of Judge Biiel, 

 which was about a fortnight ear ier than that comuionly 

 used, wliich, he observes, " I think will prove a valuable 

 spei ies lo tlio<e who wish to sow their land with Wheat 

 In ordinary seasons, it will have become sufficiently ripe 

 for harvest by the middle of September It is a species 

 of the twelve-rowed corn, but the growth of stalk is very 

 small, compared with the twelve rowed rom which I 

 have been acc;.'stomed to plant — not exceeding one half 

 the weight, of course the exhaustion required lo sustain 

 an equal number of stalks is much less. This species of 

 corn' will bear planting much thicker than any other 

 kind of field corn which I have ever cultivated. I this 

 year [1834] planted the hills three feet apart in both 

 directions, intcndiiij n have three cEilks in cac.'. !:i!'. 

 But it may be planted three feet by two and a half, and 

 then the ground will not be more shaded than it is with 

 the corn generally raised here, when planted in squares 

 of three and a half feet. The ears set low on the stalk, 

 grow of a good size, and the grain is heavy. I think it 

 is as valuable lor use an any other kind of this grain ; and 

 fiimi the fact that it Hill bear planting so thick, 1 be- 

 lieve ihat I can secure a larger product than from any 

 other that I have ever tried. But the circumstance that 

 gives it its chief excellence in my estimation, arises froiij 

 the fact that I can gather my corn in season for the sow- 

 ing of wheat. In the most nnfivorable season, the wheat 

 may be sown in Seplember, and in very fivoiable seasons, 

 early in that month " 



C: pt. Coffin, of Ncwburyport, in the N. E. Farmer, 

 vol. xiii., paje282, gives an account of the culture of an 

 early sort of corn, received from the Hon. O. Fiske, of 

 Worcester Capl. Coffin ob.-erved, that " Early in May 

 the corn arrived to hand. On the 14tli sam.; nionlli, I 

 had about fialf a peck of it, after being soaked two or 

 three davs in a saturated solution of copperas, planted 

 on less than half an acre of inverted sward, broken up for 

 the purpose. Jt was manured in the holes, was hoed 

 twice with very little hilling in either operation. It was 

 in s[«indle and ear the first of July, fil for boiling about 

 the 15th to the 20tli of the same monih,and was harvest- 

 ed the middle of Scpteniber; and immediately husked 

 out, measuring f'ortyfive bushels in the car, being more 

 than ninety bushels to the .acre. The slalk is very small 

 and ran seldom higher than four to five feel. The ear 

 is small and not long, but the kernel is set very compact- 

 ly on the cob ; is good fjr boiling green, excellent in 

 bread, and very useful to the firmer on account of its 

 early arrival at maturity; and would have been much 

 more nrod.uotive h'»d it been planted tvv'o and a iialf by 

 three feet distant, instead of three and a half by four, and 

 some even more distant. 



"I also made an ex|ieriment the last year willi another 

 kind, (the spindle corn presented me by a friend.) which 

 has a very small but exceedingly long cob, running from 

 nine lo over fifteen inches in length, is eight rowed, of 

 a fine bright yellow color, very productive and excellent 

 fir bread, and was harvested ripe before the frost of last 

 season [1834], and the lasl season it is well known wis 

 not one of the most favorable season for the growth of 

 that article." 



One of the inosl important improvements in the cul- 

 ture of lairn consists in planting from four to six times 

 the usual quantity of seed; and, at the' firjt hoeing, 

 pulling up all hut the proper number of plants, leiving 

 to form the crop none but the most liealtliy. The addi- 

 tional quantity of seed will c^isl but little, and the labor 

 of pulling np all but three or four of the strongest plants 

 is much more than repaid by the increased product. — 

 The seed should be covereil with clear mould, and not 

 too deep. 



MAT 4, in i6, 



A handful of unleaclied ashes, or a mixture ol" about 

 equal pans of ashes and plaster put on each hill, imme- 

 diately after planting, will be useful, not only to nourish 

 and stimnlate the young plants, but as a preservative 

 against the cut worm 



An excellent article on the culture of Indian corn, bj 

 Capt. Chandler, was published in the N. E. Farmer, vol. 

 xiii., p. 291. This should he read with care by every 

 cultivator before he commences the raising of his cora 



"'•]> 



(Tor the .Vew linglaiiil Farnii-r.) 

 L.ECTCRES ON GEOLOGV. 

 Dr Jackson delivered his third lecture on Geology on 

 Tlmrsday evening, at the Odeon, before a numerous and 

 ir.tjlligcnt »jdi;..-icc, on the origin and iiii,iii'..uiion of 

 Coal. He slated that all fo.ssil plants of coal legious be- 

 long to genera similar to tho>e now flourishing under the 

 tropics; but they are of diirerent spei ies from any now 

 exiting on the face of the earth. He supposes that a 

 very different condition of the globe prevailed in its early 

 history from its present slate, and that causes then pre- 

 vailed which have now ceased lo act, and have caused a 

 corresponding difference ill the vegetation. Those who 

 have travelled in the islands of the tropical regions, aio d 

 the warm and luxuriant islands of the two Indies, can 

 f^irin some idea of the flora of the pri:iitive world. Tim 

 genera of most of the f issil, pi mts may there bo observed, 

 growing and shading tlie burning soil with their broad 

 leaves and spreading branches. It was from such vege- 

 tables he naid that coal was formed. In aceounling fi>r 

 the situation of these plants in the northern temperate 

 and frozen regions of the globe, he remarked, that a sud- 

 den change of the earth's axis might have caused a dif- 

 ference iu the mean annual temperature of those regions 

 which must have formerly existed under a tropical cli- 

 mat*>, 01 that those regions of the earth were foimerly 

 heated to a high degree by the internal fires, and have 

 gradually cooled down to its present temperature, so that 

 at some remote period they were susceptible of produ- 

 cing tropical vcfietatioh. 



As coal is always found associated with considerable 

 quantities of fossil plants, it is a presumptive proof that 

 it is of vegetable origin; and when we examine the coal 

 itself with a n.icroscope we can distinctly sec the vege- 

 table fibres of which it is composed; and it is remarka- 

 ble, that in comparing different coals with peal, that there 

 appears to be a regular gradation between that substance 

 and anthracite. A bed of peat has been discovered on 

 Cape Cod near Chatham, covered with sand to the depth 

 of sixt\*feet, which bears a close resemblai ce to bitumi- 

 nous coal. 



Some other facts, drawn from this interesting lecture, 

 we are compelled to defer till our next for want of space. 



MoBus MuLTiCAULis. — So gisat lias been the interest 

 liken in the silk business, almost every farmer having 

 engaged in it, more or less, that all the stock of White 

 Mulbeiry seed and Morus Mullicaulis trees hav> been 

 taken from tho market. There aro no Morus trees for 

 sale in the country, to our knovvledge, excepting those 

 advertised by the editor of the Hampshire Gazette and 

 Wni. Prince & Sons, of Long Island ; and the stock 

 that they may have on hand cannot be very large. Those 

 that designed lo set out the Chinese Mulberry this spring 

 must wail until fa'l, when there will be an abundance 

 of them in the country. Many gentlemen have under- 

 taken to import the trees from France, and the price of 

 them will probably be essentially reduced. 



UJ^The business of the Mew England Seed Store and 

 N. E. Farmer will be conducted as hereiofiire, in the nnme 

 of Gkorge C. B\nKK.TT,to wliosc address all orders, &c. 

 may be directed until further notice. 



