imwi 



Vol. 9. 



ROCHESTER, N. Y. — SEPTEMBER, 1848, 



No. 9. 



THE GENESEE PARKIER; 



fssiied on ihe first of each month, at Rochester, N. Y., by 

 D. D. T. MOORE, PROPRIETOR. 



DANIEL LEE & D. D. T. MOORE, Editors. 



p. BARRY, Condttotor of Horticultural Department. 



FIFTY CENTS A YEAR: 

 FivK copies for $2. and any larger number at the same rate, 

 if directed to individuals. Eight copies for $3, if only directed 

 to one person — and any larger number, addressed in like man- 

 ner, at the same rate. All subscriptions payable in advance, 

 and to commence with the volume. QfJ- Back numbers sup- 

 plied to new subscribers. 



[Editorial Correspondence of the Genesee Farmer.] 



A Review of an Interesting Subject. 



Ln our last paper the following paragraph 

 occurs in the leading editorial : 



ProvicJence has made the subsoil and the earth below it 

 a vast reservoir of water more or less impregnated with 

 those things that cryrabine in cultivated plants — in human 

 food — to form ultimately, the bones, brains, flesh and blood 

 of man and all inferior animlas. Kind reader, would you 

 organize these constituei'ti of grain and grass largely and 

 cheaply in your growing crops t Then break the uudercrust, 

 that the moisture below with its salts of lime, its dissolved 

 bones, potash, soda, m.ignesia, chlorine, sulphur, phospho- 

 rus, iron, carbon and nitrogen, may come up to the thirsty 

 roots of your plants, and fully nourish the same. A deep 

 tilled soil imbibes more solar heat in summer than a shal- 

 low plowed one. Being warmer, chemical changes are 

 more rapid — more food is prepared lor your crops in a given 

 time. The mean temperature of the earth in Georgia is 

 from 12 to 18 degrees higher than in New York ; and corn 

 is now from 12 to 18* feet high on the Savannah bottoms. 



To the above is appended the following note 

 at the bottom of the column : 



* We suspect there is some mistake in these figure- — 

 but we " follow copy." and leave our associate to confirm 

 ■or correct the statement. — Home V.Xi. 



The " figure?" right. We have not measured 

 any cornstalks ; but have no reason to discredit 

 the statements of gentlemen who have done so, 

 and inform us of the result. The usual prac- 

 tice is to give each stalk from 16 to 25 square 

 feet of surface to grow upnn. Thus, one stalk 

 to the hill, and these five feet apart each way, 

 allows 25 feet of ground for every cornstalk 

 growing in the field. The crop which will 

 yield the most bushels of grain per acre, within 

 many miles of this city, is planted in rows six 

 feet apart, in drills, averaging a stalk each foot 

 in length. The field is a perfect swamp, although 

 each plant has been stripped of its suckers and 

 occupies six square feet. Our impression is that 

 this field will not exceed some 50 bushels per 

 acre, when harvested. A smaller variety of this 

 grain brought from the North, would, we suspect, 

 yield for a few years much larger crops. There 

 is a vast disproportion between the eeed organ- 

 ized and the growth of stems and leaves. The 



latter seem to rob the ears of their just share of 

 nutriment in this climate. Why a weight of 

 plants which would give 60 bushels of corn in 

 New York makes but 20 in Georgia, is a matter 

 worth inquiring into. That the yield in the 

 seed of wheat and corn plants bears no uniform 

 relation to the weight of straw, is doubtless 

 known to most of our readers. 



The greatest evil complained of at the South 

 in the business of corn culture is its "firing" by 

 drouth at the time when the ear is forming. 

 Solar heat is so intense, and the evaporation of 

 water from the naked eartli, (where it is naked,) 

 and from the prodigious surface of the leaves of 

 corn, weeds, or grass, is so rapid, that a succes- 

 sion of heavy rains is almost indispensable to 

 make a fair crop. And such rains ! Over nine 

 inches of water fell in Savannah in three suc- 

 cessive days not long since. K down-pouring 

 of this kind must wash and leach out of the soil 

 no small amount of its fertilizing elements, if 

 they abound therein. We have recently spent 

 a day on the plantation of Gov. Hammond, who 

 related some striking instances of the sudden 

 washing away of manure in loose, cultivated 

 soils. This failure of manure at a critical time 

 in one's crop is not confined to anv state or 

 climate. It is more common here and extreme, 

 however, than at the North. What is true of 

 manure is equally so of the constituents of corn 

 naturally in the surface soil, when equally solu- 

 ble. In discussing this subject at agricultural 

 meetings, with gentlemen of learning and ex- 

 perience, they usually agree with the writer 

 that deep tillage before planting, and taking 

 especial pains not to lacerate the roots in after 

 culture are the most rational preventives of the 

 "firing of corn." 



In our fortner article we stated that "the mean 

 tetnperature of the earth in Georgia, (near Au- 

 gusta,) is from 12 to 18 degrees higher than in 

 New York." Farther investigations lead to the 

 opinion that the diflerence is full 20 degrees. 

 We shall have something more to say on this 

 point when we return home, and verify our 

 notions as to what is the mean temperature of 

 the soil in Western New York, in summer, at 

 one, two, and three feet below the surface. The 

 best way to attain, so far as practicable, a due 

 degree of heat and moistuie around the roots of 

 cultivated plants, is the object we are driving at. 

 Too much or too little water; too much or too 

 little heat, are alike injurious to the crops of the 

 husbandman. 



The power of the cultivator over these impor- 



