42 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



ATJG. 9, 1S43 



INDIAN CORN. 



The great crop of tlie United States, n-lielher 

 we look at quantity or value, is unquestionably our 

 corn crop. Four hundred and filty millions of 

 bushels in 1640, and probably five hundred millions 

 jn 1842, show the importance of this grain to us. 

 And yet the quantity now prown is nothing, a mere 

 drop in the bucket, compared with what we might 

 do, should circumstances render it advisable to in- 

 crease the production to an extent that might easi- 

 ly be reached on the present cultivated lands of 

 the Union. In order to show at a glance what 

 might be done, we have taken the pains to collect 

 u. few instances of good crops that have been grown 

 among us, and would remark that on a very large 

 portion of our soils, in favorable seasons, and with 

 the cultivation corn should receive, crops like the 

 ones named may be as well grown as inferior ones. 

 It is true, we now and then meet with a farmer 

 or writei, who asserts that no man ever saw 75 

 bushels of corn grow on an acre, and that the far- 

 mer should be contented with 25 ; but the only 

 emotions excited by such, are contempt for the ig- 

 norant confidence shown, and pity that in this coun- 

 try men should be found so far behind the times. 



Bush- pur acre. 

 136 

 118 



172 1-2 

 170 

 132 

 112 

 121) 

 136 

 174 

 ]1(> 

 115 

 142 

 108 

 140 

 103 

 140 

 J 00 



JVame and place of cvltirator. 

 R. H. Rose, Silver Lake, Pa., 

 John Stevens, Hoboken, N. J., 

 J. & M. Pratt, Madison, N. Y., 



Samuel Chidsey, Cayuga, N. Y., 

 Earl Stimson, Saratoga, N. Y., 

 Wm. M'Clure, Alleghany co. Pa., 

 Joseph Evans, Washington co. Pa.i 

 B. Bartlett, Eaton, N. Y., 

 T. & H. Little, Nowburyport, Mass., 



•t (( u 



Mr Wilmarth, Taunton, Mass., 

 Charles Bugbee, Palmer, Mass., 

 Benj. liutler, Chenango, N. Y., 

 "Old Farmer," Rhode Island, 

 Asahel Renick, Pickaway co. Ohio, 

 S. Lathrop, \V. Springfield, Mass., 



P. Reybold, Newcastle, Del. (av. of 22 acr.) 100 5-7 



R. H. Shellon, Cayuga, co. N. Y., 



E. Humphreys, Caledonia, N. Y., 



R. Lamprey, Moultonborough, N. H. 



Mr Brown, Strafford, N. H., 



P. P. Pilsbury, Tuflonborough, N. H. 



J. F. Osborn, Cayuga co. N. Y. 



J. Sherman, " " 



108 

 110 

 131 

 116 

 130 

 144 

 121 

 112 

 120 

 158 

 120 

 193 

 154 

 116 

 122 

 113 

 132 



Mr Ellsworth, Conn. 



G. \V. Williams, Bourbon co. Ky. 



W. Ingalls, Oswego co. N. Y. 



J. Myers, Canton, Ohi», 



W. Ingalls, Oswego co. N. Y. 



B. Bradley, Bloomfield, N. Y. 



Samuel Phelps, Cayuga, N. V. 



Wm. Ingell, Oswe^'O, N. Y. 



W. Wilcox, Saratoga, N. Y. 



The number of such crops, whore the product 

 exceeded 100 bushels per acre, might be extended 

 to a great length from the list in our possession, 

 but the above is sufficient. Still we imagine some 

 tanners will say, (some have said so,) that the man 

 •who puts manure and labor enough on an acre to 

 get 100 biisliels of corn, is a loser. We would 

 ask how ? A man may cultivate an acre of corn 

 and get 30 bushels an acre, and he will be a loser. 

 But it is scarcely possible when the product is 100. 

 In such a case, all over 50 bushels may be consid- 



ered profit. In addition to this, his acre of land 

 is placed in a condition to produce more good 

 crops, and the additional amount of these is to be 

 added to the list of profits. The man who has 

 brought 30 acres of land to such a state that it 

 will produce 100 bushels of corn per acre, is far 

 better off than the one who has 100 acres, yielding 

 only 25 bushels per acre; and of this fact we are 

 happy to find many of our farmers are beginning 

 to be well convinced. It is unnecessary to say the 

 remarks we have made respecting corn, are equally 

 applicable to any other grain or grass, and that the 

 grand secret of success is to cultivate no more 

 land than you can make rich. — Alb. Cull. 



ADVANTAGE OF USING LIME IN FORM 

 OF COMPOST. 

 As there are many cases in which lime ought to 

 be applied unmixed and in the caustic state, so 

 there are others in which it is best and most bene- 

 ficially laid on the land in a mild state and in the 

 form of compost. 



1. When lime is required only in small quanti- 

 ties, it can be more evenly spread when previously 

 well mixed with from three to eight times its bulk 

 of soil. 



2. On light, sandy, and gravelly soils, when of 

 a dry character, unmixed lime will bring up much 

 cow-wheat (mtlampyrum) and red poppy. If they 

 are moist soils, or if rainy weather ensue, the lime 

 is apt to run into mortar, and thus to form either 

 an impervious subsoil, or lumps of a hard conglome- 

 rate, which are brought up by the plow, but do not 

 readily yield their lime to the soil. These bad 

 consequences are all avoided by adding the lime 

 in the form of compost. 



•3. Applied to grass lands — except the soil be 

 .stiff clay, or much coarse grass is to be extirpated, 

 it is generally better and safer to apply it in the 

 compost form. The action of the lime on the ten- 

 der herbage is by this means moderated, and its 

 exhausting effect lessened upon soils which con- 

 tain little vegetable matter. 



4. In the compost form the same quantity of 

 lime acts more immediately. While lying in a 

 state of mixture, those chemical changes which 

 lime either induces or promotes have already, to a 

 certain extent, taken place, and thus the sensible 

 effect of the lime becomes apparent in a shorter 

 time after it has been laid upon the land. 



5. This is still more distinctly the case when, 

 besides earthy matter, decayed vegetable substan- 

 ces, ditch scourings, and other refuse, are mixed 

 with the lime. The experience of every practical 

 man has long proved how very much more enrich- 

 ing such composts are, and more obvious in their 

 effects upon the soil, than the simple application 

 of lime alone. 



6. It is stated as the result of extended trial in 

 Flanders and in parts of France, that a much 

 smaller quantity of lime laid on in this form will 

 produce an equal effect. For this, one cause may 

 be, that the rains are prevented from acting on the 

 mass of compost as they would do upon the open 

 soil — in washing out either the lime itself or the 

 saline substances which are produced during its 

 contact with the earthy and vegetable matter with 

 which it is mixed. 



7. The older the compost the more fertilizing ia 

 its action. This fact is of the same kind with that 

 generally admitted in respect to the action of marls ' 

 and unmixed lime — that it is more sensible in the 



second year or in tlie second rotation, than in the 

 first. 



In conclusion, it may be stated that this form of 

 application is especially adapted to the lightest 

 and driest soils, and to such as are poorest in vege- 

 table matter. — Johnston's Lectures. 



SEA-WEED AS A MANURE. 

 Among green manures of great value is the sen- 

 weed or sea-ware of our coasts. The marine 

 plants of which it is composed, differ from the 

 green vegetables grown upon land in — 



1. The greater rapidity with which they undergo 

 decay. When laid as top-dressing upon the land 

 they melt down, ss it were, and in a short time al- 

 most entirely disappear. Mixed with soil into a 

 compost or with quick lime, they speedily crumble 

 down into a black earth, in which little or no trace 

 of the plant can be perceived. 



2. By the greater proportion of saline or other 

 inorganic matter which these plants, in their dry 

 state, contain. It is these substances which are 

 obtained in the form of kelp when dry sea-weeds 

 are burned in the air. 



The ash from 1000 lbs. of kelp, according to 

 Fagerstrom, consists ol" — 



Gypsum, 63 4 lbs. 



Carbonate of lime, 34.1 <" 



Iodide of sodium, 2.7 " 



Other salts of soda, 29.9 " 



Silica, oxide of iron, and earthy 



phosphates, 31.1 u 



161.2 



This ash contains less potash, but more soda and 

 gypsum, than the grasses, and hence may be ex- 

 pected to exercise a somewhat different influence 

 upon vegetation, from other green manures. 



It is of importance to bear in mind that the sa- 

 line and other inorganic matters which are con- 

 tained in the sea-weed we lay upon our fields, 

 form a positive addition to the land. If we plow in 

 a green crop where it grew, we restore to the soil 

 the same saline matter only which the plants have 

 taken from it, while the addition of sea-weed im- 

 parts to the soil an entirely new supply. 



In the Western Isles, sea-weed is extensively 

 collected and employed as a manure — and on the 

 north-east coast of Ireland, the farming fishermen 

 go out in their boats and hook it up from conside- 

 rable depths in the sea. 



It is applied either immediately as a top-dressing, 

 especially to grass lands — or it is previously made 

 into a compost with earth, with lime, or with shell- 

 sand. Thus mixed with lime, it has been used 

 with advantage as a top-dressing for the young 

 wheat crop; and with shell-sand it is the general 

 manure for the potato crop among the VVestern 

 islanders. It may also be mixed with farm-yard 

 manure or even with peat moss, both of which it 

 brings into a more rapid fermentation. In some of 

 the Western Isles, and in Jersey, it is burned to a 

 light, more or less coaly powder, and in this form 

 is applied successfully as a top-dressing to various 

 crops. There is no reason to doubt that the most 

 economicel method is to make it into a compost 

 with absorbent earth and lime, or to plow 11 in at 

 once in the fresh state. 



In the Western Islands, one cartload of. farm- 

 yard manure is considered equal to 2 1-2 of fresh 

 sea-weed, or to 1 3-4 after it has stood two months 

 in a heap. The sea-weed has this value only with 

 respect to its action on the first crop Ibid. 



