50 
CULTIVATION OF COHN IN 01110, 
the agricultural papers, and seen the accounts of 
the premiums that it has won at the various plow- 
ing-matches at the north. I have been exhibiting 
some of them in this city the past week. They 
are regarded as an ingenious and useful improve¬ 
ment, but are said to be too heavy (No. 4) for the 
lands here. They do not reflect that the resist¬ 
ance that a plow offers, in being moved through 
the ground, is more the result of shape than weight. 
I have no doubt that it will be found, on trial, that 
Barnaby & Mooers’s No. 4, weighing about 120 lbs. 
in full rig, will require less power of team to turn 
a given amount of earth than the Allen plow will; 
that only weighs about 40 or 50 lbs. If I can 
get a trial of plows here, as I anticipate, I will 
give you the result. 
The cultivator is very little in use here. It don’t 
seem to be a favorite at all, although, properly 
made, it would be a better implement than any 
now used in the cultivation of corn and cotton, ex¬ 
cept the sweep, which does its work very much as 
a good cultivator should, and is a useful instru¬ 
ment. 
If, during my stay at the south, I discover any¬ 
thing that will aid the cause of agriculture, or be 
interesting to your readers, you may hear from me 
again. E. Cornell. 
Augusta , Georgia , March 16,1843. 
In answer to Mr. Hendrickson’s inquiries as to 
the manner of obtaining the large crops, for which 
premiums were awarded at the late meeting of the 
New York State Agricultural Society, we do not find 
anything very peculiar in the cultivation. Where 
the land was not naturally rich, it was made so 
by a plentiful use of barnyard manure, and some 
ashes and plaster. Mr. Phelps planted his com in 
hills two feet apart each way; kept it clear of all 
weeds, and obtained a product of 122 bushels to 
the acre. Of oats, he sowed five bushels to the 
acre, on well-manured land, and obtained 102 
bushels. In the same field, side by side, without 
manure, he got less than 86 bushels on an acre and 
a. half; thus demonstrating, even on naturally rich 
land, the benefit of adding fertilizing substances to 
it. The same care was used in the cultivation of 
all the other grain, and also of the root crops, and 
the products were uncommonly large. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
CULTIVATION OF CORN IN OHIO. 
Middletown, O., March 1,1843. 
Mr. A. B. Allen, Dear Sir: In looking over the 
February No. of your paper, I noticed in the report 
of your State Agricultural Society, an account of 
some extraordinary crops of grain, which puts the 
blush upon our Buckeye twenty-foot cornstalks; 
yet I do not doubt the truth of the statements. 
My object in addressing you is to learn by what 
process such splendid results have been attained; 
the kind of seed, and the time of sowing; the 
method of preparation, and the kind of soil. Was 
the barley the spring or fall variety, atid how much 
seed was sown per acre ? Oats—the time of sow¬ 
ing, the kind of seed, and how much per acre ? 
As you did me the honor to mention my corn 
crop in your paper, contrary to anticipation, your 
notice has brought me a liberal amount of orders 
for seed ; and I feel under obligation to give some 
explanation of the process by which I obtained it* 
When the common method of selling corn was by 
measure, some six years since, I planted exclusive¬ 
ly the large gourd-seed variety, which had a large 
ear, small cob, and deep grain. It was rough up¬ 
on the outer ends, and would weigh from 52 to 54 
lbs. per bushel. 
The system of selling corn by weight being 
established, at 58 lbs. to the bushel, induced me to 
undertake some method of increasing weight as 
well as quantity. I therefore selected, to mix with 
my gourd seed—first, a kind with large ears, large 
cob, and shallow, flinty grain; second, what is 
termed the flesh-colored variety; third, the real 
flint, weighing 63 lbs. to the bushel; fourth, the 
large Virginia yellow. These mixtures were en¬ 
tirely different kinds of corn, and raised in different 
sections of the country. They were well mixed, 
and ray first crop presented rather a motley ap¬ 
pearance; the second was uniform. Finally came 
the miqua variety which I now cultivate, with 
small j:ed cob, and large ears. It is now a reddish 
color, weighing 60 to 61 lbs. per bushel, and yields 
from SO to 100 bushels per acre, according to soil 
and cultivation. 
My method of selecting my seed is as follows: 
During the gathering of the crop, I have attached 
to the tail end of my wagon a large basket, into 
which is deposited the choice of all the ears. My 
method is to save for seed all the ears where there 
is more than one on a stock, as it does add to the 
yield. 
My method of cultivation is to plow my ground 
as deep as two big horses caii tug, with a No. 7 
plow, commencing the work the latter part of 
March. I plant without harrowing, as the ground 
is more liable to bake and become hard if har¬ 
rowed, in consequence of heavy spring rains. I 
usually commence planting about the 15th of 
April, by furrowing out the land the first way 
with a large plow, four or five inches deep, and 
then cross-furrow it with a smaller plow, and not 
so deep, which gives a quantity of mellow earth 
for the corn to be covered in. It is furrowed in 
squares, from 4 feet to 4 feet 4 inches, according to 
the quality of the soil. I drop in each hill from 
five to seven grains, and as soon as it is up two or 
three inches, pass through twice in a row with the 
cultivator, in the direction in which it was last 
furrowed; and, in about a week, pass twice through 
in the contrary direction. And now comes the time 
for thinning out. This is done by reducing the 
stalks in each hill to three or four; and I then 
commence plowing. If the corn be sufficiently 
large to prevent its being covered by the dirt in 
plowing, I throw the furrow toward the corn; if 
not, from it. I generally plow my com three or 
four times, and by all means avoid working the 
ground when wet, as it not only injures the soil, 
but the crop. 
