302 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
CEOPS IF AEKAFSAS— PLOWING- IN TIME OF DEY 
V/EATHES, &C. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — In consequence of 
the great failure of the corn crops last year, there was 
more wheat sown in Arkansas last fall than ever before 
in one season ; the yield has been better than usual; so 
that, Vv'hereas corn and corn meal have been selling for 
months past at ffom 5 ?! 50 10 $>2 per bushel, wheat can 
.now be bought (and that of the best quality) at S'l per 
bushel. So, you see, that the suffering wliich was at the 
doors of many people has been dispelled. 
Corn crops are generally more promising than usual, 
which is in part owing to the continued dry weather in 
the months of March, April and May. If May had given 
us anything near the quantity of rain that we had in the 
corresponding month of last year, and had been followed 
with the amount of rain we have had in June, our crops 
would now be suffering severely. The reason is this: a 
great quantity of rain in May would have saturated and 
baked the ground together compactly, which would have 
rendered the land unfit for enduring the dry weather in 
June; on the other hand, during the dry months of 
March, April and May our fields have been repeatedly 
and thoroughly plowed, the land has been'kept loose and 
light, consequently the unprecedented heat which we ex- 
perienced in April and May did not penetrate the loose 
and well plowed soil so as to evaporate the moisture 
therefrom. During all this month, though we have had 
but little rain, the plow and the hoe easily found their 
way to moist earth ; hence our crops have not suffered. 
What is the secret taught by these facts '? It is the 
same which was preached for ten years by old Edmund 
Ruffin, through the Farmer^s Register, and has been 
again and again repeated to the many readers of the 
Southern CuUivator through its richly filled columns : that 
a thoroughly and deeply plowed soil, and that kept in 
loose condition, will endure a drouth which cannot be 
successfully met by a hard, badly tilled surface. 
I have been away from home the most of my time for 
nearly two years past, so that I have not had an oppor- 
tunity to read the Cnltixator as regularly as 1 wished, but 
do not value its contents the less on that account. 
I have made daily Meteoric Notes at my residence dur-' 
ing several years past, in part for my own amusement, 
and in part for their publication, hoping that some useful- 
ness might be derived ffom them. If you would consider 
such matter worth a place in your paper I propose to fur- 
nish extracts from my tables for its columns ; if not, my 
feelings shall not be moved at a rejection of my proposi- 
tion. Yours truly, Allen Martin. 
]Sear Little Rock, Arkansas, July, 1855. 
Remarks, — We shall be much pleased to receive the 
notes alluded to by Mr. Martin, for publication. — Eds. 
This article was unavoidly crowded out of our 
September number, but we hope its suggestions may still 
be of some value to our readers : 
SEGUEING COEN AND COEN FODDSS. 
INIaize being the most important agricultural staple of 
the United States, how to gather and secure for future use 
its various products, are questions of universal interest, j 
The amount of corn badly damaged in the field and in the 
crib, and the annual loss sustained by the unwise manage- 
ment,’ or perfect neglect of the blades, stalks and shucks of 
this plant; can only be appreciated by those who are fa- 
miliar with this department of farm economy as it is prac- 
ticed over our widely extended republic. In some places, 
autumnal sickness, to a serious extent, prevents farmers 
trom ppying that timely care to securing fodder, and even 
corn itself, which they would otherwise give to this crop. 
Fall plowing for sowing wheat, rye, barley, oats and grass 
seed, often interfered with corn-harvest, and the extensive 
curing of nutritious forage from this great American cereal 
at the season when that labor ought to be performed. 
Whatever cause may induce the cultivator to neglect any 
part of this most useful plant, such neglect impairs in no 
degree the intrinsic value either of the grain or offal of 
maize. 
Judging from the experience and practice of extensive 
corn-growers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and Ken- 
tucky, where we have seen corn sold at ten cents a bushel 
or fifty cents a barrel, it can be best shucked in the field 
from the hill, and thrown into the capacious body of a 
large wagon, which is moved along by a team as the 
hands advance, and clear a given number of rows. There 
is quite as much slight-of-hand and professional art in 
shucking corn as there is in picking cotton. 
Where the saving of shucks is an object, corn should be 
early gathered, that the shucks may be taken out of the 
weather at the earliest practicable moment. The same re- 
marks apply to the early gathering of blades and topping 
of stalks. In order to make the most of the crop for forage, 
the whole is cut up near the ground at the North, while the 
plants are yet green, just after the seeds are glazed. The 
grain matures in the shock, while the fodder is worth for 
feeding stock quite as nouch as the corn, being housed 
as soon as it is cured. Every year we are amazed at the 
waste of money by Southern farmers in allowing their 
grain crops to stand for weeks and montlis in the fields 
where they grew, in small stacks or shocks. In this way, 
wheat, rye and oat straw is nearly ruined for all feeding 
purposes ; and corn forage fares no better. This unac- 
countable disregard ofone’s best interest in valuable crops, 
after they have been grown and half harvested, is the 
main cause of so much poor stock in all the planting 
States. Cattle, horses, mules, sheep and hogs must have 
good treatment every day of their lives, before they can 
approach perfection in form, and the highest profit to the 
owner and breeder. Corn-plants, raised expressly for for- 
age, cut, cured and housed at the right time, make cheap 
and excellent hay, equal to the best that is ever made from 
timothy, or any other grass. With first-rate management, 
the capabilities of corn for feeding man and all his domes- 
ticated animals can hardly be over-estimated. Indeed, it 
approaches so nearly to a free gift of Nature, that many 
appear to think that the harvest of corn may be indefinitely 
postponed without loss in fodder or grain. Pulling fod- 
der and putting it up in small stacks to stand for months, 
is bad economy. Eveiy plant and leaf, cured as forage, 
ought to be immediately put into a large stack, if circum- 
stances prevent its being well housed. A large stack, if 
properly constructed, will keep corn blades, stalks and 
shucks nearly as well as a barn. We have seen sixty 
tons put into a single stack, which was still further pro- 
tected by a covering of straw. Of course, juicy corn stalks 
will rot if put up in this way; but when duly dried, they 
will keep as well as a bundle of dry blades, or one of 
wheat. Timely care and proper industry are greatly 
needed in making the most of a crop of corn. Those of 
our readers who are feeding hogs for market, should push 
them now, and get them early to the consumer ; for meat 
will fall in price in a few months. L. 
