90 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCTOBER 1. 1S3*. 



From the Smitlurn A'^rkultuii^l. 

 CORN SHUCKINGS. 



Throughout tlie upper pan of our State, it is 

 very conuiion for agriculturists to gatlior their en- 

 tire crop of Indian corn, or all that one larg-e field 

 contains hefore they liusk (or as it is coninioidy 

 termed " shuck out") any part of it, and to have 

 it all huskeil in one night, night heing the time 

 when this work is most commonly done. To ef- 

 fect this, a bright moonlight night is selected, and 

 the neighhoring inhabitants, whites or blacks, 

 sometimes both, are invited to give their assist- 

 ance, and a substantial supjier with a sufficiency 

 ofwliiskey is prepared for the occasion. These 

 " corn shuckings" are complete frolics. Two 

 captains are chosen, who divide the company into 

 two equjil parties, when the pile of corn being as 

 equally divided as possible by laying a fence rail 

 or pole across the centre of the pile, one of which 

 divisions is assigned to each party, the husking 

 commences, each party trying to beat the other in 

 husking out of their division of the corn pile. 

 The rustic songs, which, by one party or the other 

 are constantly sung during this race, one person 

 taking the lead in the song, but the end of every 

 line, all joining in a chorus ; the antic gestures 

 and' encouraging exhortations of the respective 

 captains, or some one of each company peculiarly 

 gifted to act such a part, who mounts the pile of 

 corn which they are husking; the earnest exer- 

 tions of the company generally and of individuals 

 in particular, who seem to husk as though the 

 fate of the world hung upon the issue ; the ob- 

 streperous but good natured jok.-s and brags play- 

 ed ofi" by the winning party upon that which loses 

 the race", all heightened by the exhilarating effects 

 of the bottle occasionally passed ronml, produces 

 a most inspiriting and animating effect even upon 

 the looker-on, and coidd not but move the most 

 phlegmatic. The corn being nearly husked out 

 the owner must conceal himself, for at the conclu- 

 sion, if he is found (and diligent search is made 

 for him) at any moment previous to all hands be- 

 ing called to supper, the negroes will certainly 

 exert the right which custom has given theni of 

 hoisting him on their shoulders, and moving in a 

 body three times round the dwelling house, mak- 

 ing the. air ring with one of their "corn songs," 

 as they are called, and then by one of those "ac- 

 cidents done on purpose," drop him rather imcfer- 

 emonionsly from their shonUlers. Resistance is 

 useless, nor will even a man's bed protect him il 

 ^ he is immarried. 



■ It is no wonder that these " corn shuckings" 



are popular amongst the laboring class, ami fre- 

 quent, but agriculturists are not, perhaps, aware 

 of the loss occasioned by them, v\'hich it is the oh- i 

 ject of this conununicalion to point out. I have 

 but seldom indulged my negroes with them, under 

 the conviction that instead of a saving of time and 

 lal)or, it is in fact a loss of both and also of corn, 

 independent of the expense of the supper; but 1, 

 this antunui, proinised to grant them one, resolved 

 to note well the result. Having done so, I caused 

 the pile of husks to he (examined the next day as 

 they were put away, wlnui I collected thereout 

 better than two wagon loads of unhusked corn, 

 which hail either by accident or design, i)robahly 

 both, got mixed with the husks. There was also 

 about two wagon loads of unhusked corn under tin- 

 pile of hnskeil corn. The j)icking out of this un- 

 husked corn, husking it, carrying the corn into 

 the crib and housing my husks occupied all my 



hands three entire days. This occasioned to me 1 

 a loss of two days labor, for had I pursued my j 

 usual plan of gathering and husking my corn wnh 

 my own hands alone, I would by a calculation | 

 which could not deceive me, have done it in less 

 time by that number of days ; and the quantity of 

 shattered corn left on the ground was so great, 

 that my stock of hogs were several days in con- 

 smning it. I should also mention that one of our 

 planters intending to remove to one of the new- 

 States, had a " corn shucking" this year, and sold 

 his pile of husks as they stood on the ground to 

 one of his neighbors. In removing these husks, 

 the purchaser was induced from appearances to 

 examine them, when he collected and husked out 

 thirty-tive bushels of clean corn, which was sold 

 to him among the husks, and which corn was 

 therefore an absolute gain to him and loss to the 

 other. I have now only to state what course 1 

 |>iMsue in gathering my corn crop. 



When I commence, 1 give my negroes the fol- 

 lowing task : A half wagon load of corn to each 

 full hand per day, to be broke down, hauled to 

 the crih, husked out, cribbed, and the husks car- 

 ried away and housed. To do this, occupies them 

 until 10 o'clock at night ; hut as this night work 

 happens but at a particular season in the year, and 

 does not last long, and is a work usually done at 

 night, the negroes do it without a murmur. The 

 coni thus husked, is thrown at once into the crib, 

 (instead of being thrown on the ground in a pile 

 and carried into the crib the next day as is done 

 at these "corn shuckings") and the next morning 

 the husks are removed ami put into covered rail 

 pens. On the first day, therefore, of gathering 

 the corn no husks are put away, but on every suc- 

 ceeding day the husks of the preTious day's gath- 

 ering are put away as a part of that day's task. If, 

 however, the corn field is at a considerable dis- 

 tance from the crib, so as from that or any other 

 circumstance to occasion the consumption of much 

 time in wagoning the corn home, this task would 

 he too heavy. 



Respectfully, Thomas Parker. 



German system of selling wool at fairs, will be 

 adopted in our own wool-growing districts. While 

 wool, as at present, is sold at the iarmer's doors 

 to manuRu-turers and manufacturer's agents, a wide 

 lield is spread for speculation and occasionally for 

 fraud. The farmer on liis remote homestead, 

 can-not possibly have so early or accurate inforniii- 

 tion as the nnnmfacturer, of the changes in the 

 markets. It is impossible ibr him, at a distance, 

 alwavs to tell with precision what is the fair mar- 

 ket price, or whether it is best to sell or hold on,. 

 These' evils were equally fell abroad, until a rem- 

 edy was devised. The Leipsic fair, which is the 

 principal one, concentrates all the wool of a dis- 

 trict of three or four hundred miles in diameter, 

 and is attended by purchasers, not oidy fron) »ll 

 the European States, but occasionally from this 

 coimtry. The advantage of combination is here 

 enjoyed by the seller as well as the buyer, and 

 every individual can ascertain in a short space 

 and with the greatest certainty, the highest market 

 value for his wool. The com|ielition on either 

 side is so open and. direct that there is very little 

 opportunity fur fraud or mistake. 



The small growers would be more benefitted by 

 the establishment of wool fairs than the large ones. 

 In Vermont there are individuals who sold their 

 wool last year for between three or four thousand 

 dollars each ; and there is a single township (that 

 of Orwell in Rutland county,) in which seventy 

 thousand sheep are assessed, and probably a con- 

 siderably greater number are owned. Wool- 

 growers on such a scale as this, can afford the 

 n-ouble of watching the markets, and the expense 

 of obtaining infornration ; they can even control to 

 a certain extent the njarkeis of their vicinity. 

 The owners of small flocks have none of these ad- 

 vantages, and the average price which they obtain 

 is considerably less than that obtained by the large 

 growers. — Sprinefield Mass. Mercury. 



wool. EXPORTATION. 



It is the opinion of inlclligeut persons who 

 have the means of judging, that within fifteen 

 years from this time, American wool wdl he as 

 important an article of export as American cotton 

 is now. This opinion is justified by the unprece- 

 dented increase of the production for the last ten 

 years; an increase which for the last two or three 

 years has been calculated to be at the rate of 

 twenty per cent, per annum. The amount of 

 wool raised in -the United States last year and 

 brought into market, (without reference to that 

 consumed at home) was estimated at sixty millions 

 of pomids. This year it is i.rohahly seventy-five 

 millions ; next year it will be ninety. Now to see 

 how this amount of production compares with 

 that of England. England, we believe, produces 

 cue hunilred and sixty million pounds per annum, 

 and she cannot be exi)ected to produce much 

 more, as all her grazing lands are now taken up. 

 She imports on the average twenty millions from 

 Germany, and ten from Spain. Tin; United States 

 then, at their present rate of increase, will soon 

 lake the lead in amount, and very probably in 

 quality of production, and with so vast a territory 

 adapted for sheep-grazing, will bccoino the great 

 wool market of the world. 

 1 Many years will not pass, probably, before the 



BROOM CORN. 



Mr. Shipman, of Hadley, we' suspect is the 

 "leatest Urooin Mannl'acturer in New England. 

 lie will make not less than two hundred thousand 

 this year. Broom corn is the staple cominodily 

 of this rich and thriving village, even to a greater 

 extent, we suspect, than its neighbor just over 

 the Connecticut, the goodly town of Hatfield. 

 The meadows belonging to these two villages, 

 present a rich and beautiful landscape just at this 

 time. The crops are principally removed with 

 the exception of the broom corn, and the immense 

 lields of this rich commodity, with its extended 

 surface of tassel and brush, are altogether pretty, 

 lo behold. Broom corn grows to the height of 

 ci.'ht and ten feet, the stalk slender and tiiu leaves- 

 hut few. At the top comes out the brush, like an| 

 Inverted broom, furnishing a rich and nnique- 

 si.iht, where extended fields of half a mile in ex- 

 tent are found, to an eye unused to such a spec- 

 tacle. The |)rice is in advance of last year, and a 

 fine crop is anticiiiated. — A'orlhampto7i Courier. 



From the SottlheiTi Planter. 

 TOMATOES PRESERVE. 



The tomato is favorably mentioned in your lasti 

 number: it is a valuable vegetable. But I do not 

 recollect, that in the variety of uses to which ii 

 has been applied, your paper assigns it any place | 

 among the dift'erent species of preserves. As w\ 

 are deprived this season of that pride of the frut 

 of Georgia, the peach, it may be of service ti 



