326 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



Api-il 27, is:i 



^mw sjsr©-a«iisnD s^iiissasinia 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, APRIL S7, I83I. 



FARMERS' WORK FOR MAY. 

 The proper time for ])lantiiig Indian corn will 

 soon arrive, according to tlie ordinary coinse of the 

 seasons, and we shall, tlierefore, state some of the 

 methods pursued by judicious and successful far- 

 mers for raising this very valuable pioduct. 



Judge Buel, of Albany, says ' If the soil is stiff 

 or the sward stubborn, plough late in the fall, and 

 harrow in the spring before you plant. If a sand 

 or light loam, leave the grass to grow til! near plant- 

 ing time. In either case the roller may be used 

 to advantage. It compresses the sod, smothers the 

 growth of gras.'!, and prevents the escape of the 

 gases evolved in the fermentation of the vegeta- 

 ble matter buried by the plough. If you have ma- 

 nure to spare, (and you can use it no where better 

 than with this crop.) spread it on the the sod and 

 plough it under. Plant your corn in hills. The 

 distance will de])end on the kind of seed and strength 

 of the ground. I plant at three feet each way. 

 Harrow at the first dressing, the more the better, 

 provided you do not disturb the sod ; and jilough 

 shallow and earth slightly at the second. But ex- 

 terminate all weeds. By leaving the sod uidjroU- 

 eu, the roots of the grain have abetter supply of 

 moisture and nutriment beneath it. * * * 



' I am satisfied from several years' experience, 

 that other things being alike, the clover sod, 

 ploughed under in May, will give a material in- 

 crease of corn, overland which has no sod. I 

 think 20 per cent on an average, and the crop is 

 much less liable to be injured by drought. The 

 planting should he as early as the season and soil 

 will admit. 



' Failures and great inconvenience and loss 

 often result from the seed not vegetated, from its 

 destruction by the wire worm and grub, and from 

 the depredations committed upon the young plants 

 by birds and squirrels. As I have never suftered 

 in eilhel- of these respects I will state my method 

 of |)reparing ilie seed. I collect in the first place 

 a quantity of the roots of the black helebore, or itch 

 weed, which aboumls in swamp?, grows with and j 

 resembles in its habits skunks' cabbage, except that 

 the leaves are narrower, longer, an<l grow upon the 

 seed stock ; these I boil till I obtain a strong de- 

 coction. I then take out the roots and add to the 

 liquor saltpetre in the proportion of four ounces 

 to three gallons, and put in my seed corn while 

 the liquor is yet warm. Thirlysix hours is the 

 longest period it should be suffered to steep, as the 

 nitre may destroy the vegetating princi|;le of the 

 grain. As a farther precaution, the liquor is again 

 warmed, and a gill of tar stirred in, and the seed 

 again immersed in it anew. Thus prepared, I 

 have not lust tweuiy hills in four years. The ger- 

 minating process commences before the corn is 

 j)lanted, and unless the ground is too wet to grow 

 this crop, (and it never pays the expense of cul- 

 ture on soils that abound in springs, or that are 

 naturally wet and cold,) it will continue to pro- 

 gress. The helebore is poisonous, and though 

 the ground may partially ext;'act the jjoison, neither 

 birds nor squirrels will ever disturb a dozen hills. 

 The tar itnpregnates the seed and protects it from 

 the worm. The nitre and plaster, with which 

 latter the seed is mixed before planting, condiine 

 their ferlili/iiig jiroperties to give vigor and 

 strength to the young plants. 



There can be i;o doubt, we believe, of the val- 



uable properties of the steep above rec<iinmeniled. 

 Whether it ought to he preferred to that of a sol- 

 ution of copperas, which has been pretty exten- 

 sively used, and with few exceptions met will; 

 entire approbation, we are not able to say. 



Mr Buel, moreover states that ' A gentleman 

 in Madison County, who is said to have raised 

 the greatest crop of corn ever grown in this state, 

 ascribes his success principally to the circumstance 

 of his having put four bushels of seed to an acre, 

 instead of six quarts, the usual quantity ; and pul- 

 ling up all but the requisite number of the most 

 thrifty plants at the first dressing of the crop ; and 

 that no stalk produced less thaji three ears. I do 

 not know that the facts have been correctly stated 

 to me ; but I confess they appear to be rational. 

 We scarcely ever notice a hill of corn, without 

 observing a spear more vigorous than the rest, 

 which maintains its ascendency, and is always 

 most prolific in its return. On the contrary, those 

 I)lants which are pale and sickly when young, sel- 

 dom produce much under the best care. My ex- 

 perience warrants me in the belief, that seed taken 

 from a stock which has produced two or three 

 ears, is more prolific than seed which has pro- 

 duced but one ear.' 



A change of seed is advisable with this grain, 

 as with all others. ' But let the farmer beware of 

 taking his seed from too great a distance. If he 

 should bring it, for instance a hundred miles from 

 the southward, his corn woidd fail of ripening ; 

 if as far from the north, he must expect a lighter 

 crop ; and in case of drought the latter will be more 

 a|)t to sufl^er, as it has been proved by experiment. 

 A farmer from the County of Bristol, took seed 

 from the County of Cumberland, Maine. It 

 came on well at first, but the summer being pretty 

 hot and dry, it parched up, and produced next to 

 nothing, though the seed he had taken from his 

 own field turned out very well. 



' If the farmer cannot conveniently obtain new 

 seed ; or if he be loath to part with a sort which 

 has served him well, and choose rather to use it 

 than seed he has not tried, let him at least shift 

 send from cue field to another, and especially 

 from one kind of soil to another. 

 I ' Anil in the choosing of seed, some regard 

 should be had to the state of the soil on which it 

 is intended to grow. If it be poor, or wanting in 

 warmth, the yellow sort with eight rows will be 

 most suitable, as it ripens early. Abetter soil 

 hould have a larger kind of seed, that the crop 

 may be greater, as it undoubtedly will. 



Shell the seed gently by hand, that it may not 

 be torn or bruised at all, rejecting about an inch 

 at each end of the ear. And if any corns appear 

 with black eyes, let them also be rejected, not 

 because they will not grow at all, the contrary being 

 true ; but because the blackness indicates, either 

 some defect in drying, or want of jierfection in the 

 grain.' — Deane. 



It was the opinion of Mr Lorain that Indian 

 corn is not generally planted sufficiently early. 

 lie observed that ' when corn is planted very early 

 it is connnonly severely affected by frost, so much 

 that many plants are cut off by the ground. This 

 is unquestionably an injury to which no judicious 

 farmer woidd expose the plant, if the advantages 

 obtained by very early planting could be had by 

 planting later. Still if the roots remain unhurt, 

 they are of consequence established and very soon 

 repair the injury done above the soil, after 

 the frost ceases to act on the plants. Of course 



they take the lead, and will maintain their super? 

 ority over later planted corn. The ears also fi^ * 

 and ripen much better in northerly climates fron 

 this practice. 



The shooting and filling of them takes plao? 

 when the heat of the sun is much greater ; ant 

 when less cloudy, cold dripping weather prevails 

 and the crop is nothing like so liable to be injure^ 

 by frost, [in autumn.] The grounds arc also soon, 

 er ready for crops sown in the fall. This mod* 

 of uumagement will often enable the cultivator tc 

 grow the larger and more productive crops 

 climates where they have been abandoned from 

 observing that they did not ripen when planted al 

 the usual time. 



Lucerne. — To show the forwardness of thist 

 valuable clover, Mr Henry Cushing of llingham 

 informs us, that he measured plants of Lucerno 

 on the 19th of this month, which were then 14 

 inches high — the land laid down with luceraa 

 and other grasses last spring. 



FOR THE NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



CHEESE— QUERY. 

 Mr Editor — I was much gratified with readinji 

 the queries respecting the manufacture of Cheese ill' 

 your paper of lasl week ; and hope they may soon 

 be satisfactorily answered. I intend making my own 

 a cheese dairy the present season ; but on convers- 

 ing with a friena yesterday respecting it, he inform- 

 ed me that he had frequently heard the opinion ex- 

 pressed, that so good cheese could not be made up- 

 on a farm on the seaboard, as in the interior. Per- 

 mit me to add to the list of queries in your lastj 

 whether this assertion be correct, and if so, by what 

 means the difficulty can be obviated ? 



Yours, &c, EVITA. 



A New, Beautiful, and Valuable Fruit, 



Urouglit from Cmincil Bluffs, nnd bearing in New England. 

 EilMci 1)1' a letter from J. \Vi[ishi|i, Esq. to J. .S. i^uinner, 

 I'osiiii.isler of lialtiniDre. 



My Dear Sir: Brighton, .^pril 2, 18 31. 



We have now growing in our grounds a tree 

 ten feet high, the produce of the seed you wers 

 so kind as to send me eight years ago, called the 

 Shephardia or Silver Leaf Bufl'alo Berry Tree. 

 The ensuing autumn we shall have a quantity of 

 them, and some of theiu are very much at your 

 service. It is one of the greatest acquisitions of 

 the fruit-bearing kind our country can produce. 

 For beauty of foliage, delicacy of appearance, and 

 elegance of fruit, it is unrivalled by any new pro- 

 duction ; the fruit is about the size of the red Ant- 

 werp ciuiant, much richer to the taste, and 

 forms one continued cluster of fruit on every 

 branch and twig. — American Farmer. 



SILVER LEAVED SHEPHARDIA. 



Shephardia eleagnoides. 



Buffalo berry tree. \ 



Rabbit BERRY tree. > Indian names. 



Beef suet berry tree. ) 



This beautiful tree was first noticed by Professor 

 NuTTALL, (luring his travels in the Missouri Ter- 

 ritory in the year 1810, nnd named after his friend 

 MrSnEpiiARDof Liverpool, England. 



The seeil of the trees now cultivated at the 

 Brighton nursery, were collected by Colonel SnBI' 

 LING of the city of Boston, and forwarded about 

 ten years since to John S. Skinner, Esq. of Bw- 

 tiinore, whose public spirited exertions in the col- 



