1848. 



GENESEE FARMER. 



119 



rotted, if not ready for its use, pile it in heaps in 

 the yard ; it is better than to distribute it in the 

 iield, to leach, dry, and bleach. 



Planting corn in drills 3| feet by 18 inches, 

 two plants in a place, and manuring in the hill, 

 makes the great premium crops. It is a little 

 more labor to hoe it, as you can not plow both 

 ways ; but nevertheless it pays for the extra 

 work. Soaking in salt petre, (nitrate of potass,) 

 m glauber sails, (sulphate of soda,) is a good pro- 

 cess, as it gives the young plant a vigorous and 

 healthy start, although it retards its coming up 3 

 or 4 days. To hinder birds pulling it, pour on 

 to a bushel of corn a pailful of scalding water, 

 and add one half pint of tar ; stir while hot till 

 thoroughly mixed and glazed with the tar ; let 

 it stand over night, and dry with plaster.- Too 

 much tar destroys the power of vegetation. 



Any time this month fruit trees may be pruned. 

 Do not trim them up, but thin out cross and 

 crowded branches ; properly balance the limbs 

 on each side, till they look uniform and well 

 shaped. Cut out the center stem of those which 

 have a disposition to spindle and grow too high. 

 Cut close to the stems left, and cover the large 

 wounds with paint or wax. In grafting old trees, 

 set the scions as low as possible ; for it is a great 

 mistake to commence a new top on limbs 12 or 

 15 feet from the ground, which must require 10 

 feet more height to give a sufficiency of bearing 

 wood. They are difficult to hand-pick and the 

 wind-falls are spoiled. 



Fruit trees that stand in grass plots, where it 

 is inconvenient to destroy the sward, may be 

 greatly benefited by covering a space 4 or 6 feet 

 around the base of the tree with straw, or the 

 bottom of hay stacks, to a depth that will smother 

 the grass. Remove before winter to avoid mice. 

 The earth is left light and rich and the grass ef- 

 fectually destroyed. 



Look out for the caterpillars on apple trees 

 before they become large. With a rod as large 

 as a riding whip, with a jagged end, of a cool 

 morning while in their webs, you may twist them 

 out in one minute. All the oils, soap suds, tur- 

 pentine, and tobacco-water are fatal to them. 



In the kitchen garden it is lost labor to plant 

 the tender vegp-tables, as beans, cucumbers, 

 squashes, peppers, &c., till the warm weather 

 has set in and cold nights passed, as they pro- 

 duce sickly dwarfish plants, that never recover. 

 In the climate of this State the 15lh to 20th is 

 soon enough. 



Any dry time this month sow plaster or ashes 

 on clover and meadow land. One bushel to 

 the acre of plaster and three of ashes is a full 

 dose. If leached ashes, any quantity alaiost may 

 be used. 



If you manure in the hill, never let the article 

 touch the seed. If corn, put it U7ider with earth 

 over before dropping. If potatoes, put it over. 



In dry seasons and in dry light earth, it is better 

 thoroughly incorporated with, the soil. 



If you try any experiment with crops, never 

 include the whole field, but leave a part for com- 

 parison. 



Plant potatoes early and dig early, and use, if 

 possible, early varieties ; it is the only security 

 while the disease prevails, which has already in- 

 flicted a greater penalty on mankind than the 

 Asiatic cholera. 



It is important in every respect to increase 

 our crops, as the present prospect is, that Amer- 

 ican produce of all kinds will command a fair 

 price in European markets ; for there is a great 

 nation doing battle, not for subsistence alone, 

 but for existence and liberty; and it is not Im- 

 probable that the struggle in France is the enter- 

 ing wedge of a commotion greater than the 

 world ever saw — that the whole Royal Bloods of 

 Europe may be obliged to borroA^ pea jackets 

 and leave for Yankee Land. God grant it, say 

 we. We can take care of such cattle, and set 

 them "digging corn and hoeing taters." * 



[Editorial Correspondonce of the Genesee Farmer.] 



Hints on Various Subjects. 



Among other things of interest to the farmer, 

 which we have noticed in our southern travel; 

 is the practice of covering seed corn with a kin 

 of shovel plow. As the hills are made five feet 

 apart, a smart girl will drop as fast as two plows 

 can cover, so that two mules and three hands 

 can plant from twelve to twenty acres in a day. 

 A field of 150 acres planted in this manner has 

 attracted our particular attention. The corn has 

 come up well, stands even, and is now (15th 

 April) well plowed out and some of it half knee 

 high. We assisted in putting up a corn-sheller 

 on the same plantation, with which two mules 

 got out not far from 100 bushels of grain per 

 hour. One planter five miles below Augusta 

 cultivates nearly 1000 acres in corn this season. 

 It is no uncommon thing to see thirty plows run- 

 ning in one immense field. Women are quite 

 as expert at the plow-tail as men. They are 

 cheerful, chatty, and apparently contented and 

 happy. ^ 



Thomas Campbell, the poet, says, that Amer- 

 ica is the only nation in the world where the 

 whole population have at all times enough to^eat. 

 This is a remarkable fact, and during the present 

 disturbances in Europe will serve to. draw im- 

 mense numbers of all classes, from ex-kings to 

 halfstarved peasants, to this vast and glorious 

 country. Our agriculture will improve rapidly, 

 not less by the increase of numbers to consume 

 its varied products, t'.ian by the general diffusion 

 of knowledge amorig the tillers of the earth. 



The Orange Groves of Florida are suffering 

 very severely from the ravages of a minute in- 

 sect belonging either to the coccus or apJiis fam- 



