246 



KEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



May 



■where it -was to be transplanted became dry, it 

 was four or five inches high, about as high as corn 

 is ever hoed the first time. I then prepared the 

 ground, and with the use of a tin shovel or scooi), 

 such as is used in a flour barrel, tooli up the hills 

 and transplanted them. The result was that every 

 hill lived, that the corn ripened a month earlier 

 than other corn, and was the best piece in the 

 neighborhood. The success of this experiment led 

 me to consider the advantages which would be 

 derived, if corn should be transplanted, and re- 

 flectioa seemed to show me the following 



ADVANTAGES. 



1. The corn would not suffer from the worms, 

 as it would be too large for them to injure, before 

 it is transplanted. 



2. For the same reason, the crows would not 

 injure it. 



3. It would save the first hoeing, a very impor- 

 tant consideration. 



4. The corn would so soon take the strength of 

 the ground, and overshadow it, that there would 

 be but very few weeds. 



5. The ground, so recently plowed, (just before 

 .transplanting,) would be so mellow, and the roots 

 wonhl strilie down so deep, that the corn would 

 be less affected by drought. 



6. The corn would ripen before the usual great 

 droughts of August. 



7. Hoeing would not interfere with haying. 



8. The corn M'ould fill out the last of July, or 

 first of August, before the cold nights come on, 

 which so much prevent corn from filling out well. 



9. The corn would be secure against frosts. 



10. Corn could be raised upon wet land, which 

 is not so much affjctcd by drought. 



11. The corn could be gathered in season to 

 sow winter M'heat, if desired. 



It is needless to remark that each one of these 

 advantages is great, and that the sum of them all 

 is very great. If the corn crop of New England 

 could have been a month earlier than it was last 

 year, it would have been many hundred thousand 

 dollars greater than it was. If the labor necessary 

 to hoe corn the first time can bs saved, then the 

 greatest and most difficult part of the work of rais- 

 ing corn may be dispensed with. It is then a most 

 important question. Can corn be transplanted to 

 advantage? To this the reply immediately sug- 

 gests itself, that the labor of transplanting would 

 be so great as to render it impracticable. Most 

 would come to such a conclusion at once. But 

 may it not be possible that the amount of this la- 

 bor is exaggerated by those who have given the 

 subject but little thought ? May it not be that 

 some means can bo adopted by which it can be 

 accomplished much easier than one at first would 

 suppose ? I think so, and will propose my way, 

 in which it seems to me it may be done economi- 

 cally. 



DIRECTIONS FOR TRANSPLANTING CORN. 



Prepare boxes about 4 feet long, 3 feet wide, 

 and 5 inches high. Make one of the sides so that 

 it can be easily removed. Fill these boxes with 

 loam mixed with some manure. Then prepare 

 some stri])s of board 2'i inches wide, 5 inches long, 

 and as thin as the blade of a hoe. Put these down 

 endwise into the loam, so as to divide the loam 

 into squares, 2h inches square and 5 inches deep. 

 (As these squares are each to contain a hiU of 



corn, it will be seen that the thin strips are to 

 prevent the roots of one hill from interfering 

 with those of another.) Place these boxes in a 

 sunny place, well protected from the west wind, 

 and about a month before the usual planting 

 time, plant 4 or 5 kernels of corn in each one of 

 these squares. By planting time, that corn will 

 be 5 or 6 inches high. Having prepared the 

 ground and opened the hills, put these boxes into 

 a cart, drive over the ground, take the hills of 

 corn from the boxes in the hand, put them into 

 the prepared hill, press the earth around them, 

 and the corn is at once planted and hoed the first 

 time. It M'ould be well to use some phosphate of 

 lime or hen manure, so as to cause the corn to 

 start immediately. In a short time the corn wiU 

 be as large as usual when hoed the second time. 



It will be seen that, by this process, the labor 

 of transplanting is not so very great, not near as 

 great as that of the hoeing, which is saved. The 

 boxes and the thin strips which separate the hills, 

 when once made, would last ten or twelve years, 

 and the labor of filling them, planting the corn in 

 them, Sec, would come so early in the season, 

 that it would not be of so much consequence. It 

 would not take so many boxes to transplant an 

 acre of land as would at first be supposed. If in 

 every square foot of the boxes, there are twenty- 

 five hills, as there may be, then a rod square of 

 boxes will furnish hills enough to transplant more 

 than an acre and an half of grovmd, if the rows are 

 four feet apart one v/ay, and three feet the other. 



It is very evident that the management of these 

 boxes would require some wisdom and care. The 

 loam should not be very rich, as it is desirable to 

 transplant from a poorer into a richer soil. San- 

 dy or gravelly loam is better, as it is warmer. If 

 the corn manifests a want of sufficient nutriment, 

 then liquid manure should be added sparingly. 

 In very cold nights it should be covered over. The 

 corn will be spindling, because the hills arc so 

 near together. But that will be remedied as soon 

 as it is ti-ansplanted. 



My object in presenting this subject to your 

 readers, is to induce them to consider the subject, 

 and, if they think best, to test it by experiments 

 upon their farms. It was tested last summer by 

 several farmers with perfect success, yet not upon 

 a very large scale. I feel that, if I can do any- 

 thing to enable farmers to produce the most im- 

 portant crop of this part of the country more 

 surely, more abundantly and more economically, 

 I shall do much good. M. 



For the New Englaad Farmer. 



HO"w TO iiais;b cabbage. 



In answer to "An Old Subscriber," Avho in- 

 quires how to raise good cabbages, I will tell him 

 how I have managed. I prepare my ground in the 

 spring by plowing in to the depth of fourteen 

 inches, a "liberal dressing of green stable manure, 

 after which the ground is spaded over, and re- 

 ceives a surflice dressing of salt and ashes. I plant 

 my cabbages in hills about the 10th of May, and 

 when two or three inches high, I pick out the 

 plants to distances four or five inches apart, and 

 when they are five inches high, I transplant tlieni, 

 setting them in rows three feet each way, which 

 gives room to work among them. I hoe them 



