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THE GENESEE FAEMEE. 



245 



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Taffeli is the Chinese term for that kind of manure, and Burger recommended this word forty years 

 ago to the agriculturists as a substitute for tlie disgusting name we give it generally. 



Woolen rags have also been used with great advantage to manure Indian corn with, but since 

 the old rags are again worked up into new cloth they became too costly to use them for that 

 purpose. 



In Italy, Franche Comte, Burgundy, in some parts of Hungary and Styria, the maize is sown 

 broadcast. It is either plowed or harrowed in. 



In Germany it is planted in rows with the hand or with the drill machines. 



Ludersdorf phuited Indian corn in rows sixteen inches apart and the plants in the rows six 

 inclies. Whea the plant formed the tassel he had every other plant removed, and gained about 

 42|- cwt. green fodder per rrussian acre. Dense planting seemed in the beginning not to influence 

 the yield on cori^ all the remaining plants liad well-formed and fine large ears. Peihaj^s this 

 mode of planting would present some advantages, especially in dry spells. 



Burger made experiments as to the depth at which maize should be planted, and lie found that 

 maize phmted one inch deep sprouted in Si davs; kernels planted 4-^ inches deep, in 13^ days. 

 All those wliich had been jjlanted much deeper did not come up at all. 



I consider the greatest fault of the German mode of cultivating corn, that they plant too many 

 other agricultural plants between it. 



The most common and most advantageous plant raised between the rows of corn is the 

 dwarf bean. In Alsasce, Styria, they are very extensively cultivated with maize ; the hoeing and 

 cultivating are done by hand. 



Burger invented a corn-drill, which drops between every two maize seed three or four beans. 



In Karinthia the beans are planted separately; in the maize field between every 16th o" 20lh 

 row of maize they use two rows for beans. This method has the advantage of allowing the air 

 more circulation among the corn and accelerates its ripening, the beans are sooner gathered, and 

 the vacant spaces can be plowed and the corn transferred to the plowed rows, in order to give 

 access to the plow to prepare the ground for wheat. 



Pumpkins {Oarcuhito pcpo) are much raised among Indian corn in Styria, Hungary, and Italy. 

 In Karinthia the pumpkins are raised in the same way as beans; after nine to eleven rows of 

 maize a row of pumj)kins is planted. In some places they plant hemp and tobacco between the 

 raaiae ; in Wurtemburg and Baden the farmers plant beets, cabbage, and the like. Peas are also 

 very advantageous among maize intended for fodder. 



In Wurtemburg, maize is sown with stubble turnips ; it is cut for fodder before the stubble 

 turnips arrive at their full growth ; it is still better to plant the maize in rows between the turnij)8 ; 

 the turnips succeed very well, because the maize protects the delicate turnip-plants in their first 

 stage of growth. 



In Styria the farmers remove all side or root shoots, and all the plants which produce no ear cut 

 out. In Styria, Grain, and Karinthia, the stamens, after their object is secured, are cut off; this is 

 done when the grain has reached a certain degree of firmness. In Tyrol this procedure has been 

 entirely abandoned, because it was found that it was injurious to the crop, and it caused besides, 

 much labor for cutting and collecting the tops. 



In Alsasce some farmers are against topping; others say that in wet seasons it hastens ripening, 

 and they continue to top. 



Ludersdorf remarks that maize can support more heat and drouth than other plants ; he says, 

 "this property must be ascribed to the structure of the plant, the leaves surround the stem like a 

 sheath, and project from the stem in an acute angle, the dew and rain glide along the furrowed 

 surface of the leaves and accumulate around the stem ; in dry spells the dew collects there and 

 assists the plant to support a long period of drouth." And he mentions as a very striking proof, 

 that in the year 1847, when the first trials with Indian corn were made near Berlin, (Prussia) 

 maize was planted upon a high situation among a large field of peas. The drouth destroyed the 

 peas entirely, but the maize grew luxuriantly. It yielded a large quantity of green fodder, for 

 which it was planted. 



To prevent, in the spring, the night frosts which injure the young maize, the Tyrolians, on the 

 slightest indication of cold, make fires in the maize field and raise smoke, which has always proved 

 a "good preventive. In the spring of the year 1851, I was in Styria and saw such fires, the 

 smoke being like a heavy canopy over the valley, and it seemed to prevent the cold air from the 

 mountain penetrating it. 



In Germany maize suffers only from the brand ; the ear swells up and the husks turn a silvery 

 gray ; in the beginning the interior of the diseased ear is filled with watery excretion, which turns 

 by degrees into a black powder. 



The late time of blossoming of the genuine American Indian corn makes it particularly adapted 

 to green fodder, and it is in eveiy respect preferable to the European or acclimated American 

 maize. The former grows very tall before the blossoms develop themselves, and the stem is at tlie 

 time of cutting still very tender. 



Maize has the excellent property that the cattle never suffer from over-eating. It is said that it 

 causes dysentery, which is however, prevented by cutting the stems in pieces, say si.v, eight, or 

 ten inches long," and soaking them in water a few hours before they are fed out; the water niixed 



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