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THE GENESEE FARMER 



November 5, 1831. 



COMMUNICATIONS 



FOR THE GENESEE PARMER. 



GREEN CROPS FOR MANURE. 

 Mr. Goodsell — There is one source for fer- 

 tilizing our corn grounds which I think is not suf- 

 ficiently urged by our agricultural writers : I 

 mean green vegetable matter — zgood clover ley. 

 The utility of turning in a green crop of buck 

 wheat has been often urged ; but in comparison 

 with clover it furnishes but a miserable pittance 

 of food for vegetables. Nor would I have clover 

 left till it has run out, but sow it on tilled grounds 

 intended for corn and other hoed crops expressly 

 for its fertilizing properties. An acre of old sward 

 has been estimated to contain more than twelve 

 tons of vegetable matter, mostly food for plants. 

 An acre of clover, sown thick, must contain, with 

 its extended tap roots, two thirds of this quantity, 

 or nine tons, and must of course be worth to the 

 crop as much as nine tons of yard manure, carted 

 and spread upon the ground. A ton of manure, j 

 spread, is worth $1 to any farmer. Hence the val- ] 

 ue of a clover ley to a corn or potato crop.is worth 

 $9peracre. Andfromsome experience I think this 

 is not over rating its value : for all other circum- 

 stances being alike, a clover ley will yield 20 per 

 cent, or a fifth more corn, on a light soil, than 

 ground which is devoid of vegetable covering ; 

 and the difference is still greater in the relative 

 fertility of the two fields, for the subsequent crop. 

 Nor is this all ; the value of the after feed will 

 amply compensate for the seed, which, at $6 for 

 the bushel of 60 lbs. and allowing 16 lbs. to the 

 acre, will cost SI, 60. 



The clover ley is not only valuable as a fertili- 

 ser, but it is highly beneficial in a mechanical 

 way. It opens the soil, as it decomposes, and 

 renders it purvious to the great agents of vegeta- 

 tion, light, heat, water and atmospheric air. It 

 decomposes gradually, and the gasses evolved 

 are absorbed by the growing plants. It counter- 

 acts the effects of drought upon all soils, and ren- 

 ders stiff clays, which by the bye never ought to 

 be planted with corn, more porous and light. 



But the utility of clover, and all other grass 

 leys, in fertilizing the soil, depends upon the pro- 1 

 portion and manner of tilling the ground. If the 

 dead vegetable matter which is tinned under by 

 the first furrow or ploughing, is again turned 

 up by a second ploughing, the food which should 

 nourish the new crop is dissipated by the sun aed 

 winds, to say nothing of the labor lost in the ope- 

 ration. T/te ground should be ploughed but once, 

 but that ploughing should be well and faithfully 

 done — and no plough should be suffered to tear 

 the roots of the growing corn, or turn up to waste 

 'he vegetable matter destined for its nourishment. 

 { speak from experience when I say, that the har- 

 row and cultivator are the only proper implements, 

 ■ ogcther with the hoe, for cultivating corn. It is 

 not benefitted by hilling, if the weeds are extirpa- 

 ted, and the surface of the ground kept loose. I 

 would even advise caution in preparing for the 

 subsequent crop, which should be small grains, 

 not to turn to the surface the vegetable matter, the 

 partly decomposed sod which has been turned un- 

 der, and which is deposited safely where the roots 

 of the coming crop will want it, and will seek 

 for it. 

 Com requires more artificial aid than any field 



crop we raise, to render it profitable. One man 

 raises 80 bushels the acre, with the same expense 

 that another gets 15 to 25 per acre. A good crop 

 is very profitable. A poor crop, or even a medi- 

 um one, hardly pays for labor. In travelling 

 south to the highlands, north to Plattsburgh, and 

 east to Utica, I observed the corn on the two first 

 routes to be uncommonly fine, while in the vicini- 

 ty of the latter named place, and in the valley of 

 the Mohawk generally, its quality appeared but 

 medium or inferior. I ascribed this inequality to 

 the fact, that on the two first routes the resources 

 of art had been put in requisition ; while on the lat- 

 ter every thing had been left to the provision of 

 nature. The people of the west should not for- 

 get that the counties on the Hudson havo been 

 once fertile like theirs, and that they have been 

 exhausted by injudicious cropping. A new and 

 better system has succeeded here, or is rather be- 

 ginning to make progress, from necessity. Let 

 old Genesee be admonished by our experience, and 

 husband the riches which nature has every where 

 spread with a lavish hand upon her soil ; or she 

 too may become old in the barrenness of her 

 fields, as she now is reputed to be in the maturity 

 of her intellect. 



One word as to the time ami manner of har- 

 vesting the corn crop. My crop was cut and 

 stooked the first week in Sept., husked and cribbed 

 the third, and a part threshed and ground the 

 fourth, conformably to my general practice. My 

 crop was saved in excellent condition, is remark- 

 able sound, and is dry enough for market; the 

 stocks in fine order and well housed. My neigh- 

 bor's, which is but partly' harvested in the old way, 

 is at least one tenth mouldy, the cobs saturated 

 with rain, and the stocks blanched in the field and 

 rendered of little value. My system presents 

 these advantages over my neighbor's : my corn is 

 a fourth better than his, and my fodder four fifths 

 more valuable, while I have gained a third by the 

 economy of labor. J. B. 



Albany, Oct. 20. 



" Hull thus circumstanced, a great proportion of 

 " the annuals sown in 1813, were destroyed by it. 

 " A very simple and effectual remedy in such ca- 

 " ses was mentioned to me by Sir Joseph, Banks. 

 " He recommended that slices of potatoes, stuck 

 " upon skewers, should be buried near the seed 

 " sown, examined every day, and the wire worms 

 " which collect upon them in great numbers, be 

 " destroyed. This plan of decoying destructive 

 " animals from our crops by offering them more 

 " tempting food, is excellent, and deserves to be 

 " pursued in other instances." 



It may be doubted (for I have no certain ac 

 count) if our wire worm and that of England be- 

 long to the same species. It will appear, howev- 

 er, from the foregoing notice that their habits are 

 similar ; and that they have a common preference 

 for grass land or mucky soils. 



Professor Eaton gives " snap-bug" as a com- 

 mon name for at least one species of Elater ,- and 

 it therefore appears that this is the parent of the 

 wire worm. 



It has been strongly suspected by some horti- 

 culturists that the snapping bug is a depredator on 

 the pear tree. If so, it would only seem to be for 

 the purpose • of food, unless it deposits its eggs 

 there to hatch, and not to feed, like our common 

 locust (Cicada.) But it may be remarked that 

 pear trees have not been damaged in the manner 

 refered to, in some districts where the wire worm 

 has abounded. D. T. 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



THE WIRE WORM. 

 Kirby and Spentc, in their letters on Entomolo- 

 gy, notice the (English) wire worm as follows: 

 " The wire worm causes annually a large dimi 

 " nution of the produce of our fields, destroying 

 " indiscriminately wheat, rye, oats and grass. — 

 " This insect, which has its name apparently 

 "from its slender form, and uncommon hardness 

 " and toughness, is the grub of a beetle termed 

 " by Linne, Elater linealus; but by Bieikander, 

 " to whom we are indebted for its history, Elater 

 " scgelis, which name is now generally adopl- 

 "ed. 



" When told that it lives inits first (or feeding) 

 "slate not less than five yean, during the greatest 

 " part of which time it is supported by devouring 

 " the roots of grain, you will not wonder thai its 

 " ravages should be so extensive ; and that whole 

 ' crops should be sometimes cut off by it. As it 

 " abounds chiefly in newly broken up land, though 

 "the roots of the grasses supply it with food, n 

 "probably does not do any great injury to our 

 " meadows and pastures. 



" The wire worm is particularly destructive for 

 " a few years in gardens recently converted from 

 "posture grounds. In the Botanic Garden at 



FOR THE GENESEE FARMER. 



It is asserted in the 4th page of the Genesee 

 Farmer, that the potato is found growing wild 

 in the valley of the Mississippi ; a small uneata- 

 ble production. Is there any authority for this 1 

 The same article informs us, that the hundred va- 

 rieties of the apple originated in the oriental crab 

 — the delicious peach from the bitter almond — 

 the delicious and juicy plum from the uneatable 

 haw of the hedge. Perhaps these statements can- 

 not be demonstrated to be certain. But I am not 

 prepared to believe them. We find seedling ap- 

 ples, pears and potatoes, of every grade of excel- 

 lence. Our forests furnish us chesnuts, walnuts,, 

 goose berries, plums and grapes, with a great di- 

 versity of character. I see no reason for ascri- 

 bing all that is excellent to cultivation. My im- 

 pression is, that in every kind of fruit, some desi- 

 rable varieties have been found growing wild 

 and that these were originally selected for propa- 

 gation. It may not be foreign to the subject to re- 

 mark that it is yet a problem, whether there are 

 not children of the American forest equal in na 

 tive faculties, of the mind as well as of the body, 

 to any offspring of civilized man, whose ances- 

 tors have had the benefit of improvement for » 

 hundred generations. 



Among the trees and plants of the Wesleri*- 

 Reserve, near the southern shore of Lake Erie, 

 besides others common to Pennsylvania aud New- 

 York, are the following: The Cucumber tree, 

 Pawpaw, Honey locust, Black Walnut, Judas 

 tree, Fox, Summer and Frost Grapes, many varie- 

 ties and colors. Trumpet flower, (Bignonia ra- 

 dicans) Honey suckle (a Lonicera,) Plum trees, 

 some pleasant kinds worth cultivating, Euony- 

 mus. Wild ontsj (the folle avoine of the VV est. 

 or Zizaria aquatica of the botanists.) A specie* 

 of the Buffalo berry, Shepherdia canadensis 



