404 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



tons of dry fodder, worth nearly or quite as murh 

 OS good hay. This shows how admirably this branch 

 of husbandry is adapted to make up a deficiency in 

 the hay crop. 



For a crop of corn fodder, prepare the land and 

 put it in good tilth as for a common crop of corn or 

 wheat. Spread the manure. Some sow broadcast, 

 but we prefer sowing in drills, and giving it one 

 dressing with the cultivator and hoe. Make the 

 drills from two and a half to four feet apart, accord- 

 ing to the growth of the kind planted. The grain is 

 dropped thick, so that the stalks will be only two or 

 three inches apart, or, in a drill of a few inches in 

 width, there will often be a stalk to every inch in 

 length, as they stand by the side of each other. 



For early use, corn may be sowed as early as the 

 usual time of planting, and other lots later in suc- 

 cession. For a large crop for dry fodder, it is better 

 to sow the former part of June, that it may be cured 

 while the weather is Avarm. For late green food, 

 sow the latter part of June. The farmer can ascer- 

 tain how the hay crop will be, in season for raising 

 a crop of corn fodder. The time of sowing varies in 

 different parts of the country, and on different loca- 

 tions, on account of frosts. 



Some sow the large southern corn, as it yields a 

 large crop ; others dislike it, as it is coarse, and prefer 

 the northern corn. This question is not settled. 

 Sweet corn is better than either, and the Chinese 

 Tree corn is probably better than any other kind, 

 being rather luxuriant, yielding a large crop, and 

 furnishing fodder of excellent quality. 



But very few farmers know of the great advan- 

 tages of green or dry corn fodder to supply a defi- 

 ciency in pasturage or in hay. It grows well in dry- 

 seasons, when our grasses fail. With corn and roots 

 we can get a large amount of food for stock, and they 

 may be had in good condition at all seasons of the 

 year. We shall be happy to hear from our corre- 

 spondents on this subject. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 FORESTS, THEIR PROPER PLACE, &,c. 



Mtt. Cole : It would seem that the most suitable 

 place for forests is so evident that no one of any ex- 

 perience could be liable to mistake ; but every- day 

 observation shows that thi* is not the fact. Farmers 

 continue to clear land, which, in ten years from the 

 time of clearing, will not be worth fencing, for pasture 

 or tillage. On every hand we see pastures white 

 with " June grass," and almost as barren as the 

 deserts of Africa ; and if we examine further, we 

 shall find the cow?, that are pastured on this worth- 

 less land, dying with the bone diiease and horn ail. 



Now, this might easily bo remedied on land not 

 already cleared, by clearing only such portions as 

 will continue to produce good grass for a long series 

 of years, and on those lands from which the wood 

 has been taken, by protecting from cattle and allow- 

 ing them to " grow up." 



In all mountainous or hilly countries, every farmer 

 has observed that the land which faces in one direc- 

 tion is much more fertile than that which faces in 

 the opposite direction ; and in countries long culti- 

 vated, levels ate more productive than hill-sides. In 

 this vicinity, and in New England generally, soils 



which slope towards the east are good, and those 

 opposite are poor ; owing, I suppose, to the prevalence 

 of west and north-west winds, which blow the snow 

 and leaves from the west to the east sides of hills, 

 and ])erhaps also prevent the fertilizing gases con- 

 tained in the atmosphere from settling about the 

 roots and leaves of plants within its immediate range. 



The practical inference from this is, that as trees 

 protect the soil from the injurious action of winds, 

 and enrich it by the accumulation of vegetable mat- 

 ter in the form of leaves, land in exposed situations 

 should be sown with the seeds of forest trees ; or, if 

 the soil is sandy, it would perhaps be better to set it 

 with locust-trees, which will spread from the roots 

 and soon cover the ground. There is also a great 

 advantage in allowing trees to stand on the summits 

 of nills, or even a little over the east side, and strew 

 their leaves on the land below. As to the best 

 variety of trees to plant, much depends on the situa- 

 tion. The oak, chestnut, ash, &c., are valuable for 

 timber, while black and yellow birch, and sugar 

 maple, are better for fuel. The latter, however, should 

 stand on rich land when intended for the purpose of 

 making sugar. But the kind of tree which I should 

 prefer for a first growth, on old, worn-out side hills, 

 is the white birch, as it grows quick and requires 

 but little strength of soil ; and although not so last- 

 ing as some kinds of fuel, yet, when thoroughly dried, 

 it burns well, and, considering its quick growth, it is 

 not unprofitable. W. 



Fkanklin County, Nov, 25. 



LONG MANURE 



Vegetable and animal matters, when brought into 

 a state of fermentation by the agency of air, heat, 

 and moisture, immediately give off carbonic acid gas, 

 which, if confined beneath the surface of the soil, will 

 become mixed with the moisture there, and be taken 

 up by the roots of plants. And what is carbonic 

 acid gas ? It is composed of two parts of oxygen, a 

 constituent of atmospheric air, and one part of car- 

 bon, the principal constituent of plants, rendered 

 volatile by the heat of fermentation. It is the di- 

 gested food of plants ; it becomes incorporated with 

 water in the soil ; is taken up by the spongioles or 

 roots of plants ; transmitted through the sap vessels 

 to the leaves ; is there decomjjosed by the sun's rays ; 

 the oxygen passes into the atmosphere ; the carbon 

 passes down through another set of vessels, and 

 being gradually disengaged from the water which 

 conveys it, by evaporation, it becomes a solid sub- 

 stance of the plant. Carbon constitutes principally 

 the structure of the stems, branches, and roots of 

 plants, and it can only find access into plants in a 

 fluid state, combined with oxygen. From this view 

 of the matter, the reader will understand why we 

 recommend long manure for hoed autumnal ripening 

 crops, and why we insist that one half of the value 

 of cattle dung is lost by suffering it to be reduced to 

 the condition of short muck before it is buried in the 

 soil. All vegetable matters contain more or less car- 

 bon ; and carbonic acid gas is invariably produced in 

 the fermenting and putrefying processes. — Genesee 

 Farmer. 



EXPERIMENTS. 



There is no way of making improvements in farm- 

 ing but by experiments. If the farmer is informed 

 of, or has conceived, a different and better method 

 of culture or management in any branch of his farm- 

 ing, he is to test the goodness of that method by ex- 

 periments ; and, if these j)rove successful, he may 

 congratulate himself on having performed an act 

 which is serviceable to his country and honorable to 

 himself. — Fanner's Assistant. 



