THE GENESEE FARMER. 



81 



NOTES FOR THE MONTH. — BY S. W. 



The Sorghum sAccnAKATUM. — There is no loug- 

 f r a doubt that the North China sugar cane is a 

 great contribution to the agriculture of the Indian- 

 corn-growing regions of our country. True, the 

 seeds are not to be depended on when grown north 

 of Kentucky ; but as it takes but a quart or two 

 of seed to plant an acre, it may be easily procured 

 of southern growth at small expense, from seed- 

 stores. It is a much hardier plant, though of slow- 

 er early growth, than the Indian corn plant ; bears 

 more frost ; and may be successfully transplanted 

 when not over thi-ee inches high. For soiling cat- 

 tle and horses, it is better than green corn-stalks ; 

 but when kept for winter fodder, it sours even in 

 etook in the field, where corn-stalks keep sweet. 

 In proof of the adaptation of the sorghum to a 

 northei'n climate, I have a letter from Waupacca 

 county, North Wisconsin, stating that much valua- 

 ble sweetening had been made there from the cane, 

 last fall — a great treat to the poor farmers in that 

 newly-settled region, who clubbed together and got 

 up a cheap wooden mill to grind the canes. 



The Tmphee, contributed by Leopold Weay, from 

 South Africa, (Sorgho des Caffres, Fr.,) has never 

 come within my notice ; but the Bulletin (C Accli- 

 mation of Paris tells us that it is grown in the 

 French Antilles for its forage and very nutritious 

 seeds, and that it is more of a cereal grass than the 

 China cane, the seeds being so full of starch as to 

 be substituted for rice by the plantation coolies. 



Rust o«r "Wheat Stalks. — E. S. Bartlett, a very 

 observing farmer who rejoices on a fine large farm 

 on the Soaeca lake shore in Romulus, avers that he 

 has provvd beyond controversy that the rust on 

 wheat is caused by honey dew ; and that, strange 

 as it may eeem, this dew never descends in the eve- 

 ning or iMring night, but only in calm, dry, hot 

 weather; and then at or a little after mid-day. 

 Several ) ears ago, when in the midst of his wheat 

 harvest, ^.-n a hot, dry, calm day, when he broke 

 off cradli ig at 12 o'clock to go to dinner, the wheat 

 stalks we/e very dry, as there had been no rain in 

 many dajs, and the sun was uncommonly powerful. 

 On retuniing from dinner with his men, they were 

 astonitihed to find the wheat stalks dripping wet 

 ■with a sweetish fluid that ran from the point of the 

 cradle sc/the when held up. There were several 

 tall ash trees in the field, whose leaves were wet, 

 while the wheat growing under them was dry. 

 Before night the wheat stalks were covered with a 

 dry red rust, which was precipitated into a floating 

 powder as the scythe struck them. This rust did 

 no dam&ge to the now ripened grain, as it probably 

 would have done had it come a fortnight earlier on 

 the green stalks. There can be no doubt but that 

 Mr. B. and his men witnessed this phenomenon. 

 Has anybody else ever witnessed the same ? 



Corn Fodder. — Jos. "Wright has kept 50 horses 

 in fine order all winter on corn stalks very finely 

 cut by steam power. A little Indian meal is 

 sprinkled on the cut and moistened mass. He 

 thinks this feed is a saving of one-half over hay and 

 oats. The large stalks of the Ohio dent corn are 

 preferred to the smaller stalks of the flint corn, for 

 they retain their sugar much better, as the animals 

 testify in the avidity with which they devour the 

 fine cut mass even without the meal. But Mr. W. 

 says corn fodder that has ripened no cereal crop 



will fatten horses without the aid of meal ; hence 

 it is hereafter to be one of the standard crops on 

 his matchlessly-improved domain. 



Fattening Hogs. — Here is a farmer who has 700 

 bushels of corn to sell at 75 cents per bushel — the 

 present cash price. He boasts that his eleven large 

 hogs only eat the unsaleable soft corn, which would 

 have been a dead loss but for the hogs. "Would it 

 not have been better for this farmer to have planted 

 all his corn before the first summer month had half 

 run out, so as to fatten his hogs on hard, ripe corn, 

 boiled to make it soft, or ground and boiled w ith 

 small potatoes, pumpkins, carrots, etc.? Then half 

 the number of bushels would have fattened his hogs, 

 and he would have had the balance to sell at the 

 present high price. 



Waterloo, 2^. Y., Feb., 1830. 



CORN FOR EXPORT. 



Eds. Genesee Farmer : — " "When an American 

 farmer sells corn, it must be for exportation to 

 England." Thus infers Dr. Lee for a writer in the 

 Marh Lane Express. No one but the Doctor would 

 "draw" such " an inference." In that respect, he 

 is more than a " match" for the rest of mankind, 

 and the " horse" beside. 



The Doctor says : " It is the business of the pur- 

 chaser of corn for foreign consumption, to see that 

 it is sufficiently dry to keep sound during a sea 

 voyage." This would be a diflicult matter, if corn, 

 when offered for sale, should contain " about twen- 

 ty per cent, of water." Moreover, some persons do 

 not fully understand the nature and property of the 

 article they purchase. Is it the privilege of sellers 

 to take advantage of the ignorance of buyers, to 

 gain by their loss ? 



Again he says : " It is not enough to dry corn 

 perfectly" " to have it keep well in a common gran- 

 ary at home, and much less in a hot ship's hold." 

 "What makes a ship's hold hot ? If corn be per- 

 fectly dried and put into a dry ship's hold, it may 

 be taken to England, and delivered in good condi- 

 tion ; or, if need be, I believe it may be returned 

 in good condition without breaking bulk. It may 

 be presumptions to doubt the Doctor's knowledge 

 on this point, but I certainly do. Not being a corn- 

 dealer, however, I shall not try the experiment 

 suggested, unless he will furnish the corn, and pro- 

 cure a suitable place to dry it. I would al«o ask, 

 Is it necessary to occupy the whole summer in 

 taking a ship to England ? 



Suppose what is said, by Dr. Lee, in relation to 

 corn being "dried once, or ten times," to be rea- 

 sonable — which is not conceded — is it reasonable 

 to leave " twenty per cent, of water" in it, because, 

 if expelled, it would be again absorbed in an indefi- 

 nite time ? 



The matter may be thus stated : Dr. Lee says : 

 "When farmers sell corn soon after it is ripe, there 

 is considerable gain in not keeping it long to shrink 

 and dry in weight." The writer in the MarTc Lane 

 Express probably having seen large quantities of 

 that grain in an almost worthless condition, which 

 had been shipped from America, doubts the policy 

 of recommending the advantage, as a matter of 

 gain, of seUing it in an unsound state. Dr. Lee 

 writes a captious article in reply, containing little 

 or nothing to the point. He frivolously carps at 



