198 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



I have tried different quantities of seed per acre, 

 and find that a much less rate than about three 

 bushels is attended with a diminished crop, al- 

 though the stalks may be taller. One bushel per 

 acre will yield hut little more than half as much. 



I usually obtain, on land that will yieid thirty or 

 thirty-five bushels of corn per acre, from four to 

 six tons per acre of dried fodder. Counting all ex- 

 penses, including interest on fifty dollars per acre 

 for the land, the dried fodder, as an average for 

 five or six years past, has cost me about one dollar 

 and a half per ton. Hay is usually sold here for 

 six or seven dollars a ton, and sometimes for ten. 

 Yet it is astonishing how reluctant our farmers are 

 in adopting the corn fodder cultivation. I hope the 

 farmers of Michigan may set a better example of 

 economy. 



Tbe best variety of corn appears to be that which 

 will afford the greatest number of stalks to the 

 quantity of seed sown. Coarse fodder is not as 

 good as fine. A rather moist soil is best, as im- 

 mense quantities of moisture are thrown off" by 

 such a mass of leaves. 



Besides the cheapness of this crop, and the great 

 ease of its cultivation, it possesses the following 

 advantages: ] . It may be sown after the hurrying 

 work of spring is accomplished, or at the end of 

 spring, or early in summer. 2. It may be harvested 

 after the wheat and hay crop are secured, or dur- 

 ing the comparatively leisure season at the close of 

 summer. 3. Not yielding any grain, it doos not 

 exhaust the soil, and is, perhaps, the best crop to 

 precede wheat. 4. It is an admirable crop for 

 smothering and destroying weeds and grass. 



A brief glance at the advantages of the general 

 cultivation of this crop may not be out of place. 

 The value of the annual hay crop in the United 

 States is about one hundred millions of dollars. 

 Those who have already adopted the corn fodder 

 crop, winter their cattle at less than 1-2 their form- 

 er expense. Would it, therefore, be extravagant 

 to believe that 1-4 of the present expense in the 

 use of hay throughout the country would be saved 

 by its general usel Yet one quarter is about 

 twenty-five millions of dollars yearly — enough to 

 endow agricultural schools, and build railroads, by 

 tlie score — and is well worthy of some exertion for 

 its introduction at large. T. 



Maccdon, N. Y., id mo. 21, 1851. 



Michigan Farmer. 



VALUABLE AND EASY. 



A cure that costs neither money nor trouble is 

 valuable. Chambers's Journal says of "Corns;" — 



"There is, no doubt, some quackery in the corn- 

 doctor's trade, but there is more ignorance. For 

 the benefit of both him and his patients, we will 

 now disclose a secret which will relieve humanity 

 from a load of misery, not the less diflicultto bear, 

 that it is unpitied or ridiculous. The cause of 

 corns, and likewise of the torture they occasion, is 

 simple friction; and to lessen friction, you have on- 

 ly to use your toe as you do in like circumstances 

 a coach-wheel — lubricate it with some oily sub- 

 stance. The best and cleanliest thing to use is a 

 little sweet oil, rubbed upon the affected part (after 

 the corn is carefully pared) with the finger, which 

 should be done on getting up in the morning, and 

 just before stepping into bed at night. In a few 

 days the pain will diminish, and in a few days 



more it will cease, when the nightly application 

 may be discontinued. 



flledjanics' Dipaitimnt, ^its, ^t. 



GLAZING EARTHERN WARE. 



Messrs. Editors: — I see in a late number of 

 the Prairie Farmer an erroneous statement concern- 

 ing earthern ware which I wish to correct. I have 

 been engaged in manufacturing black and brown 

 earthern ware for about 40 years, and have suc- 

 ceeded in making some improvements in the busi- 

 ness; and I must say I am surprised to find any one 

 so ignorant at this time and in this day of improve- 

 ment in science as to reiterate the old and exploded 

 notion that brown or glazed ware is poisonous when 

 made of the proper material and properly burnt. 

 As for cobalt being used in glazing I have never 

 heard of such a thing before, but if the materials 

 of which glazing is composed were in some degree 

 poisonous before being combined and burnt, the ac- 

 tion of heat reduces the whole to solid glass, 

 and in that state I positively assert that no more 

 poisonous substance can be extracted from an earth- 

 enware pot or dish properly made than from a glass 

 tumbler; but those who have tin "have" all the ben- 

 efit of whatever poison there may be in our glazing 

 before it is manufactured — now as there is no sub- 

 stance or acid known in chemistry, except one, that 

 will decompose or reduce glass to its original shape, 

 much less liquids used in culinary purposes, there 

 need be no alarm about poison in glazed ware pro- 

 vided that glazing is run smooth, which shews it 

 has undergone a proper state of fusion; but there is 

 danger of using jars for preserves if they are not 

 made of good clay that burns hard and makes a 

 solid body, in which case the glazing will comeoff'in 

 scales, and of course it will kill a dog to eat broken 

 glass. The way to tell good ware from poor is by 

 the sound; if it rings clear it is good. As to so 

 many having been poisoned with a pie, I don't believe 

 the poison was from the dish, but in the chicken or 

 something else. It puts me in mind of a man who 

 fell from his horse and broke his neck, and a quack 

 found out he had taken a dose of calomel some 

 years before, so he declared he came to his death 

 hy the use of calomel. S. McAfee. 



Prairie Farmer. 



LITHOGRAPHY. 



THE ART OF PRINTING FROM STONE. 



The process of lithographing is based upon the 

 fact that printing ink, being largely composed of 

 oil, will not adhere to any surface which is wet 

 with water. Every one knows how utterly impos- 

 sible it is to mix oil and water. To lithograph, 

 then, all that is necessary is to draw on the sur- 

 face of a dry slab of stone, with a greasy crayon, 

 whatever is desired to be printed. A weak solu- 

 tion of nitric acid is then rubbed over the stone, 

 which fastens the drawing so that it cannot be 

 rubbed off. After this a solution of gum arable is 

 passed over the surface, and then the stone is ready 

 for printing. By means of a sponge, water is now 

 rubbed on the stone, and while yet wet the inking 

 roller is applied. The ink of course adheres to the 

 lines of the drawing because they are oily, but to 

 the wet stone it does not stick. The paper is now 

 laid on, and with the stone passes through the press; 



