AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
249 
THE GROWING CORN—A LESSON. 
Recent letters upon the state of the grow¬ 
ing crops have been received from nearly 
every section of the Northern States, from 
Maine to Iowa. We have been not a little 
surprised, on taking up one after another of 
these letters, to find nine out of ten of them 
giving substantially this statement: “ Our 
com crop is very backward, the first planting 
having failed to come up, and, in many cases, 
a third or forth planting was necessary in 
order to secure a stand.” 
Various reasons are suggested to account 
for this failure, “ grub worm,” “ wire worm,” 
&c., but most of our correspondents attrib¬ 
ute it to defective seed. They say the crop 
was put up, last fall, before the cob was fully 
dry, and the consequent heating destroyed 
the germ. This theory is plausible, and 
might at once be adopted in every case, but 
from the fact that seed from the same bin has 
sometimes grown at a second planting. Nu¬ 
merous instances are given, however, where 
one part of a field has come up and another 
failed, and a subsequent examination has 
traced the seed on the two portions to dif¬ 
ferent sources. So also in at least two in¬ 
stances, experiments have been made at the 
second planting, a part of the seed being 
taken from the outside of a bin and the other 
part from the middle, and the latter has failed 
while the former has germinated well. 
Several intelligent farmers write positive¬ 
ly, like Mr. Bingham of Ohio, who says: 
“ This much you may put down as certain— 
every farmer hereabouts who selected his 
seed from the field last fall, and tied it up by 
the husks in the old-fashioned way, has se¬ 
cured a good sprouting at the first planting 
this spring.” Let the lesson now being 
learned be remembered, at least until next 
Fall, when the present crop ripens ; and at 
that time let each one select not only sound 
cars of corn, but those well filled out and 
well ripened, and take good care to have the 
corn designed for seed well dried before 
storing away. If this is done, we shall pro¬ 
bably not have such complaints another 
season as we now hear from every quarter. 
-[Ed.__ 
TRAPPING HOUSE ANTS. 
A lady enquires how she can drive away 
or destroy these pests. We know of no 
better method than the one we gave in the 
American Agriculturist some time since, 
which is essentially as follows : 
Take a large sponge and wash it well and 
after it is dry lay it near any spot frequent¬ 
ed by the ants, and sprinkle fine white su¬ 
gar over it. In a short time the meshes 
will be nearly filled with the minute insects, 
which can then be destroyed by dipping the 
sponge in hot water, and after washing and 
drying, it may be replaced again. Thousands 
are often destroyed at a time, and by repeat¬ 
ing the process the locality will soon be 
freed from them. 
Drowning ’em out.— One of the most ef¬ 
fectual methods we can suggest for keeping 
food from the reach of ants, is to put a little 
water into a platter and set the articles into 
it. Those which will not bear wetting may 
be placed upon a dish inverted in the wa¬ 
ter. Our artist has prepared the following 
cut to illustrate the subject : 
The small “ specks” are supposed to be 
diminutive ants. Get out your magnifying 
glass if you want to see their heads, eyes, 
and limbs. As will be observed, the ants 
are not good swimmers, and they are hesi¬ 
tating about “ plunging into the Rubicon,” 
that separates them from the coveted king¬ 
dom. 
If neither of the above plans will help our 
fair inquirer, we don’t know what will.— 
[En. 
SOW TURNIPS STILL. 
It is not too late. Many a good crop has 
been raised from seed sown after the middle 
of August, and even into September, though 
the sooner now the better. Read what is 
said of this subject in the July number, and 
then hunt up the “ bare spots” if it is not 
already well done. Every body will feel 
better with ten, fifty, a hundred, or five hun¬ 
dred bushels of turnips to put away for win¬ 
ter, than they will without them, while the 
cost of raising is very small. There is 
plenty of room for them between the rows 
of corn and potatoes. They may as well 
grow there as a crop of weeds, and the seed 
is hardly worth leckoning. A correspon¬ 
dent of the Genesee Farmer makes the fol¬ 
lowing suggestions :— 
Turnips can be raised on almost every va¬ 
riety of soil—the best being new land, black 
muck, loam and sand. I used to think they 
would not grow well on old land, but expe¬ 
rience has taught me better. 
They may be sown from the first of July 
to the fifteenth of August, and after early 
potatoes, wheat, barley, or oats, and peas. 
I have succeeded well sowing as above 
mentioned. If sown on old land, after other 
crops, it should be in a good state of culti¬ 
vation or a large crop cannot be expected. 
I think the very best time to sow is from the 
20th of July to the fifth of August. If sown 
after grain, the ground should be plowed 
and thoroughly harrowed as soon as the 
grain is harvested, to let the grain and weeds 
have a chance to grow. After a few days 
cultivate thoroughly, to pulverize the soil 
and kill the weeds, and the ground is ready 
for the seed, which may be sown broad¬ 
cast and harrowed in. If the ground is 
very dry it should be rolled. After the 
plants have attained a sufficient size they 
should be thinned and hoed once, and that 
will complete the work until harvest. If the 
ground is clean and not too thickly sown, a 
good crop can be raised without hoeing. 
The best variety is the early white stubble, 
sown at the rate of two lbs. per acre. 
The cost of raising a good^crop will not 
exceed two cents per bushel. I have sold 
them as low as eight dollars a hundred bush¬ 
els, and made agood profit. The tops.make 
good feed for cows and young cattle, which 
are very fond of them, and may be kept till 
hard freezing weather if left in small heaps, 
to prevent them from heating. I know of 
no better way of harvesting than to pull 
them and lay in rows with the tops all one 
way, and top them with a knife. 
EDITOR’S FARM NOTES, 
OR GLEANINGS AMONG PRACTICAL MEN. 
Huntington, L. I. —Thursday, July 10th, 
we visited “ Hillside farm,” owned by Mr. 
George T. Hammond, situated in what is 
termed “ Pleasant Valley,” six miles from 
Huntington village, and two and a half miles 
north from Conklin’s Turnout, L. I. Rail¬ 
road. It contains 106 acres—52 acres 
under culture, and 54 acres of woodland. 
The surface soil is a sandy loam, the subsoil 
in some places clay and in others sand or 
gravel. 
Potatoes .—A plot of li acres was planted 
May 1st, with 25 bushels of uncut Mercer 
Potatoes. The seed was selected from the 
largest and soundest potatoes grown in a lot 
of four acres last year. One-fourth of an 
acre of this plot received ten .two-liorse 
wagon loads of hog manure, spread broad¬ 
cast and plowed in, ten inches deep, last 
Fall; the remaining acre, a rye stubble, was 
plowed the first of April, and the last of that 
month the whole was plowed again, and har¬ 
rowed until well pulverized, and the un¬ 
manured acre sown with 450 lbs. Peruvian 
guano. The whole was again plowed five 
inches deep and harrowed, marked out in 
rows, 2i feet apart, with a double-mould¬ 
board plow, and the potatoes dropped eight¬ 
een inches apart in the rows. A small 
handful of Poudrette was added to each hill> 
which required four barrels to the acre; the 
rows were then closed with the double- 
mould-board plow. 
As soon as the vines could be seen, the 
ground was harrowed with a bush harrow. 
The 10th of June they were all up, when 
the plow was passed through them, followed 
by hand-hoes, soon after which they com¬ 
menced blossoming. Some of them] are 
still in blossom and the crop promises well. 
Mr. H. thinks it injures potatoes to hoe 
them while in blossom, and says his method 
has been when weeds appear after this stage 
of the plant to pull them by hand. 
Oats .—Six and a half acres of oats were 
sown as follows : the land was first well 
plowed six inches deep, and harrowed over 
twice ; four acres were sown with poudrette ^ 
at the rate of 380 lbs. per acre ; one-and-a- 
half acres with 200 lbs. Peruvian guano per 
acre ; and two acres with 200 lbs. Ichaboe 
guano per acre. Two bushels of seed per 
acre were sown immediately after the 
manure, and both harrowed in together, and 
the ground rolled, which left a level but 
well-pulverized surface. The portion treat¬ 
ed to Peruvian guano is probably ten days 
ahead of the oats on the poudrette portion, 
and has a darker green color, and a more 
