PRACTICAL FARMER. 



169 



CHAFF AS A MANURE FOR STRAAVBERRIES, 



Among tFie selected articles of this niimher will 

 be found a very interesting essay on the various 

 kinds of Strawberries, and tbe different modes of 

 cidtivating them. We wish that this niostdelight- 

 ful fruit were more attended to. The general 

 impression has been, that our's is not the proper 

 climate or soil fo;* its successful cultivation ; but 

 this is evidently an error. We have seen as fine 

 flavored and as large fruit of this kind, growing 

 in our gardens, as any that we have ever met with 

 in a more Northern latitude. When properly 

 attended, we know of no fruit which is more 

 profitable. Last season, we planted a lialf acre of 

 these berries. We ] Ticked from the land thus 

 planted one bushel and a half, on an average, per 

 day. The season for picking lasted six weeks, 

 allowing five days to the week, was equal to thirty 

 days. The amount picked, therefore, was forty- 

 eight bushels for the entire season. Ihese we 

 readily sold at 25 cents per quart, which yielded 

 us the aggregate sum of $360. This estimate is 

 far from being exaggerated ; on the contrary, it 

 will appear much below the mark, when it is 

 taken into consideration, that we used liberally of 

 the fruit for our table, and sent out to our friends. 



Our mode of cultivating the plant is this- — 

 early in December or January, and in some cases, 

 even as late as February or March, we cover our 

 Strawberries with pine or other straw. This we 

 set fire to, and thus consume all the decayed leaves 

 and suckers of the plant, whicli may have been 

 left from the last season. Immediately after this 

 operation we cover the bed with a moderate por- 

 tion of cowpen manure, or oak ashes, (we prefer 

 the latter if we have it) and over this lay rice chafl;' 

 two or three inches thick. , 



The chafl^, together with the manure, impart 

 warmth to the land, and cause the plants to spring 

 up much earlier than they otherwise would. The 

 berries are sooner in market, bear larger and 

 longer in the season, and are in every other re- 

 spect superior to those cultivated in the ordinary 

 mode. Besides this, the chaff prevents the suck- 

 ers from taking root ; keeps the vain from filling 

 the fruit with dirt, and throws oft" the too great 

 operation of the sun from the berries while ripen- 

 ing. In our next number, we will enter more 

 largely into this subject. — Southern Agriculturist. 



[From the Southern Agriculturist.] 

 LARGE CORN. 



• Through the politeness of James Nicholson, 

 Esq. of this city, we have been presented with an 

 unusually large ear of c6rn, from the plantation 

 of Kinsey Burden, Esq. of John's Island. It 

 contains sixteen rows, and numbers»-eileven hundred 

 iull grains. The seed is the common flint, and 

 was selected from acomujon stock growing among 

 thfe croit^cyrni Thfe presfent ear, is, we b'elifev'd, 



the third or forth generation in descent; and is 

 one from many others of the same size. We have 

 not shelled and measured it, but have not the 

 least doubt, that it is good for something over a 

 half pint. 



Mr Burden has already distinguished himself 

 for having "brought the fine cottons to their greatest 

 perfection by a selection of seeds. He has ex- 

 tended the same experiments to corn, and bids 

 fair from the exhibition now before us, of achiev- 

 ing the same r suits. For oiu'selves, we can see 

 no reason, why the same rule should not apply to 

 corn, which ajiplies to every other plant and to 

 the human family. To the preservation of them 

 in health, vigor and fecundity, change of climate, 

 soil, and treatment are absolutely essential. If 

 our planters would pay more attention to the 

 selection of the various kinds of seeds used than 

 they have hitherto fione, we have not the least 

 doubt, that the most cheering consequences would 

 follow. 



Choosing Sheep for breeding. — One of the 

 two species of sheep, the long and the short 

 wooled, having been chosen, as most appropriate 

 to the situation, and wool being made an object, 

 it is most advantageous to select such flocks as are 

 pure as possible of the species to which they 

 belong, and not a mixture of the short and long 

 wooled breeds, which must generally produce an 

 inferior fleece, disadvantageous to the manufac- 

 turer. Length of sta[)le in the long, and fineness, 

 elasticity and closeness in the short wooled fleece, 

 will be the best guides in this case. 



Whether the wool be long or sliort, the carcass 

 of the animal ought to be amply and regularl}' 

 covered ; it is a great defect when the belly is 

 bare, and a sti 1 greater wh ju the wool is thin and 

 open along the ridge of the back, admitting rain 

 and moisture to a most susceptible part, indeed to 

 descend upon all parts f)f the body. 



It is a piece of good old advice, to buy your 

 rams a little before shearing time, if possible ; and 

 a very necessary mode^n addition, to take the op- 

 portunity of purchasing at the farmer's house, 

 while you see the animal in puris naiuralibus, and 

 before he has been decked out and trimmed for 

 show by the sheep barber. A thick fleece, cover- 

 ing all parts with as much equality as possible, 

 cont'uning plenty of yolk, or retained or inspissated 

 perspiration, is the object. If ewes, equally well 

 bred, can be procured, the shepherd anticipates 

 and reaps an immediate benefit ; if not, he must 

 patiently await improvement of his wool, through 

 the medium of the superior blood of his rams. 



At shearing time, examine the bottoms of the 

 fleece, or* the lower extremity of the filaments of 

 wool ; if it be stichy-haired, of mixed quality, or if 

 the sheep have a coarse breech, or be not well 

 covered, it must ^e r'ejf'Ctfe'd, as imffrop'er fdr a 



