1861. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



337 



to be able to give you and the farming commu- 

 nity as good a report, if not better, from the crops 

 next summer. In addition to the above, on the 

 first lot, we this summer cut, per acre, three tons 

 of as good timothy hay as was ever housed, and 

 up to this present writing the feed is good, and 

 the cows easily fill themselves from it daily. Let 

 every farmer, who can, try an acre with muck, 

 and he certainly will be repaid four-fold. — Amer- 

 ican Agriculturist. 



For the Neie £ngland Farmer. 

 THE CULTIVATION' OF INDIAN COKN. 



Dear Sirs : — The following account of the 

 early cultivation of "Indian Corn" in England, 

 which I copy from the Montlily Magazine and 

 British Register for 1796, may prove interesting 

 to you. L. E. Keyes. 



Salem, June 8, 1861. 



To The Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 



Sir : — At a time of so great scarcity, every 

 hint which may have a tendency to increase the 

 food of the laboring poor must be acceptable, 

 and as several persons have, in the public papers, 

 recommended the cultivation of Indian wheat, the 

 following is a practical account of its cultivation 

 in England. The land should be a loamy sand, 

 very rich. In the beginning of April, the grains 

 should be set like hops, at two feet distance, six 

 or eight grains in a hill, each grain about an inch 

 deep in the ground. The seed from New Eng- 

 land is the best. In the beginning of May, the 

 alleys should be hoed, and the hills weeded and 

 earthed up higher. At the latter end of that 

 month, all the superfluous stalks should be taken 

 away, and only three stems of corn left in each 

 hill. By the month of June it will cover the alley. 

 It grows much like bulrushes, the lower leaves 

 being like broad flags, three or four inches wide, 

 and as many feet in length ; the stems shooting 

 upwards, from seven to ten feet in height, with 

 many joints, casting off" flag leaves at every joint. 

 Under these leaves, and close to the stem, grows 

 the corn, covered over with many coats of sedgy 

 leaves, and so closed in by them to the stem, that 

 it does not show itself easily, till there burst out 

 at the end of the ear a number of strings, that 

 look like tufts of horse hair, at first of a beautiful 

 green, and afterwards red or yellow. The stem 

 ends in a flower. The corn will ripen in Septem- 

 ber ; but the sun of that season not having 

 strength enough to dry it, it must be laid upon 

 racks, or thin open floors, in dry rooms, and fre- 

 quently turned, to avoid moulding. The grains 

 are about as big as peas, and adhere in regular 

 rows round a white pithy substance, which forma 

 the ear. An ear contains from two to four hun- 

 dred grains, and is from six to ten inches in 

 length. They are of various colors, blue, red, 

 white and yellow. The manner of gathering them 

 is by cutting down the stems and breaking off" the 

 ears. The stems are as big as a man's wrist, and 

 look like Bamboo cane, and the pith is full of 

 juice that tastes as sweet as sugar. The joints 

 are about a foot and a half distance. The increase 

 is upwards of five hundred fold. Upon a large 

 scale, to save the expense of hilling, the seed may 

 be drilled in alleys like peas ; and to save digging, 



the ground may be plowed and harrowed, which 

 will answer very well. It will grow upon all 

 kinds of land. The ears which grow upon dry 

 land are less, but harder and riper. The grain is 

 taken from the husk by hand, and when ground 

 upon French stones, makes an excellent flour, of 

 which it yields much more, with much less bran, 

 than wheat does, and exceeds it in crust, pan- 

 cakes, puddings, and all other uses except bread ; 

 but a sweetness peculiar to it, which in other 

 cases makes it agreeable, is here nauseous. It is 

 excellent for feeding poultry and hogs, and fat- 

 tens both much better and sooner than peas or 

 barley. The stems make better hedges for kitchen 

 gardens than reeds do. It clears the ground 

 from weeds, and makes a good season for any 

 other kind of corn. Piso, and other Spanish 

 physicians are full of the medicinial virtues of 

 this grain. It was the only bread corn known in 

 America when first discovered by the Spaniards, 

 and is there called Maize. J. A. 



Leicestershire. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 TROUBLE WITH LAMBS, 



Messrs. Editors : — Some of our best breeders 

 of sheep in this county are having a new, and to 

 us, inexplicable trouble, this spring, with their 

 lambs. Some of the facts in the case I will state, 

 with the hope that you, or some of your corres- 

 pondents, may be able to give us the cause, or, at 

 least, to make some suggestions which may ena- 

 ble us to arrive at a conclusion in the matter. 

 About the first of April last, I bought of one of 

 our largest and most thorough breeders of Meri- 

 no sheep, thirty-five ewes ; they nearly all proved 

 to be with lambs, and were in good condition. 

 They began to drop their lambs the first of May, 

 when I soon saw there was something wrong 

 with them. Some would die in a fev/ minutes, 

 some in a few hours, and some would live two or 

 three days. 



By the greatest care and attention, I have suc- 

 ceeded in keeping twelve alive to the present 

 time, though some of them are deformed, with 

 crooked legs and backs. The lambs had no 

 strength, hardly one of the whole lot could stand 

 before it was two days old. They appear to be 

 greatly lacking in bone, which is soft and imma- 

 ture, and when they begin to stand, their legs 

 bend and grow crooked ; in fact, there is nothing 

 of them ; they handle like a bundle of rags, and 

 pant and breathe so hard as to be heard all over 

 the barn. 



The gentleman of whom I purchased the ewes 

 is having the same trouble, or perhaps more se- 

 vere and fatal. Out of a flock of thirty-one full- 

 blood Merino ewes he has saved but five. From 

 another flock of forty-eight he has saved but 

 twelve. He attributes his disaster to feeding 

 buckwheat, for he says that another flock which 

 he had wintered in another town, to which was 

 fed no buckwheat, he has been uncommonly suc- 

 cessful with, having lost but one out of seventy- 

 five. The same is true of what ewes I wintered 

 myself. 



Another large farmer in this town is having 



precisely the same trouble, losing nearly all his 



lambs. His ewes were fed with oats and wheat 



1 bran. Another thorough breeder, in an adjoin- 



