262 TRATiSACTlons OP THE AMEKICA?r IXSTITTirB. 



best of all. Refer to Mr, Abijah Wilder of this town, wlio tried 

 the experiment. The topped corn was the poorest of all. I say, 

 drills for corn hj all means. Each time you haul dirt to th© 

 stalk, it throws out a new set of roots, as corn requires breath- 

 ing tubes at the ends of its rootlets. Go into a corn-field which 

 has been left " decently alone " after it is two feet high, and try 

 to find an inch square of ground without corn rootlets protruding 

 from it I Does the plant know best what it requires? If not, 

 cut and haggle away at its roots, as your grandfather did before 

 you I Enough of that. Did you ever plant potatoes in the fall 

 of the year ? I have ; and got the handsomest, earliest, and best 

 potatoes I ever raised, I did this wise : selected a piece of corn 

 land (on which no water could stand in the winter), ran a furrow 

 six inches deep, dropped potatoes of " henVegg size " in the 

 trench then back-furrowed each way upon the trench. Potatoes 

 came up about as early as others did. Dressed the rows with 

 the hoe at once, merely to smooth the ground and keep down 

 weeds. Harvested earlier and more of them per acre than others, 

 and of sixty or seventy bushels not a peck of small ones I Each 

 time potatoes are hilled they will throw out a new set of fibers, 

 and form a new set of potatoes, 



USE or PORK AS FOOD, 



Wm. S. Carpenter. — The best hams that we have in this coun- 

 try are from hogs fed upon beech nuts; but hams of hogs fatted 

 upon corn are much better than those from what are generally 

 known as mast -fed hogs. I am told that a great portion of the 

 food of some western hogs is rattlesnakes. In some places hogs 

 are kept for the purpose of clearing the woods of rattlesnakes. 



R. G. Pardee. — It depends partly upon how hogs are fed, 

 but more upon the manner of curing than anything else as to 

 the quality of hams. They can be made almost as delicate as 

 tender chicken. All hains should be cured by the following 

 compound of articles: 



To 100 pounds of ham use 8 or 9 pounds of rock salt, 2 ounces 

 saltpeter, 2 pounds of white sugar, 1 quart of best syrup, 4 ounces 

 saleratus, and 1 ounce allspice. 



These materials are boiled and scummed, in ten or twelve 

 gallons of water, and the hams packed in a barrel, and the 

 brine put on cool, adding water if necessary to cover the hams. 

 None but a new oak barrel should be used. Scald the barrel 

 and cool it before putting in the hams. Let them lay three 

 weeks, and then take them out and air them twenty-four hours.; 



