PARMERS' REGISTER— EARLY GATHERED CORN, &c. 



509 



cumstaiues require— laying off my grounds.^ feet. 

 Previous to planting, the ridges are harrowed, 

 opened with a shovel j)lough ; corn rolled in plas- 

 ter and dropped about two feet apart, more or less 

 agreeably to quality of land. As soon as the corn 

 is up, I run a coufler next the corn, to the depth 

 of six or eight inches. This simple utensil, can be 

 used sooner than the plough : the latter covers the 

 corn up, if it runs as near as necessary, and does 

 not loosen the earth to the same depth, but makes it 

 more compact next the corn, preventing the tender 

 roots from spreading in search ol Ibod. A fort- 

 ni"-ht or more sometimes elapses be/bre the corn is 

 up"l_ frequent rains render the earth compact. The 

 coulter is the best implement in my opinion, that 

 can be used at this early state of the plant. Tl»e 

 hoes follow, ending with the one horse McCormick 

 or Freeborn plough. The coulter was recommended 

 to me by my friend Judge Coalter of Chatham, to 

 whom I tender my thanks, assuring him his rela- 

 tion (at least by name) shall always occupy a 

 place in my regard. 



For wheat, if on land low and level, two ridges 

 are thrown together, leaving clean water furrows. 

 If the land is rolling, the i)lough crosses the ridges, 

 and the harrow crosses the ploughing. In Feb- 

 ruary, sow clover seed rolled in plaster, and April 

 twelve months after, give it a top dressing of plas- 

 ter — one bushel per acre. 



For obtaining manure, corn stalks, corn cobs, 

 straw and leaves, are carried into the farm yard — 

 stables well littered, and when cleaned, tiirow the 

 manure into pens for speedy collection, &c. Collect 

 ashes from house, servant's houses — haul from the 

 woods rotten trees, that have fallen and become de- 

 composed — collect from hog pens, &c. &c. W hen 

 the manure from the liirm jien is spread ready to 

 be ploughed in, sow one bushel of plaster to the 

 at;re — pen during summer cattle and sheep. In 

 the absence of meadows, for a trial, select one acre 

 of ground, manure it well, prepare by frequent 

 ploughings and harrowings — sow two bushels ol 

 corn, harrow it in well — as soon as t!ie tassel is out, 

 cut it as may be wanted, and feed it to mules, 

 horses and oxen — from their superior masticating 

 powers, they will eat the whole plant : ■ of its saccha- 

 rine quality &c., I need not say any thing. Mules 

 may be worked when fed on this and no grain 

 given — one trial will insure its repetition. 



1 keep as many cattle, sheep, &:c. as I can feed 

 in winter and pasture in summer. I approve the 

 plan for the management of hogs, contained in No. 

 6, of the Register. J- R- s- 



EXPERIMENT ^VITII EARLY GATHERED 

 CORN. 



Mount Pleasant, Prince George, Dec. 21, 1S33. 

 To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



It may not be entirely uninteresting to you, to 

 relate the unexpected result from gathering my 

 crop of corn at an earlier period of the year than 

 is customary. To secure my corn from the fre- 

 quent depredation of hogs, I commenced gather- 

 ing it on the eighth day of Octolier, and finished 

 on^the sixteenth. It was all thrown unshucked, in 

 a barn about twenty feet square, which was tightly 

 weather boarded, and having no plank floor. I 

 commenced moving it from that situatioti to the 

 crib, immediately afier having finished seeding my 

 crop of wheat, and picking out my cotton ; and to 

 my entire satisfaction, I found it in as good order. 



as if the time of its gathering had been delayed 

 until December. I measured out of tliis barn ninety 

 six barrels of long corn, the short and rotten were 

 less in proportion to the whole amount, than any 

 crop I ever made. 



Last year I gathered in the latter part of Octo- 

 ber, or early in November, about twenty barrels of 

 corn, and put it in a hig barn quite open, and 

 spread upon a plank floor. In Decend)er, when I 

 removed it, I found about two barrels unfit for sale, 

 being iduck and damaged in the heart. The ends 

 of the husks of a much larger quantity, Avere of a 

 dark purple color. From a remembrance of this 

 fact, the pressure of business, and some conclu- 

 sions I had made relative to the drying of corn, I 

 was induced to venture this quantity undivested of 

 the shuck, in preference to being deprived of it. I 

 conceived that I had ascertained from observation 

 and other sources of acquiring information, that 

 when a large quantity of corn was deposited in a 

 bulk, the integuments generally liecome moist. 

 This I considered, arose from the aqueous vapors 

 v.hich escaped from the corn not })errectly dry to 

 the shuck. This circumstance could not depend 

 upon atmospheric humidity, for the density ot the 

 bulk occasioned by its specific gravity, alone offered 

 an insuperable barrier to the circulation of the at- 

 mosphere. Now I thought for each ear to be sur- 

 rounded by a perfectly dry shuck, the extrication 

 of sufficient aqueous vapor to moisten the shuck 

 mii:;ht dry the corn sufhciently to keep it safely — 

 but whether the result may be attributed to the 

 justness of the preceding reasons or the dryness of 

 the corn, I am unable to decide. But if necessity 

 ever places me in the same dilemma, I would sub- 

 mit tiiem again to the touchstone of exj)eriment. 



R. HARRISON. 



At a meeting of the Fredericksburg Agricultu- 

 ral Society, Nov. 14,1833; 



Ordered, that the Editor of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter be requested to publish the address of the Pre- 

 sident to tlie Society. 



CHS. GOODWIN, Secretary. 



ANNUAL ADDRESS TO THE MEaiBERS OF THE 

 FREDERICKSBURG AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Delivered lAih Nov. 1833, hy the President, James 

 M. Gariiett, Esq. 

 On the present occasion, my friends,! can think 

 of no suliject for the principal part of my customary 

 address, which better accords with tiie general ob- 

 jects of our Society, tiian 'the proofs, exhibited du- 

 Ving the past twelve months, that the agricultu- 

 rist's of our beloved state are, at last, very generally 

 awakening to a sense of their own deficiencies, and 

 of the best means to remove them. Among tiiese 

 proofs, the one which I consider the most decisive 

 is, the permanent establishment among us, of such 

 an Agricultural Paper, (I mean the Farmers' Re- 

 o-ister,) as bids fiur to diffuse its benefits to the 

 remotest parts of Virginia, as well as to several of 

 our sister States; for I hear, almost daily, of the 

 rapid increase of its subscribers, — not only within 

 the limits of the Ancient Dominion, but fiir beyond 

 them. Having, for many years, had the pleasure 

 of being well acquainted with its very zealous and 

 intelligent Editor, I avail myself of the present 

 occasion earnestly to recommend his paper to all 

 wlio do not know him, as every way worthy of 

 their patronage. His claims to it consist in his 



