128 [Assembly 



CULTIVATION OF CORN, AND GARDEN VEGETABLES. 



To the Board of Managers of the twenty-third Annual Fair of the 

 American Institute : 



Gentlemen — In compliance with your request, I hand you a 

 statement of the treatment pursued by me in the cultivation of 

 corn, and other agricultural products. 



Indian Corn. 



The several varieties exhibited at the recent fair, were grown 

 on clay loam, and manui-ed in the hill with guano and charcoal, 

 in the proportion of one part of the former to four of the latter, 

 ■and the bulk of six table spoonsfull applied, which is covered 

 with from one to two inches of soil before planting. The seed 

 is dropped about six inches apart, at right angles forming a 

 square with an additional seed in the centre, which in case all 

 germinate, is removed, never allowing more than four plants to 

 stand in one hill, and if three only come up, do not replant. The 

 furrows are deeply drawn, four feet apart. By allowing this 

 space, a good crop of pumpkins, tli e seed of which planted with 

 the corn in every otheij hill, in every other row, is also obtained. 



The seed of both is soaked from twelve to twenty liom-s in a 

 solution of glauber salts, at the rate of one pound to one gallon 

 of water, and rolled in plaster. 



I prefer early planting, but never venture planting in the seed 

 before the first of May. The past season, in consequence of the 

 unsettled state of the weather, it was delayed until the tenth. 



I cross plough and hoe three times. At the second hoeing dis- 

 tribute a handful of unleached wood ashes round each hill, and 

 if the season should be wet an additional quantity may be ad- 

 vantageously used. At the second hoeing the ground is left 

 level. At the third a moderate hill is formed so graduated that 

 the elevation is only slightly perceptible. 



The stimulating effect of guano on this plant is distinctly 

 visible causing it to sprout earlier and advance more rapidly 



