94 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



loss of seed, labor and soil. But imagine my 

 astonishment, (notwithstanding a drier season 

 never was known, and almost a universal failure 

 of garden vegetables,) when I beheld vines re- 

 markable thrifty, and as fine a crop of cucum- 

 bers as any one could wish to raise, and they 

 continued to bear for an unusually long time. — 

 I will not philosophize on the subject — but say 

 to. all, try it; and instead of throwing your 

 ashes away, apply it where it will be of use, 

 and you will reap a rich reward. — Ohio Farmer. 



Upon the foregoing, the Editor of the Maine 

 Cultivator says, " We last season made trial of 

 the above plan, and found it to succeed admi- 

 rably." 



SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



If Virginia does not become the first agricul- 

 tural State in the Union, it will not be for the 

 want of a good paper. We receive no journal 

 which gives us more decided pleasure than this. 

 Its Editor, C. T. Botts, Esq., knows what he is 

 about, and adapts his paper to the wants of his 

 readers. Published at Richmond, one dollar 

 per annum. 



The above is extracted from the " Prairie 

 Farmer," decidedly the most knowing paper 

 with which we are acquainted. 



From the New England Farmer. 



EXPERIMENTS IN SOAKING SEED CORN 

 MURIATE OF AMMONIA. 



Some time last May, I accidentally saw a 

 notice of some mode of preparing seed for plant- 

 ing, invented in Germany, which was said to 

 insure good crops, even upon poor and barren 

 land, at a very trifling cost. What the prepara- 

 tion was, the discoverer refused to make known. 

 While thinking over the various substances that 

 had been or might be used with advantage, it 

 occurred to me that muriate of ammonia, the 

 common sal ammoniac of the druggists, might 

 answer well for the purpose required, both from 

 the nature of its base and its acid ; and I deter- 

 mined to try the experiment of using it. 



I accordingly dissolved a small piece, weigh- 

 ing by estimate four or five grains, in about half 

 a coffee-cup of water. Into this a small handful 

 of good sound corn was thrown, and suffered to 

 remain four or five hours, and then planted. By 

 the side of each hill, at a proper distance, was 

 planted another hill with corn from the same 

 ear, but unsoaked. Generally in each spot only 

 one hill of each kind was planted ; but in one 

 place a hill of the soaked corn was placed on 

 each side of the unsoaked. The particulars 

 and results were as follows, viz : 



No. 1. Planted in good light soil, into which 



a fair dressing of coarse long stable manure had 

 been ploughed ; about five kernels were planted 

 in each hill. Result : 



Soaked. Unsoaked. 



8 ears, 6 good, 2 small. 4 ears. 



No. 2. Three hills — 2 of soaked, and between 

 them one of unsoaked corn. Soil dry, sawty, 

 and close to the edge of a path where little or 

 no manure fell in the spreading of it. Result: 

 Soaked. Unsoaked. 



a. 5 ears, 3 of them good. 3 good ears. 



b. 5 ears, 3 of them good. 



No. 3. Two hills — in a dry, sandy bed, occu- 

 pied for a dozen years by gooseberry bushes, 

 which were rooted up about two years before. 

 During all that time, the ground had never been 

 manured, otherwise than that a dressing of rot- 

 ten chips had several times been put about the 

 bushes, which were well trimmed and kept clear 

 of weeds. During the two last years, it had 

 borne cabbages, which were watered a number 

 of times with soapsuds and the drainings of a 

 sink where dishes were washed. Result : 

 Soaked. Unsoaked. 



3 large good ears and 3 rather poor ears. 

 3 abortive ears. 



No. 4. Two hills — on the edge of a sandy 

 square, reserved forseveralyears past for squashes, 

 which were manured in the hill, so that the place 

 where the corn was planted, had no benefit from 

 it, being at least four feet from the nearest hill. 

 Result : 



Soaked. Unsoaked. 



3 good ears. 3 rather poor ears. 

 No. 5. Three hills — in a moister piece of 



ground, into which a light dressing of coarse 

 stable manure had been dug with a spade, but 

 just under the edge of the boughs of some large 

 honey locusts, the roots of which filled the 

 ground, and exhausted the soil so, that I have 

 found it difficult to make any thing valuable 

 grow there but early bush beans. Result : 

 Soaked. Unsoaked. 



4 good ears. 3 poor ears. 

 The land where all the four first experiments 



were tried, was light and dry, and suffered con- 

 siderably from drought about the time the ears 

 were forming. Potatoes for early use, in the 

 immediate vicinity were completely stopped in 

 their growth about the last of July, the hills 

 being perfectly dry to the bottom, and not get- 

 ting fairly moist again for a period of three 

 weeks. Owing to this, the produce of the corn 

 was less than it would have been with seasona- 

 ble rains ; but in all cases, the hills, the seed in 

 which had been soaked, manifested a decided 

 superiority, not only in productiveness, but in 

 the size and vigor of the stalk and leaves ; as 

 was remarked by several of my friends, whose 

 opinion I asked without informing them of any 

 difference in the seed. For all the trials but 

 the first mentioned, poor spots were taken pur* 



