AND 



HORTICULTURAL REGISTER 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH M.4RKET STREET, (Aobiodltoral Wabehodbe.) 



vol,. XMl.l 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JUNE 12, 1844. 



[NO. 50. 



N. E. FARMER. 



CULTURE OP CORN. 



Corn is unquestionably tlio most valuable grain 

 crop wliich is raised in tlie United Slates. So 

 mnch, however, has lately been written upon its 

 culture, that little new can be said npon this sub- 

 ject. It is well known that it is a gross feeder, 

 and land can scarcely be made loo rich for it. 

 Proper hoeing, frequent stirring of the earth with 

 the plow or cultivator between the rows, and above 

 all, l;i:o|iing the weeds down, are quite as essential 

 as a rich soil. Tliere is ono point in the culture 

 nf corn, nnd a pretty important one, too, which 

 3eems to remain in dispnte, and that is rewarding 

 the breaking of the rods by deep plowing between 

 the rows. The late Jud^e Duel contended that 

 Ihis was very injurious; while an equally eminent 

 authority. Judge Beatty, of Kentucky, has come to 

 the conclusion, after careful experiment, that cut- 

 ting the sm.iller roots by the plow, or otherwise, to 

 a moderate extent, is not injurious to the crop ; for, 

 eays he, the main roots will thereby throw out in- 

 numerable others in their place, and to a much 

 more divi'rsified extent. We will here make a 

 suggestion of our own. Does not the cutting off 

 a few of the smaller corn-roots act upon the stalks 

 in the same manner as root-pruning of fruit trees? 

 W"hen the growth of the tree is too rank, we know 

 that root-pruning has the effect of cliecking the 

 production of wood in the tree, and of causing it 

 to produce more fruit. Why, then, will not the 

 root-pruning of corn add to its increase of grain? 

 We should be very glad if some of our readers 

 would make a series of experiments on this crop 

 the coming season, with a view of testing the mer- 

 its of the two different methods of culture. We 

 apprehend that when the soil is very rich, and 

 there is a tendency of the corn running too mucli 

 to stalk, cutting the roots would be advantageous ; 

 but where the land was rather poor, and no such 

 result likely to ensue, that cutting or breaking the 

 roots in its culture, would be injurious. However, 

 (bis is a mere matter of speculation with us, and 

 till some reliable experiments are made in different 

 kinds of soil, the same season, and with rows side 

 by side, n mem opinion on this subject should have 

 litlle weight witli the practical farmer. 



Cornjor Foddtr The culture of corn for sum- 

 mer soiling and winter fodder, is greatly on the 

 increase, and demands attention. From experi- 

 ments made by several of our friends last season, 

 in growing corn for soiling, they found that such 

 as was sown in drills about one foot apart, did 

 much belter than that sown broad-cast ; and that 

 the varieties of sweet corn which produce tall slen- 

 der stalks, and the most leaves, gavo the best and 

 greatest amount of fodder. Tlicy infer that there 

 was more saccharine matter in the stalks from these 

 varieties, and the cattle, consequently, found it 

 more palatable and nutritious. 



Corn may be planted for fodder till the 20th 

 of this month, north of 40 degrees; farther south, 

 still later. — American Agriculturist. 



PRODUCTIVE FARMS. 



To a person not familiiuly acquainted with the 

 history and statistics of English husbandry, the ex- 

 treme productivcne.ss of llie farms of that country, 

 will appear incredible. Nearly nine-tenths of the 

 cultivated land in Great Britain and Ireland, are 

 rented to tenants, who pay, usually, from four to 

 five pounds sterling per acre annual rent. VV'hero 

 is the farmer, in this country, who could live under 

 such a burden ? Here, a farm comprising a hun- 

 dred acres, is often rented for one hundred dollars, 

 and even at this rate, the tenant has a hard task. 

 The cultivation, even where ihcro area large num- 

 ber of acres in grass, will little more than pay the 

 rent and taxes ; but in England the result is wide- 

 ly dilTerent. The tenant who there pays five 

 pounds sterling, per acre, annual rent, and finds all 

 appliances, obtains not only a comfortable living, 

 but in many cases wealth, from the prosecution of 

 a business which here, with like burdens, would 

 doom him to want and misery. 



In 1811, Irwin estimated the produce of one En- 

 glish farm of 890 acres, at £8,578— or $38,000! 

 The quantity of manure applied was 13,746 one- 

 horse cartloads in one year, nnd 10,2.50 the next! 

 Now, admitting the rent of this farm to be $12 per 

 acre, and the cost of manure and its application 

 $12 more; and if to this sum we add, for interest, 

 or expenses, taxes, and the various contingent ex- 

 penses of cultivation, &c., -$12 nwre, we shall find 

 upon striking the balance, that there will remain a 

 profit of $10 the acre, amounting in the gross aggre- 

 gate, to the sum of $10,000 clear gain to the ten- 

 ant in a single year! 



In the vicinity of London, a hay farm compris- 

 ing IGO acres, was rented. The i^ntal in this in- 

 stance, was .$12 per acre, amounting in the whole 

 to $1920 per year. A very heavy expenditure was 

 required for manure — probably as much as many a 

 Now England farmer would have been willing to 

 give for the land, and yet the tenant succeeded, 

 and has since become wealthy, and with no other 

 income than the produce of his farm. 



In Ireland, a poor tenant hired an acre of land, 

 erected his cottage, purchased manure and farming 

 tools, and the first season cleared all expenses and 

 had a balance of £8 left. And yet that Irish pea- 

 sant, in addition to the expenses and outlays above 

 enumerated, had a church tax to pay, and to be at 

 the expense of purchasing his own seed, and main- 

 taining a family of four besides himself and wife. 

 The frugality of the Irish peasantry is proverbial. 

 But there was something more than mere frugality 

 at the bottom of this man's success. There was 

 thorough cultivation — a thing which in New Eng- 

 land may be said to be wholly unknown. This is 

 the mystery, and the only one. That Irish peasant, 

 with like expenses, would have starved here on for- 

 ty acres, with our cultivation. — Connecticut Cou- 

 rnnt. 



THE "SKIM-MILK" CONTROVERSY. 



To the Editor of the New Enijland Farmer: 



Dear Sir — I hove no desire to prolong the "bat- 

 tle" between my humble self nnd my formidable 

 opponent, "A Skim-milker," and I freely accord 

 him all the laurels that liavo been won ; — but you 

 will give me lenvo to " define my position," as the 

 politicians say — in other words, to exculpate my- 

 self from an imputation which I conceive may rest 

 upon mc, from a remark in his last communicntion. 



I say to him, plainly, (and you, sir, can attest the 

 truth of my asseverations,) that I have not — I never 

 had — tlie slightest possible interest in Col. Jaques' 

 stock — no more than I have in " A Skim-milker's" 

 — that I am hardly acquainted with Col. J., other- 

 wise than by reputation, never having exchanged a 

 dozen words with him in my life; — that I only re- 

 ferred to him as authority, because, on the points 

 on which I quoted him, I knew he had the reputa- 

 tion of being a skilful judge ; and because I had 

 heard much of his success as a breeder of stock ; — 

 that, further, I know nothing of the character of the 

 stock now on his farm, and have no more interest 

 in it than in any other man's stock ; — that, lastly, 

 if Col. J. has made u.se of any means to "puff" 

 his stock into celebrity, (and a celebrity not de- 

 seriied, as " A Skim- milker" seems to insinuate,) /, 

 surely, have not been one of the instruments he 

 has used for that purpose ; — and I liope I may say, 

 without subjecting myself to the charge of boast- 

 ing of my virtue, that I am not so lamentably des- 

 titute of conscienciousness, as to be capable, either 

 from selfish or other motives, of "puffing" nny 

 man's stock as superior to another's, when no 

 proofs of such superiority were in my possession. 

 And further I have not to say. 

 Very respectfully, 



June 8, 1844. Anti-Skimmilker. 



The Greenfield Demociat eays that the silk fac- 

 tory in that town continues to operate in a flourish, 

 ing manner. Some forty or fifty hands arc em- 

 ployed, and the agent advertises for fifty more girls. 



Apply your Asties — It is asserted by those whose 

 assurance is deserving of regard, that for every 

 bushel of common house-ashes, applied to the hills 

 of Indian corn, there will be a corresponding addi- 

 tion to theciop, nnd an almost complete exempiion 

 of the plants from the vernal ravages of slugs and 

 worms. The most proper time for applying ashes 

 to this crop, is just after the plants get up, nnd 

 while the roots being yet in their nascent state, 

 are not in a condition to collect the elements nf 

 food from but a limited range. We have heard of 

 several failures this season, in consequence of ap- 

 plying ashes in the hill ; a practice nliich is sure 

 to result fatally to the seed, unless their alkales- 

 cent qualities be, in some measure, neutralized by 

 the interposition of a stratum of dirt — Maine Cull. 



Floicers. — The lovers of sweet flowers may de- 

 rive advantage from the knowledge that gravelly 

 or sandy soils promote the aroma. Those flowers 

 of perfume are natives of the sandy lands, Persia, 

 Arabia, &.C., and those in pols should therefore be 

 supplied with sand or gravel. — Michigan Far. 



Rather go to bed supperlese than rise in debt. — 

 Franklin. 



