First Efforts at FAEMiNG_My Fibst Crop of Corn.-I became a subscriber to the Geneve Farmer 

 about eight years ago, aud from that time read with increasing interest eacli successive number un 

 hi a sti-ong desire to engage in practical farming wa. gratified in the purchase of a small farm situa- 

 ted two and a half miles south of the village of Middleport, Niagara Co. I moved n.y fan.ilv and 

 effects to the premises in April last, (1852,) and prepared to commence the practice of farmiL as 

 a student, of course, and a boss from necessity. My help consisted of a son about sixteen yea^' of 

 age, and a hired man who was as green as the island he came from. 



The neighbors and experienced farmers of my acquaintance, as might have been expected looked 

 upon the success of such an attempt at farming, under such circumstances, as extremely doubtful 

 And I confess I was haunted by misgivings as to my ability to conduct the multifarious operations 

 necessary to a favorable result. But having joined issue I determined to prosecute the trial to 

 judgment. Entirely destitute of practical experience, my dependence rested upon what theoretical 

 knowledge I had gleaned from the pages of the Farmer, the Cultivrtor, and a few other a<.ricultural 

 pubLcations. It will readily be seen, therefore, that with whatever success my effort may have been 

 attended, the credit is justly due to that hackneyed phrase, "book farming." I had carefully pre 

 served all the numbers of the Farmer, and the Caltivator, and had them bound in separate volumes. 

 con.stituting a fund of invaluable informataion from which I might be enabled to draw instruction 

 whenever embarrassed, (as I often have been,) in conducting the intricate and ever-varying 

 operations of the farm. •' ° 



Thus ch-cumstanced, I commenced my operations upon a field of three acres, which had been 

 seeded with clover and mown the previous year. The soil is a loam mixed slightly with clay which 

 had been much exhausted by excessive cropping. Upon this I spread twenty two-horse wa^^on loads 

 of raw yard manure to the acre. I then proposed to invert the surface by the use of a three-horse 

 power attached to one of Van Brocklin's No. 10 Plows (which, by the way, I think is a very effi 

 cient instrument). But here were difficulties which had to be met and overcome -adjustinl the 

 power in the proper manner, guaging the plow to the desired width and depth of furrow placinc. 

 he wheel and attaching the coulter at its place and requisite angle. In experienced hands these are 

 trifles; but to a novice, somewhat formidable. However, after some little yexatious delay I was 

 enabled to put my power and apparatus in motion, and made a cut through the field about twelve 

 mches wide by eight deep, and, after a few rather unsteady revolutions, I got the power and machi- 

 nery so weU under control, tiiat in the course of about three days I succeeded in inverting the 

 sui-face of the whole field nearly to my satisfaction. I then made fi-ee use of the roller and drag 

 until the ground was in a suitable condition to receive the seed. Next, with horses and wagon \ 

 cleared the surface stone-an operation indispensable if a corn cultivator is to be used in tilling the 

 crop. The field was then fur,owed three and a half feet apart, with a corn plow, and marke'd at 

 right angles three feet distant. The barnyard was then scraped and a shovelful of its contents depos- 

 ited at the angles of marks and furrows. Next, my vault of ni-ht-soil was emptied and thoroughly 

 incorporated with four times its bulk of dry dust from the middle of the highway, and well-roUed 

 chips. This dust IS a grand absorbent and a good deodorizer, and being so finely pulverized is in 

 first rate condition for the use of plants ; it should be secured in a dry time and at the middle of the 

 day. A half shovelful of this compost was deposited in the same manner and adjoinin<- the yard 

 scrapings. The aviary wa.s then cleared of domestic guano and composted in the same "manner as 

 the night soil and a half shovelful deposited at the angle adjoining. And lastly, the pig-pen contri- 

 bution was turned over and an equal quantity of surface loam and rotten chips added, and a shovel- 

 ful deposited at each angle adjoining the domestic guano compost. 



Twelve-row Dutton corn was planted from 17th to 31st of May, care being taken to move the 

 manure m the center so as to drop the kernels to the soil, and then both corn aud manure well cov- 

 ered! with mellow earth. I would here observe that it took at the rate of twelve two-hoi-se wa-on 

 loads to the acre, where a whole shovelful was deposited at each ansle as above stated. Bein</ i-^no- 

 rant of the quantity required to treat each hill in this manner, I fell sliort and was enabled to 

 prepare only two of the three acres in this way, the third acre receiving only the raw manure 

 turned under. 



As soon as the rows could be fairly seen, Ruggles, Nouesb k Maso.n's most exceUent corn cultivator 

 was run twice in a row both ways, which operation was repeated at the first and second hoeino- at 

 both of which the corn was slightly hilled. No further attention was given until cut, drawn^'off, 

 and stocked— the 13th of September. While growing, no perceptible difference was manifest upon 

 the two acres manured in the hill with the various kinds mentioned. In the early part of the sea- 



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