m 



THE GENESEE FARMER. 



uever ruu, and I found it a dry gravelly loam. Here 

 I had a fair growth, but seven-eighths rotted. 



Now, on these two acres there are-all kinds of soil 

 (but a clean sandy soil), from a stiff clay to a light 

 loam, and in potatoe-raising the result, so far as the 

 rot is concerned, hiis been the same, with this this ex- 

 ception : I planted about two bushels of small seed 

 (which, by the by, I always use) in my corn field where 

 my neighbors' hens had dug up the corn, and from this 

 planting the potatoes were more aifected than tliose 

 I planted earlier in the same year. Now for another: 

 in May, 1850, I broke up about half an acre that 

 had lain as a common for thirty years, upon which 

 many ashes had been thrown, and all kinds of stock 

 had lain; being near the village, it was quite well oc- 

 eupied. After plowing and well preparing, it was 

 planted to potatoes. They bid fair for an extra crop 

 up to the 25th of August; but in ten days from that 

 time the whole crop lay in ruins by the rot. The 

 spring following I plowed it again, and upon one- 

 quarter of the piece I sowed ten bushels of unleached 

 ashes, and then planted. The result was a good 

 gi'owth of sound potatoes. The rest of the lot has 

 also been well supplied with ashes, but in a different 

 form, and I lose my potatoes on that part of the lot 

 every year. I have used plaster and salt, as described 

 by one of your correspondents, but to no effect. 



Now, sir, permit me to say, that if the soil produces 

 a good crop of sound potatoes, that will keep through 

 the winter, and the second crop should fail and the 

 third be again perfect, the fault can not be in the 

 soil. The like I have had on land that has no lack 

 of potash. The fault is neither in the soil nor in the 

 seed. Having already written more than I intended, 

 I now close by saying that you, and all investigators, 

 will be under the necessity of admitting that all (I 

 say all) of this wonderful loss is the work of an in- 

 sect. Top dress often with ashes, and your potatoes 

 are quite safe. This depredator may choose darkness 

 rather than Ught, for his deeds are certainly evil. • A 



SUBSCKIBER. 



PROLIFIC CORN 



Mr. Editor: — In looking over my old memoranda 

 I find the following account of large Indian corn, 

 which perhaps will be interesting to some of your 

 readers : 



In 1851 I selected 13 stalks from my field, which 

 produced 28 ears and shelled 14 fos. ; the cobs 

 weighed 3 lbs. One of the stalks bore 4 cars, the 

 grain of which weighed 1\ tbs., equal to 1,843 fold 

 (rather ahead of the Scriptures, 100 fold). I also 

 collected 13 stalks of the Yellow Dent, which bore 1 

 ear each and weighed 11 J fts.; cobs, 2i lbs. The 

 largest one was 12 inches long; cob, 2^ inches in di- 

 ameter; 22 rows of corn; weight of corn, 1 lb. 1 oz. 

 (997 fold) ; cob, 3 oz. All of the above stalks were 

 obtained from hills containing 2 or more stalks, ex- 

 cepting the one containing 4 ears, which grew by 

 itself. 



Suppose an acre to contain 4,840 hills, and each 

 hill 1 stalk tliat woidd average IJ lbs.; then multiplv 

 4,840 by 1 J, which will give 7,260; then divide 7,260 

 by 56 (the weight of a bushel of corn), and we have 

 the enormous yield of 129 bushels 46 lbs. to the acre. 



Here we see an acre of land funowed 3 feet apart, 

 with only 1 stalk in a place, yielding over 129 bushels. 

 Again, suppose there should be 3 stalks in a hill, cor- 

 responding with the next higliest number, and we 

 would have 261 bushels 2 lt>s. 12 oz. to the acre. At 

 3 tbs. to a hill, the yield would be 250 bushels 20 lbs. 

 to the acre. 



When I \woiQ the above, I thought those speci- 

 mens as large as corn generally gets to be ; but I 

 have since that time produced some larger ones. I 

 took several stalks to our county fair in 1852, some 

 of which were from 12 to 16 feet high, with 2 ears 

 on a stalk, ranging from 1,270 to 1,738 fold. At our 

 last fair (1853) I entered for competition some stalks 

 with 2 ears on each, varying from 1,032 to 1,750 fold. 

 There wei'e also 2 hills which I dug up wlicre an old 

 horse was burned, in a log heap, to get rid of the an- 

 noyance while j)lowing. One had 2 stalks, 3 ears, and 

 2,500 grains; the other had 4 stalks, 4 eai-s, and 3,500 

 grains (850 fold). 



The corn which I exhibited was soaked in a diluted 

 solution of ammonia — 1 ounce to 2 gallons of water 

 — then rolled in plaster; but the latter was of no more 

 account than so much yellow clay. There are some 

 kinds of plaster, however, better than that which I 

 used, the good effects of which I have seen at a great 

 distance. If farmers who own valley or prairie land 

 were to subsoil their ground as deep as possible, 

 say 12 to 18 inches, or even more (the deeper tut 

 better, as that gives the fibrous roots a better chance 

 to penetrate deep in search of food), they would, in 

 my opinion, raise much larger crops. I have no doubt 

 that if the richest lands could be loosened up 4 feet 

 deep, and a compost of a suitable kind (after the 

 seed had been soaked in a solution of ammonia) put 

 on or in each hill of corn, and the ground well slin-ed 

 with the cultivator or shovel plow once a week 

 all the season, the crop woidd reach my highest 

 figure per acre. The thought of this to farmers who 

 have been getting only 40 or 50 bushels per acre, on 

 land that might be made to double that in a year or 

 so with a little expense, is almost enough to scare 

 them into fits. I agree with the editor, that " tiying 

 to farm without capital, is like trying to run a loco- 

 motive without fuel." S. A. Ellis. — Roscoe, O. 



SMOKE-CONSUMING STOVE. 



Our engraving (see next page) represents a vertical 

 longitudinal section of Exxis & Fexwick's Atmos- 

 pheric Reversing Draft Furnace, for which a patent 

 was granted to the inventor, Mr. Exxis, of the firm 

 of Keyser & Co., furnace manufacturers in New 

 York, on the 29th of March, 1853. 'i'he fire is shown 

 in the furnace, I. The grate is sup]>licd witli fresh 

 air through a back tube or channel, F, above the 

 ash-pit or pan, E. A pipe or passage, J, connects 

 the fire chamber or stove, I, with the radiator cham- 

 ber, B, in which is placed an inverted hollow cone 

 of cast-iron. A, to deflect the fine solid particles 

 of coal that are sometimes carried off from the fire 

 when fresh coals are put on, and also to absorb and 

 retain a great amount of heat, and give it out by rsr 

 diation, so as to economise it; also to make a portion 

 of air return and feed the fire along with any carbonic 



