310 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



whose teats are hardly so large as my finger, 

 aud only half" as long. How shall I take these 

 in my big, clumsy hand, and press out the 

 milk ? I cannot do it. I should like to see 

 the Professor try the job with his. I am quite 

 confident, that before he had half drained the 

 udder be would resort to the stripping method, 

 and b« ready to fake back at least a part of 

 his remarks as published in the quotation 

 above referred to. M. 



Concord, Mass., 1870. 



For the Xcw England Farmer, 

 "SHALL WE KAISE OUR CORN?" 

 Why not ? The climate and soil are favor- 

 able. If so, then what good reason have we 

 for not furnishing a portion, at least, of the 

 corn we need for eating and feeding ? As an 

 article of food for man it is really more valu- 

 able than is supposed. Indian corn furnishes 

 more oil than other grains with a fair amount 

 of starch. For cold weather it will supfily 

 the place of animal oils or meat, or both, 

 perhaps. 



In deciding whether we "shall raise our 

 own corn," there are many things to be con- 

 sidered. As a rule, we cannot raise any one 

 crop on the same piece of ground for a long 

 series of years, profitably or successfully. 

 There are crops which, even if we can buy at 

 a less cost than we can raise them, ought not 

 to be thrown aside, for many reasons. Pota- 

 toes very rapidly impoverish the land upon 

 which they are raised. So with tobacco, hemp, 

 flax, &c. Not so with oats, clover, wheat, 

 peas, beans and barley. And still, either of 

 the last named will do much better not to sow 

 two crops in succession. On soils such as are 

 found West on the river bottoms or low prai- 

 ries, crops may be and are raised for very 

 many years without a single application of ma- 

 nure. There is land to-day, lying contiguous 

 to the Genesee river, in the State of New 

 York, — thousands of acres, too — that have 

 been cropped almost continually for the past 

 seventy-five or one hundred years, without one 

 single application of manure, and yield from 

 seventy-five to one hundred bushels shelled 

 corn per acre ; one hundred bushels of oats, 

 and other crops in proportion. I have seen 

 upland, far away from river bottoms, in the 

 State of New York, cropped for twenty suc- 

 cessive years with oats, without manures of 

 any kind, growing fair crops. But even then 

 a rotation of crops is far better. 



No season is alike favorable for all crops. 

 Corn wants warm days and nights, with occa- 

 sional showers ; potatoes and turnips want 

 moderately warm weather, with cool nights 

 and considerable rain ; flax wants about the 

 same ; wheat will not do well in good corn 

 seasons ; oats are hardy, but will do well when 

 wheat is a good crop. So that we cannot tell 

 certainly what to raise until we try it. 

 We ought to raise our corn, or a portion of 



it. Corn is more profitable than any other 

 crop we can raise, except perhaps, potatoes, 

 and they may be excepted quite often. If we 

 live near markets for garden vegetables and 

 the like, the raising of corn as a money mak- 

 ing concern would not be thought of. But 

 farmers away from such advantages would do 

 well to reflect before they wholly throw aside 

 the raising of this valuable grain. One acre 

 of corn fodder carefully and properly saved, 

 is worth more than an acre of grass even if it 

 yields three tons. 



On Massachusetts soil prepare well your 

 land and make such applicatione of manure 

 as is needed. Plant in rows both ways three 

 and one-half feet apart ; be sure to have no 

 more nor less than four plants in each hill. 

 Cultivate well. Don't be afraid of hoeing 

 too much. 



Cut up your corn at the ground early, as 

 soon as your corn is all well glazed. Stand 

 it up around hills not cut, at equal distances 

 about sixteen hills in a bunch, or more if you 

 prefer, put up carefully, bind firmly at top so 

 that it cannot be blown over. Let it stand 

 until thoroughly cured ; don't husk it too soon. 

 Your corn is then a sound crop, even heavier 

 than if you had tak^n off the top stalks, and 

 your fodder is worth more than it has cost you 

 to raise the crop. I speak not at random, 

 but from an experience of thirty years on the 

 farming lands of the Genesee country in the 

 State of New York. 



Yes, "raise our own corn" for the profit 

 of it. It does not much impoverish the soil. 

 The land is in a better condition for potatoes, 

 oats or barley after the corn crop is off, which 

 is an item worth remembering. With care 

 for the health of your farm you are adding to 

 its value because it is more productive. And 

 while you might have more dollars, cash, at 

 the end of ten years to raise potatoes, your 

 farm would need propping up like an old horse 

 with all the vital energy gone. Every acre of 

 land which you so nurse that you can soon 

 double the amount from, is so much capital, and 

 better than in a savings bank. Certainly, "we 

 will raise our own corn." 



W. F. Woodward. 



Maplewood, Mass., April, 1870. 



For the New England Farmer, 

 THE QUINCE TREE. 



Twenty years ago, bushels of quinces were 

 raised where now but a few pecks are seen ; 

 and in many localities the trees are dead and 

 gone. Their failure is owing to mismanage- 

 ment and neglect ; and these two things will 

 kill any fruit tree. The quince tree demands 

 food as well as our horses or cows ; but if we 

 give it only once or twice a year if; will grow 

 and flourish. 



But this is not all that is needful to its 

 growth, it also demands cultivation; it requires 

 pruning and training, but does not often re- 



