1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



83 



For the New England Farmer. 

 VARIOUS MODES OF CULTIVATING 

 CORN. 



During the past summer I have had an oppor- 

 tunity of observing the methods, or rather prac- 

 tices, (as I do not think there is much method 

 about it,) of the farmers in the section of Orange 

 county, New York, comprised in Cornwall, near 

 Windsor and Newburgh, especially in reference 

 to the corn crop. 



Our New England farmers would regard the 

 rough usage the corn is subject to in the places 

 referred to, as suicidal of all hopes of a requiting 

 harvest. On two contiguous farms, I watched the 

 culture of a field of corn upon each. One of these 

 fields was well plowed, well planted, and, accord- 

 ing to the usage of this section, well tended in its 

 after growth ; the other poorly plowed and poorly 

 planted and roughly worked in its after culture — 

 in fact, the very opposite of the former in this re- 

 spect. The weeds flourished and the corn did 

 not ; and both went to seed together. The first 

 field was kept clear from weeds, and I thought 

 unusual care was taken in this respect. The hoe 

 was used but little, if any, in either field. The 

 plow had to do the work principally. I did not 

 see a cultivator used in a corn field during the 

 summer. The furrow is turned from the corn the 

 first plowing, and towards it the second, which 

 comprises all the cultivation it generally gets. In 

 the case of the first field I have spoken of the 

 weeds were pulled up from the hills. The second 

 they were not. I judged there was but small dif- 

 ference in the quality of the soil. At the time for 

 shocking the corn, I thought the first field would 

 yield from ten to fifteen bushels more than the 

 second, solely from the better care that had been 

 given it through the whole process up to that 

 time. 



Here, at this point, the contrast in the two 

 changed very materially. Rather too late, some 

 will say, t6 be of any account. Wait a moment, 

 my friend, and I will show you that care is requi- 

 site and of great importance until the corn is 

 housed and the fodder secured. The shocks were 

 about of a size in each of the fields, but in the 

 poorest they were put up in the very best order, 

 so that I could not see one down any time previ- 

 ous to harvesting, on a field of ten to twelve 

 acres. This I thought remarkable, as we had 

 much heavy wind. The other field had a large 

 number blown down, and they remained down 

 until harvested. When that occurred, the men 

 threw the corn upon the ground, left the fodder 

 unbound, husked in wet as ^ell as dry weather, 

 and some heavy rains before it was finally secured. 

 Of course it was almost ruined. The corn, being 

 sound, was not materially injured, although some- 

 what dirty. In the field where the shocks were 

 well put up, the wagons went in with the men — 

 all but the refuse corn put in them as husked, and 

 the fodder bound and set up again carefully, and 

 when a storm threatened was taken to the barn. 



Now, my fellow-farmers, go to work and cypher 

 out the difference in the profits of the two fields 

 of corn, and see if you can tell me which was the 

 gainer. I am sure I cannot. If the best cultivat- 

 ed field had been the beat shocked and the best 

 harvested, or even as well as the other, the ques- 

 tion would be soon settled. This was not the case. 

 Hay was worth twenty dollars per ton on these 



farms, and it was of no small moment to secure 

 the corn fodder in good condition, as each acre of 

 it was worth to the owner when thus saved ten 

 dollars, if not more. 



I think both of these farmers, and all whose 

 practice I noticed, put the corn in too small 

 shocks. I had some put up in shocks three, if not 

 four, times as large as any I saw. and the corn 

 and fodder cured nicely. I apprehend this mis- 

 take is often made. I never suffered from putting 

 up in large shocks. As to the practice of plow- 

 ing among corn, I do not like it, especially after 

 corn gets well started, say a foot or so high. I 

 have often traced the roots farther from the hills 

 than the extremity of the stalk and leaves would 

 reach iflaid upon the ground. Who can believe 

 it. is any advantage to cut off these roots with a 

 plow ? Work the soil thoroughly while the plants 

 are small, but not deep, after the roots extend 

 beyond the immediate vicinity of the hill, espe- 

 cially if the weather has been uniformly wet, 

 which will cause the roots to run almost upon the 

 surface of the soil. 



I have been betrayed into greater length than 

 I intended. Can we not learn something from the 

 practice of the two farmers I have instanced above P 

 May we not see that it is not only necessary to 

 begin well, but to go on well to the end. Let this 

 be our motto in all farm operations, "That what 

 is worth doing at all, is worth doing well." 

 Rochester, Mass., Jan. 12, 1864. o. K. 



For the ISeio England Farmer. 



■WINTERING BEES— STRAW HIVES. 



After an experience of thirty years, I have 

 found no way to winter bees so satisfactorily as in 

 •the straw hive described and recommended in the 

 Farmer, some two years since. One year ago, 

 over fifty colonies stood in the open air through- 

 out the winter, without the loss of one, and in the 

 spring were in the best possible condition. There 

 were no accumulations of frost and ice ; all mois- 

 ture appeared to have passed off through the 

 straw, while the warmth necessary for the bees 

 was retained. The bees, at all times, even the 

 coldest weather, seemed to enjoy a comfortable 

 and complete repose. The warmth of the sun, in 

 a moderate day, did not penetrate the walls of this 

 hive, as it does one of wood, and call out the bees 

 by hundreds, to perish. When the weather was 

 mild enough to entice them out from such quar- 

 ters, it was usually warm enough for them to fly. 

 Bees that are housed in winter, are quite apt — 

 without much care — to get mixed together when 

 brought out; some hives getting many more than 

 belongs to them, others short a corresponding 

 number. The weak ones induce robbing, chilled 

 brood, &c. The straw hive obviates these diffi- 

 culties ; the bees all mark their locality without 

 confusion. I consider it "well worthy of future 

 trial." M. Qu'istby, 



St. Johnsville, N. Y., 1864. 



Poison of almost any kind swallowed will be 

 instantly thrown from the stomach by drinking 

 half a glass of water (warm is best.) in which has 

 been stirred a tablespoon of ground mustaid ; as 

 soon as vomiting ceases, drink a cup of strong 

 coffee, into which has been stirred the white of an 

 egg j this nullifies any remnant which the mus- 

 tard, might have left. 



