44 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Fesk 



Ashes on Corn. 



In copying the letter of Mr. Van Dusen, 

 published in the December number of the Farm-^ 

 er, giving the results of his experiments with, 

 ashes on corn, into the Southern Cultivator, Dr. 

 Lee makes the following remarks : 



We have seen a larger gain than the above, but that is 

 abundant for cvur piupose. Let us aaalyze tlie subject 

 a little. Two bushels of ears will make a trillc over one 

 of merchantable shelled co?n. The Het gain of 115 on five 

 acrefr, we su()pase ta be fully equal to 6U of grain, or 12 

 on eadi acre. Cut up at the ground, and cured as corn 

 fodder is al the Norih, the gain of " one fourth" was equal 

 to the value of 17^ bushels of aahe.s. and the trouble of ap- 

 plying them to the crop. Ashes are worth about ten cents 

 a Ijusiiel in Western New York, where Mr. V. D. resides, 

 so that their value was $1,75. An aere of corn fodder is 

 tvorib three limes that sum. 



We greatly desire tlie plain, unlearned farmer to look 

 into this nuitter, and see the whole natural process by 

 which 3J bushels of ashes do add lo the crop 23 bushels of 

 ears of corn, and a like gain to the straw of maiae. Du- 

 ring the three or four rauuths, in which tijne this crop was 

 made out of so7siethitig — matter which certainly came from 

 somnehere — probably not more than a half bushel of the 

 ashes were dissolved, and entered the growing corn. Of 

 the solubility of ashes in rain water, we will speak at 

 another time. A bushel of merchantable corr*, which 

 weighs 56 pounds, v\ill lose 6 pounds of water, if dried at 

 212 degrees. Twelve bushels then will weigh (iOO pounds. 

 Grind this grain and burn it up, and you will have but 6 

 pounds of ashes. If yo.u add to. this, the nsh which the 

 cobs in- 23 bashels of ears would make, and the a.sh which 

 the quarter's gain of stems and leaves would yield on an 

 acre, arvl you wiM have altogether, not over half a bushel. 

 But Mr. Van Dusen applied seven half bushels witliin 

 reach of the roots of his needy crop ; one seventh of which 

 being dissolved and entering into tte c'rculatioa of the 

 ■plants, supplied lliose alkaline ecrths, without which we 

 have proved, time and again, carbon, nitrogen and water 

 <>.annot be orgarjized into this bread producing vegetable. 



All the organized matter that made the whole gain in the 

 crop — 23 bushels of ears, and a like gain in stalks and 

 blades -existed within reach of the corn plants as well be- 

 fore as after the ashes were applied. Providence supplied 

 in earth, air and water, full 95 parts in 100 of the elements 

 which combined to make the addition to the crop— the 

 ashes yielding less than 5 per cent. Science taught the 

 practical husbandman the important facts : first that with- 

 out phosphate of lime, and salts of potash, soda, iron and 

 magii"siii, soluble and available in the soil, no corn can 

 possibly grow. Secondly, that the supply of these sub- 

 stances in ordinary corn lands, is less than is required to 

 make 50 bushels on an acre. 



In conclusbn, we put the question to the common sense 

 of practical raea, vuhether tn truth there is any thing more 

 mysterious ia making a hill of fat earn— an average of tw o 

 good ears on each stalk — by feeding the living plants just 

 what they need', than there is in making two fit pigs in one 

 pen, by giving them a pleaty of good food during their 

 whole life time ? Upon a pinch, a hungry pig can trot 

 round over loO acres to find his breakfast. But alas, no 

 famishing corn plant can travel a single rod to get the ma- 

 terials winch make the solid bones of all animals that live 

 on corn, and have the power of locomotion. Corn will 

 send its roots into the suhsuil in seareh of bone earth, gyp- 

 8um, potash, so<la and magnesia, if you will only break it 

 ap so that said roots can penetrate the compact mass. 



American Apples. — The London Sun says— 

 "The arrival of apples from the United States of 

 America are beyond precedent in e.xtent, and the 

 quality is remarbably fine. In .several instances 

 vessels arriving from New York have brought 

 as many as nearly one thousand packages of this 

 fruit, of the excellent description of the New- 

 town pippin.'* 



Cobs as Fuel. 



Messrs. Editors : — Do the thousands of 

 your readers who raise their hundreds and their 

 thousands of bushels of corn, consider that they 

 are raising so many bushels of excellent fuel t 

 Only think of a ten acre lot yielding not only 8j 

 good crop of corn, fodder, and pumpkins, (if 

 the bugs do not destroy the lattev,) but six 

 month's or a year's fuel ! Half if not more of 

 my last year's fuel has been cobs. They are 

 best for summer, when a fire is not needed long 

 .at a time ;. but they are excellent in winter, and 

 ! nothing that I have tried will heat a room quicker 

 in a cold morning. 



The only objection to them is they are very 

 combustible, and need a tight-air stov® to regu- 

 I late the heat. They should be placed on a floor 

 I convenient to the kitchen, aR<l require alight 

 shovel of tin or sheet iron to handle them, else- 

 , the ladies will take exceptions. The corn 

 should be removed with a sheller, as that wilt 

 j leave them nicer than when threshed by hand or 

 1 horses — though that is not important. 

 I I would not recommend the use of cobs for 

 fuel in a country where wood is so plenty that il 

 is an object to get rid of it ; but in old sections 

 where wood is scarce and high, and especially 

 in the great west, where a cob is as long as a; 

 stick of stove wood, (not very definite,) and 

 I where, especially in many parts, wood will al- 

 ; ways be scarce and corn abundant, there it will 

 be an object not to be overlooked. I might men- 

 ! lion other advantages from their use, such as- 

 I the ashes as manure for the coming crop, their 

 cheapness, &c., but I will not obtrude longer on 

 your patience at present. 



Yours truly, P. Parks. 



Victor, N. y., Dec, 1847. 



Sugar Beets. — I brought from my garden 

 a Sugar Beet weighing 11 lbs. It was the 

 handsomest, but not the largest, being a true 

 taper from the centre to the point of the tap 

 root, perfectly solid, and eighteen inches long^ 

 with very fine lateral roots. More than one 

 farmer has asked me "^what sort of a root it 

 was," thus bringing to mind the assertion of 

 Savary, that when he was viewing some of the 

 I ruins of Egypt, a native Shiek asked him in alS 

 simplicity, whether the English or the French 

 made these ruins I S. W. 



Agriculture. — Nothing can more fully prove 

 the ingratitude of mankind than the little regard 

 which the disposers of honorary rewards have paid 

 to agriculture ; which is treated as a subject so 

 remote from common life by all those who do not 

 immediately hold the plow, or give fodder to 

 the ox, that there is room to question, whether a 

 great part of mankind has yet been informed that 

 life is sustained by the -fruits of the earth. — 

 Johnmx.^ 



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