16 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jan. 



through, tapering down as large as a man's arm. 

 It was cut off about two feet below the surface. 



A gentleman at Adamsville, Little Compton, R. 

 L, for a number of years cultivated lucerne, and 

 cut it two and three times each season, according 

 as the moisture might be. He used it as a hay 

 crop, and thought it the best grass he could use. 

 English writers give us very precise dhections as 

 to the best mode of preparing the soil for the seed, 

 many of which are far too expensive for our adop- 

 tion, and I think entirely useless. If the soil has 

 been well worked and manured for previous crops, 

 and the subsoil is not too hard, I think we need 

 not fear but that it will grow, if not too wet a soil. 

 No plant will stand a long drought better, as we 

 have instances recorded where clover has died, and 

 lucerne held out and made a good crop. Mr. 

 Young tells us, the first use of tliis plant is that of 

 soihng horses in the stable ; for tliis purpose, no 

 other article of food agrees so well with those an- 

 imals ; nothing better for oxen, cows, young cat- 

 tle and even hogs in a farm-yard. He also thinks 

 it well adapted to fattening beef. 



Chili clover is, I think, well v/orth experimenting 

 with by those who have the means of doing so. It 

 is near alHed to lucerne, and, in many respects, re- 

 sembles it. It roots deep and strong, sends out an 

 abundance of stalks, which, in a rich soil, will often 

 grow to a Avonderful length. Four years since, at 

 the solicitation of a seed-dealer in New Bedford, I 

 took off liis hands some of this Chili clover seed, 

 which I sowed on about one-tliird of an acre. It 

 did not come up Avell, owing, I tliink, to its being 

 damaged by the sea voyage. I plowed up the 

 piece, but some of the plants by the side of the 

 wall escaped, and have remained ever since. They 

 grew rapidly and matured early, and could be cut 

 two or three times in a season. I have no doubt 

 it would be a good soiling, hay, or pasture crop. I 

 have spoken of its stalks growing to a great length. 

 I will here say that, in 1850, I furnished Commo- 

 dore Jones with specimens of the wild oat of Cali- 

 fornia, and also a clover plant which I think the 

 same as the Chili clover. The stalks of this plant 

 exceeded twelve feet. The Commodore forwarded 

 them to the New York State Agricultural Society. 



EocJuister, Mass., Nov. 18, 1861. o. K. 



KEEPIlsra- APPLES— KTEW ME^rHOD. 



Mr. M. R. Thompson, of Mifflin county, Penn- 

 sylvania, in a letter to the American Agriculturist, 

 describes his method of keeping choice apples, 

 wliich appears to be worth noticing. He packs 

 them in barrels or large boxes, surrounding each 

 apple with common dry ground gypsum (plaster 

 of Paris.) Tliis is readily done thus : Put into 

 the bottom of the barrel, or box, an inch of the 

 plaster and then a layer of apples, keeping them 

 from contact with each other, and an inch fi'om 

 the side all round. Sift in more plaster to fill up 

 the spaces and cover the whole nearly an inch. 

 Then add another layer of apples and more plas- 

 ter, and so on to the top. The plaster employed 

 is, we suppose, the common ground plaster for fer- 

 tilizing — not the calcined used for making casts, 

 models, etc. The former is cheap in most parts 

 of the country, costing from $3 to $10 per tun. 

 Of course the plaster is just as good for applica- 

 tion to the field after being used during winter for 



packing apples. The plan is worthy of trial at 

 least, for it would appear reasonable that the fruit 

 thus surroimded with a compact mass of dry pow- 

 der, should keep almost as well as if hermetically 

 sealed. Mr. T. says he keeps pound pippins thus 

 packed, in good order until the following June. 

 We judge from a remark in his letter, that he does 

 not store them in a cellar, but in any cool room 

 of the dwelKng or out-house. We are not certain 

 whether the dry plaster would be a sufficient non- 

 conductor to keep frost out, if exposed to severe 

 cold — especially from the fruit near the outside of 

 barrels. 



For the New England Fanner. 

 SEED COKlSr. 



Mr. Editor : — A few weeks since, at a meeting 

 of the American Institute Farmers' Club, in New 

 York city, they had a discussion upon seed corn. 

 Much diversity of opinion prevailed, clearly show- 

 ing that the subject was involved in much uncer- 

 tainty, owing to the want of carefully conducted 

 experiments, persistently followed up, for a succes- 

 sion of years, or at least long enough to positively 

 settle the matter on a true basis. Some thought 

 best to reject the small end of the ear alone ; oth- 

 ers would include the but, and plant only the mid- 

 dle ; others reject the but, and use the bal- 

 ance ; while some prefer the small end to any and 

 aU the rest of the ear. There seemed to be a gen- 

 eral agreement that it is a good practice to select 

 in the field the first ripened, well matured, two 

 eared stalks, in order to have succeeding crops 

 earher, and increase the number of ears on a stalk. 

 One man stated that he had known the selection 

 of two or more ears on a stalk for seed to be per- 

 sisted in until the result was that a yield of six 

 and seven sound ears on one stalk was not unu- 

 sual, but with a loss to the producer, in the dimin- 

 ished size of the ears. 



These men, as a class, are probably some of our 

 most extensive farmers, and above the average in 

 intelligence, and possess superior advantages for 

 observation, and yet we see what a conflict of views 

 are entertained respecting a question of perma- 

 nent importance to every corn grower in the coun- 

 try. It is more than probable that we have men 

 in our farming communities who are capable, and 

 have the means of carrying out experiments in 

 this matter to satisfactory results. None need to 

 suppose that it will be a money remunerating un- 

 dertaking, but the reverse. A higher and more 

 benevolent motive must prompt the act. Suppose 

 the gain by reason of the proper settling of this 

 question should be only three bushels of corn to 

 the acre, (I think it will much exceed that,) it would 

 add to the aggregate corn crop of the country mil- 

 lions of bushels. I have been inclined to the opin- 

 ion that as the small end of the ear grew last, and 

 was generally not so well filled as the but, that it 

 did not mature so well, and consequently woidd 

 not germinate so vigorous a plant, nor produce so 

 abundant a crop. Of one thing I am quite sure, 

 viz., that by selecting the first ripened two eared 

 stalks for seed, the succeeding crops will be earlier 

 and larger in yield. I hope this subject will be 

 thoroughly inA'estigated, and the true practice es- 

 tablished so decidedly that none can doubt or 

 cavil about the matter. o. K. 



liochcster, Mass., 1861. 



