VOI-. xviii. NO. as. 



ND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



215 



inmcritea abuse, and I think it but fair tliat botii j 

 sides of the question sliould be heard. Your joar- [ 

 lal Buel's Cultivator and the Yanl<ee Fanner, are | 

 Jie'only agricultural periodicals I have met with 

 Jiat have shown themselves impartial. Most of 

 hem took sides against the corn, and never pub- 

 lished an article per contra, though they met tiieni 

 in many newspapers and journals, from the pens of 

 disinterested correspondents. 



Near Cleveland, Ohio, a field of the China corn 

 was examined by a committee from the Horticultu- 

 ral Society of that county: their opinion was that 

 it would yield one hundred and twenty bushels ot 

 shelled corn to the acre. It is also an early corn. I , 

 tliiiik it was on the 12th of Sept the Society held 

 their fair at Boston: then I sent a box of ray Chi- 

 nese corn, fully ripe, to the fair. We have earlier 

 Borts to be sure, but they are generally so small in 

 the ears as not to be worth cultivating for a crop.— 

 And that the grains from which this corn was first 

 cultivated on this Island were found in a box of 

 tea, is as true as that Bonaparte crossed the Alps, 

 though we never saw him. 

 Yours, sincerely, 



GRANT THORBURN. 



The following is the article from the Journal of 

 'Commerce, alluded to in the above letter : 



From the Baltimore American Farmer of Oct. 9. 



CHINA TREE CORN. 

 There are few subjects on which such opposite 

 opinions' have been formed and expressed, as there 

 have been in regard to this corn. Whilst in some 

 places it is denounced as a humbug and a cheat, in 

 others it is declared to be a valuable and prolific va- 

 riety and is considered worthy the attention of the 

 farmer We have heretofore published communica- 

 tions highly favorable to it, from Mr Sangston and 

 Dr Muse, and we- present a second one this week 

 from the pen of Ed. P. Roberts, Esq., who has felt 

 it due to Mr Thorburn to give this second testimo- 

 ny in his favor. We frequently hear of disappoint- 

 ments in the result of planting seeds, which in 

 many cases are produced no doubt from unsuitable 

 location, or other similar circumstances, but there 

 is little doubt are as often from the want of gen- 

 uineness in the seed. As we are anxious to do 

 justice to every one, we most cheerfully give place 

 to the communication of Mr R. 



J S. SK.r^NER, Esq.-Dear Sir-In publishing 

 my note on the subject of the Chi^nese Tree Corn, 

 of the 31st of July last, you appended a note trom 

 a correspondent of Fairfax county, Virginia who 

 remarks, that he had "planted two ears of the Chi- 

 nese Tree Corn upon land well manured and limed 

 -the result will prove it abscrlutely worthless, and 

 more like a rush than a tree." 



I have read also in your paper an art.c e from 

 that excellent paper, " The Yankee ?."--' jh"- 

 editor affirms that "the China Corn is a complete 

 deception practised upon the credulous and confi 

 din/public," and adds with great ^eventy-and if 

 the Chinese Tree Corn was the worthless thing 

 represented, with equal justice,_that the aii^hor 

 of the deception would be entitled to the severest 

 reprehension. The same article contains the de- 

 claration of Mr Howard, the able conductor of the 

 Zanesvillc Gazette, that it was not an ear y corn, 

 and tbat some farmers "observe that it will require 

 two years to mature this corn." 



I have no doubt that each of those gentlemen 



have spoken conscientiously upon this subject, and 

 I am equally certain, from the result of my own ex- 

 periment, that they h:ive been deceived in the vari- 

 ety of corn they have purchased as the Chinese 

 Tree Corn ; for it is impossible that results so dif- 

 ferent to my own, could, under any other circum- 

 stances have occurred. 



As I promised you in my former note that "in the 

 fall I would measure my little patch, and give you 

 a faithful account of its yield," I now proceed to 

 rcdeeiiithat pledge, and I do it with the more cheer- 

 fulness, as I conceive it but an act of justice due 

 to Mr Thorburn, that those at least with whom his 

 rorn has succeeded well, should speak of it as it 

 I deserves, in order that so far as their moral influ- j 

 ence may go, his name may be rescued from the 

 fate of those who practise deception either upon 

 private individuals or the public. 



With these explanatory remarks, I will state its 

 yield, and such other characteristic traits as it strikes 

 me to possess. . 



My patch was planted on a plot of ground in my 

 rarden 33 by 23 feet in dimensions, making /b6 

 square 'feet. The soil was a deep rich loam, which, 

 as I described to you, I highly manured. It had 

 the benefit of good culture, and its working was al- 

 ways done at the right time. On the 1.5th of Sep- 

 tember, I gathered and housed my little crop, con- 

 sisting of 254 good ears, rejecting all the nubb.es 

 While the corn was in the roasting ear state, as 1 

 observed in my former note, I pulled 24 pod e^«- 

 If then I add these to those I pulled on the 15th ot 

 September, it gives the product of 2C8 ears on /3G 

 square feet of ground, and as there are 43,5C0 sq. 

 feet in an acre, the yield, calculating that each ear 

 will shell half a pint of corn, was at the rate o 

 128 33-64 busliels per acre. But this is far short 

 of the actual yield, as one of my ^^o^'^ ^""""1 ^'' 

 way into my garden on the night of die 2.5th of Au- 

 trust and destroyed a considerable quantity. Be- 

 sides this, my chickens depredated largely upon it. 

 Having spoken of its yield, I will proceed to state 

 its peculiar traits of character. 



Its suckers branch out from the root, and after 

 arrivin- at maturity, it is difficult to distinguish 

 them f^om the main stalks, being so nearly equal 

 in size, and so alike in appearance. ,, r . 



The stalks and suckers were from 9 to 11 teel 

 hiffh: not so thick as maybe supposed from the 

 number of suckers which were thrown out and per- 

 mitted to grow, as the larger varieties of field corn, 

 which are generally carefully suckered. From act- 

 ual measurement, however, lean state that the 

 suckers and stalks in my patch were trom 3 3-10 to 

 4 1-10 inches in circumference, measured four in- 

 ches from the ground. 1 planted but two grains of 

 corn in each hill, and yet those hills had on them 

 10, 14, and in one instance 19 good sized ears each. 

 The ears have 10 rows of grain on them, are 

 from 8 to 11 inches long, of medium thickness ;- 

 the grain a beautiful pearly white flint, of great spe- 

 cific gravity, and from the sweetness of the roas - 

 in. ears which we cooked, I have no doubt will 

 prove an excellent meal corn, and be found to pos- 

 sess a very large quantity of saccharine matter. It 

 makes as mav be presumed, a very large quantity 

 of fodder ; and on that account is desirable to a very 

 .reat portion of corn planters, most of whom rely 

 tn a measure upon their cornfields to furnish winter 

 provender for their stock. . 



So far from its being a late corn, and requirmg 

 two seasons to mature it, I consider it an early corn 

 which opinion is borne out by the lact of my having 



gathered and housed mine on the 1.5th of So|)tembor, 

 a period when much other corn is scarcely out of 

 the milky state. 



I have given the result of my own experience 

 above, and will add, that two of my friends who 

 made experiments with it also, speak in high terms 

 of its productiveness. Besides these gentlemen, I 

 observe in your paper that Dr Muse and Mr Sang- 

 ston, of the eastern shore of this state, are well 

 pleased with their experiments. 



I have thus discharged a duty which I owe to 

 Mr Thorburn, and will remark, that in doing so I 

 have no possible interest, either of a pecuniary na- 

 ture, or of feeling, to subserve. He is a gentle- 

 man that I know not except by reputation. 1 have 

 never had the slightest correspondence with him ; 

 and in all human probability never will. But it 

 is sufficient for me to know that he is a dislin- 

 .uished seedsman, and that he is the original of 

 Laurie Todd, to make me feel solicitous about his 

 fame, and willing, whenever that fame may be as- 

 sailed with unmerited obloquy, to take up the 

 gauntlet, couch a lance, and run the hazards of a 

 tourney in his defence. , 



I will conclude this, perhaps uninteresting letter, 

 by stating, that I am so well pleased with the Chi- 

 nese Tree Corn, that I have determined to plant 

 no other kind next season as a crop corn. 

 Respectfully, your ob't serv't, 



Edward P. Roberts. 

 Mulberry Grove, Oct. 1, 1839. 



Preservation oj Vegetable..^ln several Europe- 

 an countries, particularly in the north, roots of all 

 kinds are preserved merely by secluding them en- 

 tirely from air, heat and water; this is done by 

 di..<r,ng deep ditches in a dry soil upon a epol a 

 ittre elevated, and depositing in them the roots 

 which are afterwards covered over with a layer ol 

 earth of sufficient thickness to prevent them trom 

 suff-ering by the frost; over the who e is then laid 

 a bed of straw, broom or fern ; in order to protect 

 them from ram and from the water of melting snows 

 which might filtrate through into the pit. 



Roots to keep well, must have their surfaces en- 

 tirely free from moisture before being thus buried. 

 The roots have in themselves a preserving prin- 

 ciple, which does not exist in a dead plant or one 

 that has terminated its period of vegetation : they 

 have as yet lived but a portion of their vegetable 

 life: they have not formed the seeds which secure 

 the continuance of their species ; and to fulfil this 

 areat design of nature, they profit by every circum- 

 stance which can favor and confirm their vegeta- 

 tion • but when placed for a time beyond the action 

 of air, water, and heat, their organs remain at rest 

 till again excited by the presence of these power- 

 ful agents. . 



As dead bodies do not retain this animating 

 principle, the energies of which are only suspended 

 In roots, grains, &c. during the winter, so they suf- 

 fer decomposition, though less rapidly, from the con- 

 tact of air, heat, and water. 



In the way of which I have just spoken, beets, 

 carrots, potatoes, and many other vegetables maybe 

 preserved uninjured till summer. 



\ very simple method of preserving them, at least 



free from decomposition, is, to heap them up in piles 



p<m . very dry soil, and then to cover them upon 



,1 sides with straw enough to protect th^"^ /^°^ 



rain and frost; in England, this is es eemed the 



best method of keeping turmps.— C/iaptal. 



