Vol. 1.— No. 50. 



AND GARDENERS JOURNAL^ 



395 



elude from this that the quinoa should be 

 planted one foot apart each way ; the ground 

 should be highly manured with stable ma- 

 nure, and it should be hoed like corn to keep 

 the weeds down in the fore part of the sea- 

 son. It should be planted as early as the 

 season will admit. The frost in the fall 

 does not affect it, much of ours was standing 

 during the severe frosts of this month; the 

 plant on the spent hoi bed particularly, was 

 exposed to the very severe snow storm of 

 Monday night last, 21 st inst., and the leaves 

 frozen as hard as ice; but no injury was 

 done to it. In cleaning out the seed, after 

 the plants are ripe, we cut them up, tie them 

 in convenient bundles and dry them perfect- 

 ly. The seed is then easily rubbed out by 

 the hand, and cleaned by winnowing. Some 

 simple machine will soon be invented to 

 clean it. The Peruvians rub the tops be- 

 tween coarse woollen cloths. If the ground 

 be highly manured we believe that it will 

 produce one hundred and fifty bushels to the 

 acre— at least this is the proportion produced 

 by some of ours. It has this great advant- 

 age over every other grain— you cannot make 

 the ground too rich for it, and it will yield 

 in proportion to the quantity of manure ap- 

 plied, or to the richness ol the soil. It will 

 J-row on anv soil, where the common lambs 

 quarter (chenopodium alba, its full brother,) 

 ■will grow. From a rough calculation we 

 judge that half a pound of seed will be suf- 

 ficient for an acre of giound. We must not 

 forget to caution persons who make trial of 

 this new grain, against destroying it by mis- 

 take ; for it resembles so closely the common 

 weed called lambs quarter in some places, 

 v i<rweed in New- York and some other pla- 

 ces, (chenopodium alba,) that before the seed 

 begins to form they can scarcely be distin- 

 guished from each other. 



Quinoa is used lor all the purposes of 

 common rice. We have tried it in all the 

 different forms— in a baked pudding we 

 think it far superior to rice. It does not re- 

 semble rice either in flavor or appearance ; 

 and can onlv have received the name of 

 Peruvian rice from the fac of its being used 

 in the same way. Its flavor resembles that 

 of oatmeal more than any thing else. The 

 grain is circular, flat, and about the size of a 

 small radish seed. There aie too kinds, the 

 white and the red. The former when cook- 

 ed is quite white, the latter retains its redish 

 color. Thev are easily separated, as the 

 whole plant of the red kind is covered with 

 a redish powder, which is a most perfect 

 rouge when applied to the skin. The color- 

 ing matter is not dissipated by light, but re- 

 mains permanent Perhaps a valuable dye 

 may be extracted from it. The leaves are 

 used as spinage, being little if any inferior 

 to common spinage. Persons wishing to try 

 the quinoa can obtain seed at the rate of 

 four dollars a pound, by applying to the Ed- 

 itor of the American Farmer. 



From the Ni.w-F.nglnDcl K«rmer. 



GREAT CROP OF CORN. 



To the Editor of the N E. Farmer. 



What is the use o' emigrating to Oregon 

 when 120 bushels of corn can be raised in 

 Chenango, when wild land equally good with 

 the land bearing this crop can be had in any 

 quantity from three to five dollars per acre? 



Having received much useful instruction 

 in perusing the details of good farming, great 

 crops and scientific horticulture recorded in 

 your valuable paper and having raised a very 



fine crop of com this season for this district,viz. 

 211 baskets, averaging 19i quarts to the bas- 

 ket, on one acre, and thirteen rods of land, I 

 take the liberty of sending the account of this 

 crop to you, and if worthy of record you are 

 at liberty to publish it. 



The entire corn field was surveyed by a 

 sworn surveyor. The lines were run back- 

 wards as well as forwards, the surveyor car- 

 rying one end of the chain on the back tract 

 to correct mistakes if any. The corn was 

 measured in two baskets as picked in the 

 field, one of which was taken from the field 

 bv my overseer as picked, to his house, dried, 

 and shelled, and found to contain twenty 

 quarts. 



The other basket was filled in the usual way 

 from the cart at the crib, at my house and un- 

 der my care even full, without packing or 

 shaking to make better stowage. The com 

 was dried thoroughly in an oven, shelled, and 

 weighing 37 lbs. The difference in meas- 

 ure may be accounted for in the latter stow- 

 age of the baskets taken from the field the 

 ears thrown in singly as husked in the field, 

 and the basket shook by moving 3 or 4 

 times. 



The crop was raised on what is supposed 

 to be a poor part of a farm of 200 acres ad- 

 Joining this village, purchased in 1825 for 

 IglO per acre, and condemned by the former 

 I] occupier, as well as neighbours/as a poor farm 

 l! calculated to starve the owner. lam now 

 happy to sav that the fine show of Grass, 

 Wheat, Bar'lev, Corn, Mangel Wurtzel, Ru- 

 taBaga, toe, ii as restored its lost credit. The 

 soil of the farm varies from a sandy loam to 

 a stiff clay. The part occupied by the corn 

 is a stiff loam. It was thrown out of a tillage 

 lot into a pasture 20 years ago, being then 

 considered too poor or to stony to till. The 

 stones were carefully dug and picked up to 

 the amount of 50 loads to the acre this spring. 

 Ploughing only once, an extra hand follow- 

 ing the Plough with a bar and mattock re- 

 moving every obstruction to the plough. 

 This was the most tedious part of the work 

 employing a span of horses, and two men for 

 two days. But when done the land was com- 

 pletely ploughed. We then drew on 25 

 cart loads, about 25 bushels to the load, of 

 sheep manure, and spread it evenly on the 

 furrow. Rolled and harrowed with the fur- 

 row, with a light double harrow, contain- 

 ing 40 teeth until it was a complete garden 

 mould, and the earth well incorporated with 

 the manure : again picked off the stones and 

 again rolled and planted on the 22d to 23d of 

 May on an even surface, with the early small 

 white flint corn, steeped in a solution of cop- 

 eras and salt petre and then tarred and rol- 

 led in plaster, and planted in double drills 

 3i feet from centre to centre, of the middle 

 drill. The plants standing singly from 12 

 to 13 inches on the main drill. The corn 

 was once ploughed, afterwards kept clean 

 with the hoe plastered well on the plant, 

 topped at the usual time, wasripe on the 15th 

 of September and harvested on the hill the 

 14th and 15th of October and found to yield 

 at least ISO bushels of shelled corn 60 lbs. to 

 the bushel, or 140 calculated 56 lbs. to the 

 bushel. 



I am, sir, most respectfully yours, 

 Benjamin Butler. 



CULTURE OF FRUIT TREES. 



The Southern Agriculturist for Novembei 

 last, contains its usual quantity of valuable 

 original matter. Among the communica- 

 tions we notice one from Judge Buell, "on 

 the culture of fruit trees in the Southern 

 states," from which we extract the follow, 

 ing : 



The apple produces best on a primitive for- 

 mation, but gives the richest fruit and cidev 

 on the transition, abounding in calcareous 

 matter and stones. The pear likes a moist 

 loam, inclining to clay, and the plum one 

 still more adhesive— the cherry thrives on a 

 lighter »oil than the pear, and the peach prob- 

 ably does well with you on your lightest 

 sands. There are exceptions to these rules- 

 The breaking pears, such as the Saint Ger- 

 main, &c. do best on a light sandy soil, thai 

 is, here they give the best fruit. The same 

 may be said of several apples, as the Down- 

 ton pippin, and those generally containing 

 the highest concentrated juices. The peach 

 should be transplanted at one year's growth 

 from the bud, and the apple, pear, pluin and 

 cherry at two. Plants of this kind, worked 

 on suitable stocks, are more prottable to the 

 purchaser than large trees, produce good 

 crops sooner and are thrice as apt to live when 

 transported at a distance. I know this will 

 seem paradoxical to men unacquainted with 

 vegetable physiology, yet it is a truth ad- 

 mitted by evety experienced nurseryman. 

 A small tree is or ought to be, taken up with 

 its roots nearly entire ; while a large one 

 must suffer a great diminution. The first, 

 having its organs entire, receives but a slight 

 check in growth by the change. Far differ- 

 ent with the large one. For want of the 

 usual supply of sap which the roots supplied, 

 the sap vessels contract and become callous, 

 the wood becomes sickly for want of the 

 usual circulation, and if the plant lives it 

 seldom ever regains its vital energy. Be- 

 sides, large trees are often those which have 

 been rejected for years in the nursery, on 

 account of stunted gr wth or unhealthy ap- 

 pearance, and then sold to the admirers of 

 arge trees. There can be no imposition in 

 a healthy young tree ; while the packing 

 transportation and prospect of living, give to 

 it a manifest advantage over a large one. 

 For myself I would rather buy of the age i 

 have described, than accept large ones as a 

 gift. — Western Tiller. 



Oxford, Chenango co. } 

 N. Y. Nov. 8, 1831. J 



About 40 persons have recently left Cambria 

 county Pa. for Texas, 



Botany. — The botanist attached to a re- 

 cent scientific expedition from Russia to the 

 Brazils has brought from Rio Janeiro, for the 

 botanic garden at St. Petersburgh, a collec- 

 tion of above 1000 living Brazilian plants, as 

 beautiful as rare, and among which are ma- 

 ny never hitherto seen in Europe. This rich 

 acquisition, joined to the young plants which 

 the garden has already obtained from Bra- 

 zil an seeds, will soon be sufficient to fill a 

 large greenhouse, where the lovers of bota- 

 ny in the 68th degree of N. latitude may 

 form an idea of the beauty and variety of 

 the flora of a vast country situated between 

 the tropics. 



On stopping Vines from Bleeding. — Let 

 the part bleeding be forced into a sound pota- 

 to ; for if any of the skin of the polato has 

 been rubbed off. the sap of the vine will soon 

 find its way to escape, and the vine will con- 

 tinue to bleed ; but if the potato be free from 

 any bruise, it stops the vine from bleeding. 

 — M. Said. 



