36 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
nure. They will be valuable in proportion to 
the quantity and kind ol salts each contains^ ad- 
ded to the power they may have of producing 
by their decay substances which make their 
mould soluble. Now, this last property, that is, 
the property of producing a substance which 
makes mould soluble, depends wholly upon the 
nitrogen of the manure. This nitrogen, in the 
process of decay, becomes volatile alkali, or 
ammonia. The word amnxonia will occur so 
often in the present discussion, that we should 
endeavor to fix some definite idea to it. You 
need not, reader, be acquainted with all its chem- 
ical properties. I suppose every man who will 
be likely to read these- renparks, has smelled am- 
monia. It has-been, already said, that it gives 
the peculiar pungent smell to the common smell- 
ing bottle. Thisis volatile ammonia. It is al- 
ways formed vthen animal or vegetable bodies 
decay. 
It has been already said, and is now repeated 
in order that it may never be forgotten, that am- 
monia is formed by the union of hydrogen and 
nitrogen. Hydrogen and nitrogen, two airs— 
nitrogen forming four-filths of the air we breathe 
-=-let that be borne in mind, and without going 
into, the chemistry of ammonia further, or the 
mo,de oi calculating how much ammonia a 
piound ol nitrogen will m,ake, it may be laid 
down, and must be remembered, too, that every 
pound of nitrogen may be called two and a half 
pounds of sal volatile, or smelling salts of the 
smelling-bottle. Two and a half lbs. of volatile 
ammonia lormed from one lb. of nitrogen. II, 
then, w’^e can determine, as chendstry may, how 
much nitrogen exists in or forms a part of ma- 
nure. two and a halftimes that will be the am- 
monia ol that manure. II, then, the vegetable 
part of manure is, as we have said, valuable 
and active in proportion to its degree of being 
dissolved by wmter, then, as ammonia giyes it 
this easy solubility, we may safely say that the 
quantity of nitrogen in manure, is the measure 
of the value of its vegetable part. One thing 
must be guarded against j not to place Irom this 
view the whole of the value of manure upon its 
ammonia. Remember that manure consists of 
carbon, water, and salts. The whole are equal- 
ly essential to its action. There is no eve, nor 
ear, nor foot, nor hand, in manure, which may 
say to the other members, •' I have no need ol 
thee.” The whole act together; but it is not to 
be doubted that ammonia is the heart of manure, 
and keeps up the healthy circulation among the 
other members. 
(Tq be continued-) 
From the Western Citizen. 
PREMIUM ESSAY ON THE CULTIVATION OF 
CORN. 
BY GEORGB Vf. WILLIAMS. 
1,. This Essay, although, in its application, it 
is intended for the Northern part ol Kentucky) 
in its general principles may be adopted in all 
regions where corn can be produced. 
2. Indian corn was not known in Europe till 
after the discovery of the New World. It was 
at first lound by the followers ol Columbus in 
South America, and it is supposed to have been 
cultivated in Mexico and Peru from time imme- 
morial. It was introduced into England about 
the year 15.05, is now cultivated wherever cli- 
mate and soil are suitable, and is one of the most 
munificent gifts of the new to the old world. It 
is one of the staples of the United States, and in 
the great valley ol the Mississippi is, next to 
cotton, the most important production of the 
soil. In the Statps of Tennessee, Kentucky, 
Missouri, Indiana, Illinois and Ohio, it is a 
product upon which the agricultural communi- 
ty relies for sustenance more than any other. It 
supplies to man and beast the most nutritious 
food, and it enters so completely info the econo- 
my of rearing stock, that it is believed a substi- 
tute cannot be found for it. 
3. It is useless to raise corn upon poor or ex- 
hausted land. Land which is not fertile enough 
to produce 100 bushels to the acre, should not be 
planted in com, To cnltiyate it in soils, which 
in the best seasons will not yield more than twen- 
ty-five bushels, and in ordinary seasons not 
moxe than twenty-lfve bushels to tlie acre, is an 
expenditure of labor to Huie purpose, and ex- 
hausts the soil in a ratio propoitionale to its 
poverty. The best lands should always be .se- 
lected for corn, and then if properly cultivated, 
such an average crop may be expected, as will 
amply repay the farmer for his labor. — 
Exhausted land put down to grass can be made 
more profitable by a proper system of grazing, 
than if kept in cultivation, and may be render- 
ed in a few years as productive as the best. — 
One of the greatest errors in the present mode 
of cultivating corn, is to be found in the quality 
and quantity of land we undertake to cultivate. 
It takes many acres of poor land to make many 
barrels ol corn : hence, we plant more than we 
can manage, and the result is much labor and a 
small crop. Good land, well cultivated, will 
yield heavy crops with half the labor. To cor- 
rect this error, the attention must be turned to 
the improvement of exhausted lands, and to a 
more careful cultivation of those that are good, 
as well as to such a rotation of crops as shall 
keep the soil from deterioration. These sub- 
jects are not strictly within the scope of this es- 
say, and will not be farther noticed. 
4. There are many varieties of corn, and, the 
farmer, in the choice of his seed, wil,l have an 
eye to his location, the nature of his soil and 
climate, as also to the purposes to which hs in- 
tends to apply the crop when matured. In 
Northern latitudes, the long-eared variety with 
large cob will nof do, because it ripens slowly, 
and is liable to be injured by the frosts; and 
even here, it not unfrequently happens that va- 
rieties of this sort are overtaken by an early frost. 
If bread be the object, the best is a white, firm 
grain, easily shelled, and one that yields a pure 
white meal. In this, the farmer will, hosvever, 
be governed by his own fancy, though experience 
will teach him that certain varieties are- to be 
preferred for certain soils, and for particular pur- 
poses. My own judgment has led me to the cul- 
tivation 01 two kinds, one for meal and the other 
for stock, the latter of which has a small red 
cob, firm, deep, yellow grain, shells easily, : nd 
has commonly two ears to the stalk. ' 
5. When the variety has been chosen, much 
care is to be exercised in the selection of seed, 
tor it is an important consideration to have seed 
which will besure to germinate; and will throw 
up a strong green plant from the start. Cora 
for seed should be of the best part of the crop as 
it stands in the field, and should be left standing 
until it has fully ripened. Let it then be taken 
from the stalk with the shuck on, and cribbed ; 
or, if it is shucked, let it be kept in a dry ai'^y 
loft. Most usually, where a stalk bears two 
ears, the top ear is the larger and better of the 
twQ. When the season for planting arrives, the 
whole is to be overhauled, and no ears should 
be chosen but those which are perfectly sound, 
and of good size for the sort. The grains must 
then be taken from each end of the ear, and 
those of the middle used for seed. I would re- 
commend the grain to be planted as it comes 
from the ear, without any preparation to guard 
against insects or birds. The receipts offered 
for this purpose frequently injure the germ, and 
sometimes do more harm than either bird or in- 
sect. The best remedy against both is to plant 
early, and use sound seed. The character of the 
variety may be changed by a continued selection 
of the top ear from stalks bearing more than 
one ear, and if this be repeated for several years, 
the change, I think, will be for the worse. It 
will be found, although there will be an increase 
of the number of ears to the stalk, that their size 
will be diminished, the grains become shallow 
and flinty, and will adhere closely to the cob. I 
have, for several years past, made experiments 
of this sort, and ascertained that a continued se- 
lection of the top ear will produce these results. 
Baden produced his noted variety in this way, 
and I do not doubt but that it is greatly inferior 
to the variety from which he produced it. My 
plan now is to take the best ears whether first or 
second, and afterwards choose from among 
these, the most sound and perfect for seed. 
G. I know ol but one case in which it is pro- 
per for one crop of corn to succeed another, and 
that is upon land, which, being in sod, was pre- 
pared lor corn with great expense and labor. In 
this case, the first crop, although it may be 
large, is aot likely to be as heavy as the second,, 
nor will it compensate for the expense of prepa- 
ration. To prepare sod land for corn, it must 
be taken in band early in the winter. As soon 
as the first thaw occurs after a hard freeze, it 
should be double-plowed, running one plow 
immediately after the other; the first turning 
over a thin surface of sod, and the one follow- 
ing, throwing upon that a thick slice of sub-sod,, 
both plows together making a furrow from 
four to six inches in depth. I know of some ex- 
cellent plows for this kind of work. My 
neighbor. Captain W m. P. Hume, has in use a 
pair ol his own invention that do the woik to 
perfection. The Rugles’s plow to be followed 
by Hay’s Rounder, or with the Rounder, will do 
admirably. Sod land prepared in this way, mel- 
lowed by the latter frosts of winter, need, when, 
the planting season arrives,- only to be sirred 
with the harrow, before the seed is put in, and 
presents in fact the best possible prospect, if the 
soil is of the first quality, fpr a large yield. — 
Winter plowing ol sod land is the only reme- 
dy against the ravages of the cutworm. 
7. To prepare other lands for corn, whether 
stubble or fallow, deep plowing is the first 
desideratum, and the proper time for doing this, 
. is as early in the spring as when the frost has 
left the earth, and it has attained a genial 
w'armth, sue' as will cause the mould to leave 
the plow without difficulty. If stubble land 
be of a stiff, clay soil, and the stubble heavy, the 
stubble should be burned and not plowed in, 
but if it be of an open, light, friable description, 
the stubble should be turned under by all means.^ 
In the first case, the heat of the burning stubble 
will render the soil more friable, and the ashes 
will give that kind of manure best suited to it, 
while in light soils, the stubble soon decompos- 
es, and forms an excellent nutriment lor the 
growing crop. Before planting, the soil must 
be thoroughly pulverized, and to effect this, a 
harrow should follow the plow. To plow 
deep and well, the plow^man must have a good 
ploiv, and one that will not choke. He must 
have a strong, steady team ; he must walk in 
the furrow, hold his plow level, make no skips, 
plow from the middle out, turn his team to the 
right, move at a regular pace, make no stops,, 
and keep always a constant watchfulness, that 
he is doing his work well. In plowing from 
the middle cut, the team does not trample the 
plowed land in turning; the horses never get 
their hind feet, in turning, athwart the traces, 
and the team always has firm ground on which 
to turn.. To plow, as is common, by com- 
mencing at the out edge of a field, plowing 
around the whole field and finishing in the midr 
die, is objectionable, because in turning the 
team, lour tracts to the extent taken up in mak- 
ing the turn, of trampled earth is made, fromi 
each corner of the field to the centre ; or, if the 
plowman, to avoid this, rounds the corners so 
as to turn at each without a stop, he is, in doing 
this, necessarily compelled to make considera- 
ble skips, which is worse than trampling the 
plowed land. Land should never be plowed 
when it is so wet as to adhere to a bright mould 
board, or when it will not crumble. I do not 
approve o; fall ph iwing of stubble land. From 
some cause unknowm to me, fall-plowed stub- 
ble land is not as genial in the spring as it 
would be without such plowing, and besides, 
it i- sure to be infested to such an extent with 
the white grub, as to render the crop very un- 
certain. If suitable seasons occur in the win- 
ter for plowing such lands, it will do well to 
plow them then, and it is better to do so, as a 
longer time is given for the decomposition of 
the stubble — but when the season of planting 
arrives, it must be plowed again, or listed by 
throwing two furrows into another. 
