&!)c .farmer's IHontljhi fatsitor^ 



37 



feet is said to be equal to a remove of a full de- 

 gree of latitude towards a colder climate. 



The whole valley of the Connecticut, from 

 Long Island Sound on the south, to the Con- 

 necticut lake beyond the 45th degree of north 

 latitude — a distance of about four hundred miles 

 in all the river windings — is natural lo the growth 

 nf corn. Down south in Connecticut and Mas- 

 sachusetts, a taller corn, with the ears standing 

 as high or above a man's middle, is raised: the 

 corn-fields are perceptibly smaller at the remove 

 of every hundred miles north. Corn grows re- 

 markably well as high up as the Coos meadows, 

 ranging along both in New Hampshire and Ver- 

 mont, about Haverhill and Newbury. Above 

 this begin the fifteen miles falls of the Connecti- 

 cut, so that when we get as far north as Lancas- 

 ter and Guildhall, into the "Coos above the Up- 

 per Coos,"' the corn is almost of the diminutive 

 Canada size. At Compton, of the lower Canada 

 townships, on the 17ih of July, last summer, the 

 corn was spindled, and the ears set and silked, 

 which had been planted on the previous first of 

 .lune. This corn was probably ripened out of 

 the way of frost from the middle to the 20th of 

 Aucust following. The stalks of ibis Canada 

 corn, reaching scarcely three feet above ground, 

 would hardly be set down as a grain of the same 

 species with that of the tall corn upon the bot- 

 toms of the Ohio and Wabash, whose lops mount 

 twelve and fifteen feet into the air. 



It was, we believe, in the first volume of the 

 Visitor, about nine years ago, that attention was 

 turned lo the extraordinary crop of corn raised 

 by Mr. Brown upon the Long Island of Winni- 

 pisiogee lake. It should be premised that the 

 islands and shores of the numerous beautiful 

 lakes and ponds that abound in the centre and 

 interior of New Hampshire, are betler adapted 

 fur tiie raising of Indian corn, because the pre- 

 sence of near living water holds off the killing 

 black frost, which is so apt to cut down the corn 

 in early June, or at the close of the season in 

 September. If the green leaf of the corn blade 

 is touched ever so slightly by the frost, its further 

 growth and its ripening ate ruined. In prospect 

 of a frost, if the corn has passed from the milk, 

 the safer method is at once to cut it up and stand 

 it up in bundles in the field, giving the interior 

 of the stack the benefit of the circulation of air, 

 and placing it in a position to shed the rain. The 

 ears of the corn thus cut up receive the alter 

 benefit of the saccharine juices in the blade at 

 the time of cutting. 



Mr. Brown, of Long Island, has attracted the 

 public attention from the great crops of corn he 

 has raised : if we do not mistake, some of his 

 former crops have reached higher than one hun- 

 dred and twenty bushels of shelled corn to the 

 acre. So great an amount astonished even those 

 w ho raised just as large corn as could grow upon 

 the rich bottom lands of the south and west. 

 The general impression was, that there was a 

 great value in the peculiar kind of corn raised 

 by Mr. Brown ; and this circumstance induced 

 applications for the Brown sued corn from all 

 parts of the country. The result was, when this 

 corn Wits carried to a distance, an almost invari- 

 able disappointment in the supposition that it 

 was any better, if as good, as the corn common 

 lo ilie location. 



The first Brown seed corn in almost every in- 

 stance, disappointed farmers who prepared their 

 ground in the old common method, especially 

 those who manured their hind but slightly. The 

 ears did not come off as favorable as other kinds. 



The reason was, Mr. Brown had perfected his 

 seed for the higher manuring and more careful 

 cultivation, which had given him the great crops. 

 He had selected from intermixed kinds of com- 

 mon corn long used, until be combined the color 

 of yellow and red into a beautiful blaze, some- 

 times almost yellow, then of a deeper red tinge : 

 upon the smallest body of cob he had incorpora- 

 ted generally eight rows of corn, filling out the 

 ear at the two extremes with well-set and well- 

 shaped kernels, and those kernels upon the body 

 of the ear of nearly double the size of the com- 

 mon small kind. Shelling this. eorn in a paper 

 case covering both corn and col) in the ear, the 

 corn alone would measure more shelled than 

 both the corn and the. cob unshelled. 



In the course of practice with this Brown seed, 

 it was complained to us after the first year that 

 the ears grew shorter so as to become mere 

 nubbins, and that in the lighter grounds there 

 were more false blades than there had been in 

 the corn before used. Mainly, as we believe, for 

 this reason, the kind of corn called Brown corn, 

 has not become popular in New Hampshire. 

 That it should have entirely disappointed those 

 who have tried it in the southern States, growing 

 a corn altogether different from that of New 

 England, should surprise no one who knows how 

 to calculate the difference. 



Mr. Brown has been indefatigable in raising 

 his corn crops. We believe he seldom plants 

 not to exceed two acres in any one. year: his 

 ground is prepared with a care and expense for 

 this crop, exceeding perhaps, what is usual in 

 the best cultivated gardens. He takes ground, 

 if we recollect aright, that has been one year pre- 

 viously manured and cultivated with potatoes — 

 he ploughs in a first coating of spread manure: 

 he puts on more manure perhaps, and again 

 [doughs or harrows, so that manure is incorpo- 

 rated into every part of the soil. Then, as a 

 Stimulant, he pots fine manure into each bill. 

 His work is so thoroughly done that no hill es- 

 capes coming op without the requisite number 

 of blades ; and, watching " instant in season and 

 out of season," every hill is preserved with the 

 number of blades necessary to contribute its 

 share of the crop. No grub or insect is suffered 

 to remain a time sufficient unarrested to destroy 

 all the blades of any bill. For ground thus care- 

 fully prepared and attended by Mr. Brown, the 

 Brown corn is proably better adapted in the land 

 and peculiar climate where he lives than any 

 other corn can be. 



Again, we see what patience, ingenuity and 

 industry can accomplish, by Mr. Brown's success 

 in perfecting the "rice corn," which, as he truly 

 says, was when he begun with it, "the most di- 

 minutive sort in the world," but, according to our 

 experience on a small scale, the most impracti- 

 cable of all kinds to be planted for any useful 

 purpose. By his high cultivation, in five years, 

 he has brought this rice corn to grow stout stalks 

 with two to four ears each. The seed of this 

 improved rice corn, we suspect, will fall back lo 



a like quantity from twenty-five acres, which 

 would be larger than the average crop of the bet- 

 ter kind of farmers. As much manure upon the 

 ten, well and carefully applied, would probably 

 do its part in making the thousand bushels as 

 if applied to the twenty-five acres. The labor 

 of the careful cultivation of the smaller quantity 

 would not much exceed the necessary less care- 

 ful labor upon the twenty-five acres : the subse- 

 quent crops, without manure, in gram or grass, 

 must far exceed in the profits of a larger produce 

 from the less quantity of ground. With his sin- 

 gle acre of corn we are inclined to the opinion 

 that Mr. Brown, of Long Island, does better than 

 most farmers who apply an expense and tabor 

 equal to his, upon double and four times his 

 number of acres. 



Strong stimulants in the hill are almost indis- 

 pensable for a good corn crop in the northerly 

 and elevated lands of New England. Fine yard 

 manure is perhaps the best stimulant for corn 

 ground: plaster is very good at planting : ashes 

 and plaster laid around the corn at the time of 

 first hoeing. 



A pretty large kind of corn may be safely 

 planted from seed ripening the previous year at 

 any considerable distance further north. Seed 

 corn may be annually improved by a selection of 

 the first ripened ears, and the number of ears be 

 increased by taking that having two or more ears 

 upon the stalk. 



its original inferiority when it shall come to the 

 common corn-field treatment. 



As Mr. Brown has raised his large crops of 

 corn we cannot doubt he has been the gainer 

 from the mine thorough cultivation. His corn 

 field receives his particular personal attention 

 If he should undertake a field of ten acres only, 

 this personal careful attention must he lessened, 

 Alier all, we do not know hut the better and 

 more profitable cultivation might not be a thou- 

 sand bushels of corn from ten acres, rather than 



From the Agriculturist. 



Mode of Improving Sand Wastes in the vicinity 



•f the Sea. 



During a residence of several months on that 

 extensive and beautiful estate of the late Mr. Van 

 Eys, Mayor of the city of Amsterdam, situated 

 between the city of Haarlem and the North Sea, 

 I enjoyed a fine opportunity to observe the man- 

 ner in which the farmers of Holland reclaim the 

 Downs (Dumts in Low Dutch.) Intelligent and 

 able land-holders, in the vicinity of the Downs, 

 mark off, say one, two, or more acres of these 

 sand wastes, contiguous to their farms. These 

 spots they closely plant, in parallel rows, with 

 the down grass, which casts a pretty deep root 

 into the moist parts of these beds of sand. AC-/ 

 terwards they enclose them with a hedge of 

 hawthorn, or a elose bush fence, as an additional 

 protection against the incursions of the winds. 

 In a couple of years more, they sow them with 

 buck-wheat, or turnip seed, which, when sufii- 

 cientlv grown, is ploughed under and sowed with 

 winter rye. In the succeeding spring, this land 

 is well manured, and planted with potatoes. Af- 

 ter this, rye is again sowed. Thus hundreds of 

 acres in this manner are reclaimed from useless 

 wastes and rendered available for agricultural 

 and other purposes. Some of these reclaimed 

 lands, I have seen covered with thrifty planta- 

 tions of oaks, which, hy the intelligence and in- 

 dustry of man, have amply rewarded him for his 

 labor. 



Mr. Van Eys, who was a truly practical as well 

 as scientific agriculturist, was in the habit of 

 adding, from year to year, lands taken from these- 

 Downs, to his cultivated fields, and rendering 

 them equally productive. I have walked along 

 fields of rye, at his place, which might have af- 

 forded me a convenient hiding place. 



AUGUSTUS UACKERIIAGEN. 



Clermont, N. Y., Jan. 18-JS. 



We extract the above from the Agriculturist 



as confirming our theory that the term " poor 

 land," should be taken and considered obsolete, 

 if it means that such laud may not be made as 

 good as the best. Of all poor lands, where 

 would we find that, which in the common esti- 

 mation, can be more sterile than the flowing 

 white sand along the sea-shore ? The most pro- 

 ductive lands in Holland, are those formed and 

 brought into cultivation by the dyking out the 

 waters of the sea: what obstacles will not that 



