vol.. xvm. NO. 40. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



337 



had been in the habit of purchasing; southern corn 

 for animals, and to accommodate laborers. The 

 impossibility of proceeding in the accustomod 

 course during that year of scarcity ; the siifferinn;s 

 witnessed, and in onr view the unreasonable panic 

 that had seized the minds of so many farmers on 

 the subject of planting corn, induced us to change 

 the couriie of proct-edin _'. Contrary t'l general 

 impressions of profiricty, we doteriiuiied to plant 

 more extensively, and apportion domestic animals 

 to the amount of crops. We believe Providence and 

 our own soil the surest sources of dependence. 

 Success under the change far exceeded expectation ; 

 domestic animals have been increased, laborers often 

 compensated in native corn, and in some years con- 

 siderable quantities sold for cash. Now if so much 

 can properly be done by a man who hires all his 

 labor, should not the farmer who daily works v.-ith 

 his own hands raise a surplusage of corn every 

 year for the market ? ■ 



Some reader may thinii those who hire their la- 

 bor have generally other sources of inoojne beside 

 tlie farm, and tliat the raising of corn after all is a 

 losing business. 



This was the confident opinion of some of our 

 neighbors a few years since, and we were induced 

 to put the thing to what we considered an unques- 

 tionable test. We weighed the whole crop, allow- 

 ing 75 lbs. in the ear to mal<e a bushel ; we then 

 estimated the corn at 75 cents per bushel, one 

 fourth less than the value, and found without any 

 consideration of the fodder, the corn in the crib 

 would more than pay for all the labor bestowed on 

 the farm, and considerable was accomplished in 

 that year of what we call permanent improvements. 

 It was an unusually favorable season for corn. A 

 similar result could not be reasonably expected in 

 in a succession of years. At a just valuation, 

 however, we are confident Indian corn will prove 

 one of the most profitable crops to the farmer, more 

 than nine tenths of the years in which it is planted. 



If the representation we have made of the 

 importance and profit of a crop of Indian corn be 

 in any measure-correct, the cultivation of this plant 

 is a subject of great interest with farmers, and they 

 should endeavor by interclianges in views, by in- 

 quiry and reflection, to ascertajn the best methods 

 of culture, and by all the means within their power 

 promote improvements in so good a work. We 

 give some sketches of our experience and practice, 

 - not on the idea that ^vc have made advances beyond 

 other cultivators, but rather as our acknowledgment 

 of the debt we owe those enlightened and patriotic 

 men, who have kindly favored the public witli ac- 

 counts of their practice. We began with planting 

 in hills three and a half or four feet apart each 

 way. The corn was dropped on a shovel full of 

 barn manure, five kernels in a hill, with very little 

 attention to location. In dressing the corn, labor- 

 ers were directed to draw the mould liberally to- 

 wards the plants ; when the dressings were com- 

 pleted, each hill was nearly as large as a bushel. 

 All this was done in accordance with general man- 

 agement, and our first admonition of error was in 

 the effects of strong winds on the plants. The 

 earth was raised nearly as high as the tirst joint of 

 the spire ; the wind operated with almost the pow- 

 er of the lever upon it, and in certain stages of the 

 growth numerous spires were destroyed. The 

 practice of forming large hills was gradually aban- 

 doned, and the benefits were so manifest both in 

 the greater safety of the plants and their more vig- 

 orous growth, that we at length requested the la- 



borers to leave the fields after all the dressings level 

 enough for mowing. Tiiis has often been effected 

 and witiiout perceivable injury to the corn crop. 



Some dry seasons convinced us the practice of 

 placing manure directly under the corn is wrong. 

 Plants so manured, wilt much sooner under the 

 influences of the sun, and when this effect is 

 produced a succession of v,-eeks, there will seldom 

 be uuicli lUOrc liian a crop nf stalks. And even 

 if no drought take place, it may bo reasonably 

 doubted whether a crop of corn will be at all in- 

 creased by planting directly on manure. The in- 

 fluences of it when thus placed are manifestly the 

 greatest in the first of the season, when the corn 

 requires the least nourishment. At the time 

 when the ears begin to form, and an abun- 

 dance of food is. wanted, the energies of the 

 manure begin to decline, and a large portion of 

 the ears s.it in the stalks never reach maturity. 

 Whenever manure is applied to this crop, it should 

 be in such manner that the greatest influence of it 

 will be felt in the last of the season. Evenly 

 spread over the surface, and lightly covered with a 

 harrow or cultivator, is probably as good an appli- 

 cation of manure as we can make, without we submit 

 to the expense of a top dressing about the time of 

 the third hoeing, which wonld be very efficacious. 

 Where Circumstances will nclnit 'u" s^ich a course, 

 we think it best to make tiie land sufliciently rich 

 two or three years before the corn is • planted. 

 English mowing land, which has been liberally 

 dressed with compost manure a succession of sea-' 

 ons, is a favorable situation for corn. The sward' 

 should be turned over as evenly as possible, then 

 the new made surface thbroughly pulverized with 

 the harrow, cultivator, and roller; after these op- 

 erations, the corn may be planted. It will appear 

 rather feeble and unpromising when it first springs 

 up, but will continually increase in vigor with tlie 

 progress of the season, and yield more bushels to 

 the acre than we have ever obtained under any 

 other management. 



We have supposed that manure furnishes too 

 much food for the corn in the early periods of its 

 growth ; in the language of farmers, forces it ; 

 when there is only tlie soil to feed the plants and 

 this has been made sufBciently rich, the food is 

 evolved in an increasing ratio through the season, 

 and an abundance of it is imparted at the critical 

 period with corn. 



If corn be planted in hills, we think three feet 

 qui;e a sufficient distance in well prepared fields ; 

 but our success has been greater when the plant- 

 ing lias been in drills, the rows three feet apart, 

 and the kernels in the rows about nine inches 

 It is attended with some difficulty to reconcile la- 

 borers to this method of cultivation, but after a 

 few days it will become easy, and they will take 

 only a little more time in dressing an acre than 

 they would in hills. And the product will be 

 greater both in corn and fodder. 



At the first hoeing we pas.i a plough ag near the 

 left hand row as possible, without disturbing the 

 plants, turning the mould from the corn ; returning 

 we pass it in the same manner by the next row, 

 forming a ridge between every two rows as high 

 as the plough will make. This the laborers leave 

 undisturbed, their business is to destroy weeds 

 that have sprung up, and loosen the mould round 

 the spires of corn. At the subsequent hoeings the 

 cultivator is used, and in passing twice it efl^ectu- 

 ally levels the ridge between the rows ; the hoe is 

 used as at first, only to pulverize the earth near the 



corn. We are careful in the selections of the 

 most perfectly matured corn for seed, and prefer 

 taking from the most fruitful spires. 



In the management of the corn crop the last of 

 the season, wc liave established no uniform prac- 

 tice ; in seasons of drought we sometimes take the 

 top stalks to feed the stock ; when threatened with 

 early autumn.il frosts, we cut at the ground and 

 stook the corn. We think it bi'st when there is a 

 fair prospect of favorable weather, to leave the 

 crop in an unmutilatcd state to ripen in the field. 



Feb. 27, 1840. .M. A. 



For the Farmer's Caliinct. 



CAUSES OF DEGENERACY IN PLANTS 



ANDANIM.SLS. 



And God said, let the earth bring- forth the living crea- 

 tures after hh kind, cattle and creeping thing-, and beast of 

 the earth after his kind ; and it was so." 



The instinct of all animals prompts them to se- 

 lect the sweetest, the most nutritious, and the best 

 pasturage, leaving that which is coarse and sour, 

 and particularly avoiding every thing which comes 

 under the denomination of weeds. A constant re- 

 petition of this procedure prevents the best descrip- 

 tion of grasses from spreading and extending them- 

 selves by means of their seeds which are prevented 

 from ripening, while the weeds and inferior kinds of 

 plants not offering a sufficient temptation to prompt 

 their destruction, gro\y, flourish, and ripen their 

 seeds, which are annually dispersed, and give rise 

 to new generations of their progeny. This is the 

 cause of the running out of the finer and better 

 kinds of herbage, and of their places being so co- 

 piously supplied by pernicious and worthless intru- 

 ders. Many people entertain a very erroneous 

 opinion on this subject, and suppose that naturally 

 there i.s a constant tendency to deterioration from 

 good to bad, and from bad to that which is worse ; 

 when the fact i.s, that the good is carefully selected 

 and consumed, and the bad suffered to remain un- 

 molested to propagate their kind. One of the best 

 remedies for this state of things is, to sow grass 

 seed thick and of various kinds on the same field, 

 so as not to leave any unnecessary room for unwel- 

 come guests; keep your table full of bidden guests, 

 and fewer intruders will thrust themselves in a- 

 mongst them. If the weeds were cut off or extir- 

 pated as they .'rrow up, and not permitted to seed, 

 and the valuable grass protected so that it could 

 propagate its kind, it would be found to maintain 

 the ascendancy so long as it could procure nutri- 

 ment to sustain it. 



Many farmers are constantly pursuing the same 

 system with their stock which their stock is pursu- 

 ing with their grass ; selecting out the best for con- 

 sumption or sale, and propagating from the more 

 inferior or worthless specimens that remain; and 

 the result is the same ; a constant down-hill pro- 

 gress, from bad to that which is worse; and hence 

 they very unsagely conclude that there is in the raoiu- 

 /■((/ progress of the animal and vegetable kingdom 

 a constant and invariable tendency to degeneracy. 

 "Look nature through," and you will see that like 

 begets like ; and if the desire is to improve stock, 

 always propagate from the best and most perfect 

 specimens ; those that arrive at early maturity or 

 take on fat most rapidly, or acquire the greatest 

 value in the shortest time, being generally to be 



preferred The laws of nature are unchangeable: 



from bad comes bad, from good, good : according 

 as thou sowest so shalt thou reap. Jacob. 



