\ OL. xvn. NO ai. 



AND GARDENER'S JOURNAL, 



165 



.nd also tlio principal pari of the food of a cow 

 roin the 5th of September to the 8th of October ; 

 naking 50 days keepinij for tlie liorse and 33 for 

 he cow. On the 5th of September when this corn 

 vas 5 to 8 feet hig;h, biii had not eared or tasselled 

 lUt, the produce of one square rod was cut up, and 

 rhile green, it weiglied 375 lbs. This was at the 

 ate of 30 tons to the acre. This 375 lbs. was 

 Iried, and on the 27th of October weiglied 66 1-4 

 bs. wliich is at the rate of 13,800 lbs., or about 7 

 ons to the acre. The advantages of sowing the 

 lorse tooth corn, instead of some of the smaller 

 orts, are, the horse tooth being a taller kind, makes 

 . much greater amount of fodder. An acre of corn 

 owed tliis way on good ground, would probably 

 .fford green forage for 30 cows a moutli, or for 8 

 lorses for the same length of time. 



Such is the substance of Mr Holt's paper, and it 

 eems to point out a mode in which Cobbett's pro- 

 3Ct of keeping a cow to an acre the year round, 

 an be realised. Perhaps there is no food more 

 Tateful or healthful to the ox, or the horse, than 

 iat of the leaves or stalks of corn, when secured 

 t the proper time, and in a careful manner. The 

 uantity of nutritive matter the stalks contain, even 

 nder the present injudicious mode of treating it, 

 I very great, and if cut and steamed as it should 

 e, would add most materially to the means of feed- 

 ig ; and every one who has travelled at the south 

 news the avidity with which the northern as well 

 3 tlie southern horse feeds on corn leaf fodder, 

 ^'e would add here, that in our opinion, much of 

 le relief, not to say cure, experienced by horses 

 om the nortli subject to the heaves, when taken 

 > the south arises from substituting the clean 

 rateful corn leaf as food, in the room of the too 

 equently mouldy, and always dusty hay of the 

 orth. In a season of drouth like the past, an acre 

 • two of corn like Mr Holt's sown broad cast, and 

 ' good growtli, would have been a most material 

 d in supplying tJie many half starved cattle and 

 >rses that were to be seen even in our fertile 

 ?'estern New York with the most nourishing food ; 

 id if not wanted for that purpose in Uie summer, 

 J being cut and dried, would make a supply of 

 inter food far greater and more valuable than 

 juld be obtained in a dry state in any other way. 



The system of soiling, it is evident, requires 

 ch lauds to grow the food ; and it is clear, there 



no method so well calculated as this to keep 

 nds rich. We think it might be made a most 

 •ofitable part of our mode of farming on our rich 

 rain growing farms, by enabling us to keep great- 

 ■ quantities of stock than we are now able to do ; 

 LUS securing at once, greater sources of comfort 

 id profit, and the most effectual means of retain- 

 g tlie fertility of our soiVi. — Genesee Farmer. 



(From tie Farmer's Cabinet.) 



THE STRAWBERRY AND GRAPE. 

 It is a matter of importance to farmers who at- 

 nd market regularly with butter, poultry, and other 

 eductions of their farms, to turn their attention 

 ore than most of them do, to raising fruit of the 

 ost valuable kinds for sale in the market, as well 

 i for home consumption. Attention to fruit trees, 

 rnishes an agreeable pastime to the younger 

 embers of the family, and produces home attach- 

 tnts which are important to be inculcated in youth 

 ■ both sexes, and at the same time may become 

 source of considerable profit to an industriou.s, in- 

 lligent family. A good strawberry bed occupies 



but little room, and requires but little time to keep 

 it in good and productive order, which the pleasure 

 derived from so agreeable and wholesome a fruit 

 would repay four fold — but if it should be extend 

 ed a little beyond the wants of the family circle, 

 and their friends, would become a source of co - 

 siderable income. I have seen a strawberry bed, 

 not half the size of a common kitchen garden, 

 which produced to its worthy owner more than five 

 hundred dollars a year clear profit ; a sum much 

 greater than is realized on an average from more 

 than half the farms in Pennsylvania, of 100 acres 

 and better. 



The grape is also a fruit much sought after in 

 our markets, occupies hut little room, requires but 

 little labor, and meets with a ready sale at good 

 prices, and furnishes an agreeable, cooling, refresh- 

 ing relish in a family. The more delicate kinds of 

 foreign grapes are too uncertain to justify their cul- 

 tivation in our climate unless under peculiar circum- 

 stances ; but the Isabella and Catawba, and the 

 Elsenborouhg are all hardy, native grapes, and can 

 be raised with certainty of success in any part of 

 the country. 



There are other valuable kinds of grapes that 

 stand our climate and do well, but those named are 

 readily procured, are well known, and the fruit 

 much esteemed. A gardener near the city, who 

 has been referred to in the last number of tlie Cab- 

 inet as eminently successful in the prosecution of 

 his profession, informed me that a few years since, 

 a friend gave liim a few of the Isabella vines, 

 which he planted on an arbor near his dwelling, 

 and that last season after giving away several hun- 

 dred weight to his friends and customers, and am- 

 ply supplying his family circle, he sold six hun- 

 dred and sixty pounds at ten cents per pound, pro- 

 ducing $06. 



A worthy gentleman residing at Camden, New 

 Jersey, causes to be sent to the Philadelphia mar- 

 ket several thousand weight annually, of the Isa- 

 bella and Catawba grapes which are sold at from 

 10 to 12 cents per jiound. The Elsenborough 

 grape is small, but it is perhaps the best native 

 grape we have ; vast quantities of them are raised 

 by the gardeners and private citizens of the ancient 

 and honorable city of Burlitigton, and the exhibi- 

 tions of the Horticultural Society annually display 

 quantities of the finest specimens of this most de- 

 licious and valuable native fruit. 



I bring into view the strawberry and grape only, 

 each of which is raised with less expense and 

 trouble than the potato, and is much more profitable 

 to the producer ; but there are many other descrip- 

 tions of fruit equally worthy the attention the at- 

 tention of farmers and perhaps equally profitable ; 

 the raising of which is shamefully neglected, but 

 which is sincerely hoped will soon claim tlie atten- 

 tion of all worthy cultivators of the soil, for the 

 profit to be derived from it, for the purpose of cul- 

 tivating habits of industry and home pleasures as 

 well as the public good. 



" They shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of 

 them." West. 



and this whim has no doubt discouraged many from 

 attempting the cultivation of this valuable root, in 

 other sections of the country, equally favorable to 

 its growth. It is true the soil of Wethersfield is 

 a rich gravelly and sandy loam, well adapted to 

 horticultural purposes; but the success of its in- 

 habitants in the culture of onions, is attributable 

 in a much greater degree, to a particular virtue in 

 the fingers of its females, than any peculiar proper- 

 ties in its soil. 



The business of raising onions in Wethersfield, 

 is reduced to a perfect system. The following is 

 the method of cultivation. Early in the spring the 

 land is manured by ploughing in fine manue from 

 the stable or barn-yard, in the proportion of about 

 ten loads to the acre. That of neat cattle is pre- 

 ferred, as that of horses is considered of too heat- 

 ing a nature. After the manure is ploughed in, 

 the land is well harrowed and laid out into beds 

 five feet wide. The beds arc laid out by turning 

 a furrow towards them each way. This raises the 

 beds above the aisles and gives an opportunity for 

 the water to run off should there be occasion for it. 

 They are then raked with an iron-tooth, or common 

 hay-rake, and the aisles suffered to remain as left 

 by the plough. Thus prepared, the beds are ready 

 to receive the seeds. 



As early as the season will admit, the seed is 

 sown in the fbjlowing manner. A rake, with teeth 

 a foot apart, is drawn crosswise of the beds, for the 

 purpose of making drills for the reception of the 

 seed. The seed is then sowed in the drill, with 

 the thumb and fingers, and covered with the hand, 

 from ten to twelve pounds of seed is put upon an 

 acre. After the plants come up they are kept free 

 of weeds, which generally require four weedings. 

 A hoe of a suitable width to pass between the rows, 

 is used in weeding, which saves much labor. When 

 ripe they are pulled and the tops cut off with a 

 knife. A sufficient length of top is left to tie 

 them to the straw in roping. They are then roped, 

 or bunched in ropes or bunches of 3 1-2 pounds, 

 as required by the law of the state. An ordinary 

 crop is from 6000 to 8000 ropes to the acre. The 

 quantity annually raised in the town, is estimated 

 from 1,0C0,000 to 1,500,000 ropes, which are sold 

 at an average price of $2 a hundred, amounting to 

 from ,ifi20,000 to $30,000. 



MoS', of the labor in raising onions in Wethers- 

 field, is performed by females. The cultivation of 

 an acre requires from fifty to sixty days' labor of a 

 female, whose wages, including board, is about 

 fortytwo cents a day. Though many of the young 

 ladies of Wethersfield spend a portion of their 

 time in onion gardens ; yet in personal beauty, 

 education and politeness, they are not excelled by 

 females of far less industrious habits. — Connecticut 

 paper. 



CULTURE OF ONIONS. 

 The town of Wethersfield (Con.) has long been 

 famous for the large quantities of onions which are 

 annually raised and exported to the West Indies 

 and the southern states. It has been superstitious- 

 ly supposed there is something in the soil of Weth- 

 ersfield peculiarly adapted to the culture of onions ; 



Top Dressing. — Nature always manures tlie soil 

 by the top dressings, the rains carrying down the 

 decomposed solution to the roots of plants; can 

 man do better than to imitate and assist in her op- 

 erations for his benefit ? — Farmer's Cabinet. 



Fatnily conversation. — Sensible, judicious con- 

 versation in the family circle, exercises an impor- 

 tant and salutary influence in forming the minds, 

 and regulating the opinions of children and young 

 people, and should be resorted to as the most effi- 

 cient means of regulating their future movements 

 in life. — lb. 



