WEW E]\C;iiAND FAKMER. 



PUBLISHED BY J. B. RUSSELL. AT NO. S^ NORTH MARKET STREET, (at the Agricultural Warehouse.)— T. G. FESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



VOL,. IX. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1831. 



NO. 36. 



CS^^S2IvSr:t7ItiSii^2CD£rSa 



FOR THE MEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ON THE CULTURE OF INDIAN CORN. 



We all know that what is good husbniulry for 

 me kind of soil, or one location, or for one farmer, 

 s not, of course, for another. 



Corn may be grown, and perhaps with profit, 

 n dirterent soils, with a proper tillage for each, 

 jocalion, that is as to the value of the use of the 



nd, the nearness to a market, and the facilit) 

 vith which manure can be procured, must be rc- 

 arded. 



A large forehanded farmer can often do to a^^- 

 antage, wliat w-ould be ruinous to one differently 



tuated. Yet this should not deter ns from 

 rawing all the advantage we can from the expa- 



ence and observation of that class of fiu-mers 

 scupying the most feasible and level lands ; and 



hen we cannot imitate the course which has proved 

 Beful to them, to substitute, according to ourbsst 

 idgment, some method resembling that, which 



lay be equally useful to us. 



I was led to these remarks by reading in tlie 



. E. Farmer, Nos. 23 and 29, of the presen! vol. 



r Phinney's Address, and therein his statanent 

 his mode of raising corn on green swsrd. — 



bis I had before read in 1829, and it strudt mo 



en and now, that we in this hill country, with 

 *lds of a very uneven surface, could not e.iiactly 

 >iitate him. But we had long before adopfid a 



urse of tillage wiiich I think possesses all '. 



dity of his, and avoids much of the labor and 



mble to which that is subject. My method with 



t ij eensward, and I plant no other with corn, is this 



' !• In the spring I feed my land intended for corn as 



< ise as possible, till within about a week of 



imting time, get"on my manure and spread it. 



' le field is then, as we term it, ploughed into ridges 



• that is, the slices of two furrows turned together, 



( that the edges of the two will about meet, 



I ving a narrow balk orspaceof unplouglied land 



" I :weeu the ridges. In about a week the corn is 



J nted on the ridges at the junction of the two 



i 1 ius, without any regard to rows crosswise of 



t ■ ridges, as they are not to be ploughed across. 



At the first hoeing the balk is ploughed up, and 

 t sward on it turned over, or broken in pieces — 

 t each of the two other hocings the spaces be-i 

 I en the ridges, or rows of corn, are lightly 

 i ligiied, and the ground, mixed with the manure 

 1 on them, drawn up by the hoe to the hills of: 



By this mode of cultivation the manure is all 

 ed, being mostly covered with the furrows, 

 1 kept from the weather, and that left on tie 

 k, well mi.xedwith earth by the first ploughing 

 1 hoeing of the corn, before the dry hot season 

 nmences. The s\Tard is all decomposed and 

 Irishes tlie growing corn at the season when 

 s most wanted — that is, when the ears are sjt- 

 l, growing and filling out. It is no objectbn 

 t part of the surface of the ground is not cut 

 with the plough, but covered with furrows, for 

 t becomes as mellow as the other and equally 

 ful tothe crops. — If the sward be tough, the first 

 Jiug will be slow and laborious, but the other 

 not more so than when the ground is by plough- 



ing and harrowing made mellow before plant- 

 ing, and much time and labor are saved in jnepar- 

 ing it for planting. In the early ])art of the sea- 

 son, the corn will not appear very promising and 

 will be uneven, and perhaps will not produce as 

 great a crop of stalks as in the other way ; but at 

 the time of i)roducing the cars of corn, the decom- 

 posing sward and manure are doing their beat to 

 aid that i)roces5, and succeed to admiration. Ex- 

 tremes of droiight or wet are less injurious to 

 land treated in this way than the other, the weeds 

 are not half as troublesome and the land is left in 

 a better state. 



The second year the land is ploughed and har- 

 rowed, sowed with oats or other spring grain and 

 grass seed, made smooth, .Tnd laid down for mow- 

 ing or feeding. Before planting I soak my seed 

 corn and roll it in plaster, ash it at the first and 

 third hoeing, and put pla.ster on at the second. 



My method of gathering my corn and stalks is 

 to cut the stalks above the ears at the proper sea- 

 son, bind and stack or pike them in the field, and 

 as soon as sufficiently dried cut them and put 

 them under cover. If this can be done befor 

 any great rain falls, I consider a load of stalks 

 worth as much for fodder as a load of good hay. 

 My cattle this year, did not leave uneaten a hand- 

 ful to a load. When the corn is ripe, I cut it up 

 close to the ground with a scythe or sickle, cart it 

 to the barn or shed, and there husk it, and keep 

 the'stalks and husks under cover till winter, when 

 is thrown into the yard for litter and fodder. 

 This does not cost more labor than to pick and 

 husk the corn, except the carting, and it saves a 

 great deal of good litter and fodder which would 

 otherwise be entirely lost. My cattle this winter 

 ste at least one half of these stalks. 



Perhaps I have been too minute, and stated 

 nothing but what farmers in every town in New 

 England knew before : but if anything has been 

 suggested by which, with the same expense, one 

 more bushel of corn to the acre can be grown, one 

 day's work in a year saved to the cultivator or one 

 dollar's worth of fodder or manure, my remarks 

 will be worth what they cost. The farmers in this 

 vicinity formerly made their ground mellow by 

 ploughing and harrowing before planting; but ex- 

 perience has taught them that the mode here de- 

 scribed is much better in all respects, and it is 

 now for corn, very generally practised ; and I 

 would respectfully suggest to Mr Phinney, whether, 

 considering the saving of labor in preparing for 

 planting, which I think must be at least one half, 

 and the safe deposit of the manure under thesod for 

 the corn to make a draft upon effectually in time of 

 greatest need, my method of raising corn even on 

 his smooth and even land, would not, when the suc- 

 ceeding crop is to be spring grain, be preferable to 

 his : at any rate, I think it a good substitute among 

 our stones, hills, and holes. One of my neigh- 

 bors last year tried Mr Phinney's mode on a level 

 moist piece of ground, and it being a wet season, 

 he nearly lost his crops. Had the weather or his 

 ground been dry it would doubtless have succeed- 

 ed. 



Since writing the above, I have read in your 

 last No. .some remarks and queries about dunging 

 corn and potatoes in the hill. I have often been 



much surprised in Icarningfrom paragraphs in your 

 nundiers, that that iiractice should be continued, 

 when such great improvements were making in 

 agriculture, as in Massachusetts. I had before 

 supposed it abandoned as one of the worst of the 

 old fashioned modes of tillage, calculated, with 

 much labor and trouble, to obtain a little present 

 advantage, at the expense of keeping the land 

 poor. Tillage should be so managed as to im- 

 prove, and not impoverish the soil. If the ground 

 is pretty well manured at broad cast, dunging in 

 the hill is unnecessary. If not, then this mode, if 

 it barely pay the labor and expense, which I much 

 doubt, will leave the land worse. I may be 

 thought an incompetent judge, having never tried 

 that course, nor have I ever tried feeding my chil- 

 dren with cider-brandy to make them sprightly at 

 the time and good members of society after- 

 wards, but should as soon think of doing one as 

 the other : this I know is not argument, but strong 

 opinion. 



Should I have leisure you may hear from me 

 again. B. 



Plymouth, Con. March 7, 1831. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



SHORT HORN STOCK. 



Mr Fessenden — For the information of those 

 readers of the New England Farmer who are 

 willing to be correctly informed what Improved 

 Durham Short-Homed Cattle have been, and noiv 

 are, 1 herewith - n J you a few extracts from writers 

 which among breeders are noiv considered good 

 authority. — I also refer the reader to the New 

 England Farmer, vol.viii. No. 30, to the sale of Im- 

 proved Durham Short-horns on the 31st August, 

 1829. I should be pleased to have any person, 

 if he can refer me to a sale of any other breed 

 ever made, that for high prices will compare with 

 this. The sale of Mr Colling in 1810 of the same 

 breed is believed to be the only public sale of Im- 

 proved Durham Short-horns or any other breed of 

 Cattle that has equalled this sale of 1829. 



Respectfully yours, W. 



East Windsor, Con. March 4, 1831. 



From Bailey's Survey of Durham. 



'Messrs Collings have frequently sold cows and 

 heifers for 100/. and Bull calves at 100?. Mr 

 Charles Colling has refused 500/. for a cow, and 

 in 1307, Mr Mason refused 700 guineas for a cow. 



' These gentlemen let bulls out by the year, the 

 price from 50 to 100 guineas; and the public are 

 to fidly convinced of their merits, that these cel- 

 ebrated breeders cannot supply the demand from 

 the pure blood, which they are as cautions of 

 preserving, as the amateurs of the turf are the 

 breeds of their race horses, and which the takers 

 of bulls are become so well acquainted with, that 

 the prices they give, are in proportion to the qual- 

 ities of the individuals and merits of their pro- 

 genitors — more regard being paid to their pedi- 

 gree than to anything else ; for this purpose they 

 have books containing the full pedigree of their 

 stock, similar to the stud book of race horses, by 

 which any ])erson wanting to purchase any of 

 their stock, or hire bulls may see how they are de- 

 sccnded.' 



