297 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
SAVE SEED COEN CAREEULLY. 
In remarking upon the failure of the corn 
to come up last Spring, we gave as a princi¬ 
pal reason, that much of the corn was put up 
last Fall in an imperfectly dried condition. 
This fact should be remembered now. Not 
only should extra care be taken to have all 
corn designed for planting next Spring tho¬ 
roughly ripened and dried, but the best ears 
should be selected. Those ripening first are 
quite likely to produce the earliest ripening 
crop when planted again. 
The largest ears should be taken, and 
these from the most prolific stalks. Those 
which are perfect, having the kernels well 
filled out at both ends, should in all cases be 
chosen. 
These matters are quite too often over¬ 
looked. We have known many farmers who 
have expended five to ten dollars or more 
per acre in preparing and planting a piece of 
ground, from which they have gathered 
scarcely half a crop, simply for want of a 
shilling’s worth of time in selecting and pre¬ 
paring the best seed, and this, in a greater 
or less degree, is too miffch the case gene¬ 
rally. It is like that other piece of bad 
economy practiced by multitudes, who send 
their children to the district school a year, 
at an expense of thirty to fifty dollars for 
clothing, teachers, &e., and yet lose half the 
benefit to be derived, simply because they 
withhold one extra shilling for a suitable 
book. 
We urge every farmer to go over his corn¬ 
fields himself, as soon as the crop is ripened, 
and gather out the kind of ears we have in¬ 
dicated, and then either husk and store them 
away in a dry room, or go back to the old- 
fashioned plan of stripping down the husks, 
braiding them together so that the seed ears 
may be hung up in the attic or other safe, 
dry place.—[E d. 
GATHERING CORN-SAVING GOOD SEED, 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
I cut up my corn crop from the roots pret¬ 
ty early, so as to make as much of the stalks 
for fodder as possible. I drive a waggon 
into the field, and keep two rows cut ahead 
of the horses, carrying these rows back to 
the waggon. Three rows are then taken on 
each side. In this way eight rows are 
gathered at a time. The corn is then taken 
to a lot near the barn, and put up in small 
shooks, where it is left to dry until a conve¬ 
nient season for husking. When the stalks 
are thoroughly cured we choose a dry day 
and carry in all we can pile upon the barn 
floor where it is husked out at leis ure, the 
corn being put into the granary and the 
stalks in the mow from which the wheat has 
been threshed. I have my corn granary 
under an extension of the barn roof. I am 
obliged to use a horse team in gathering the 
corn, as oxen bother me by constant feed¬ 
ing. 
The same general plan is pursued by a 
neighbor who has a separate corn crib, and 
stacks the stalks ; but all his husking must 
be out of doors, and this is necessarily done 
in dry weather only. Another large corn 
grower has built along low shed as follows : 
Two rows of crotchcd stakes are set up east 
and west. The north row is extended above 
the ground six feet and the south row eight 
feet. String pieces runing east and west, 
are laid in the crotches to support a board 
roof. The boards—sixteen feet long—are 
laid on about three inches apart and the 
crack between them is then covered with a 
slab. One nail in each board and slab is 
sufficient to keep them in place. As rude 
stakes answer every purpose, and the poor¬ 
est kind of boards are good enough for the 
roof, the entire cost of the structure is quite 
small. 
Under this shed the corn is stowed away 
as fast as it is hauled from the field, and it is 
afterwards husked at leisure. Nothing but 
an unusually driving rain or snow will injure 
the corn and then only the outside portions. 
It was the intention to set a row of perpen¬ 
dicular boards against the south side, but af¬ 
ter three years trial my neighbor has not 
considered this worth while. The husking 
is commenced upon one end and the stalks 
are piled up under the same cover until 
wanted for feeding. 
SAVING SEED CORN. 
In refering to the poor corn seed planted 
last spring, the Agriculturist stated that it 
probably resulted from putting up the corn 
too damp last fall. I think this must have 
been the difficulty. In gathering my corn as 
above described, I leave standing any thrifty 
stalks which contain two or more full sized, 
plump, well filled out ears. These remain 
in the field until perfectly ripe and dry, when 
the ears are plucked off and carried in bask¬ 
ets to a dry room over the granary where 
they are left with tlie husks on until spring 
planting. Last spring my whole crop came 
up beautifully at the first planting, while 
many of my neighbors were under the ne¬ 
cessity of planting the second time, and sev¬ 
eral of them came to me for what excess of 
seed I had to spare. 
An Indiana Farmer. 
RemarIcs.— There are some good sugges¬ 
tions in the above communication. We 
should think the plan of leaving the husks 
upon the ear not a good one. There does 
not appear to be advantage, while the husks 
furnish additional inducements for rats and 
mice to harbor in the corn. The selection of 
the largest, best filled out ears, and allowing 
them to get perfectly ripe and dry before 
storing, are considerations of the highest 
importance. See our article in the August 
number on this subject.— Ed. 
SHORTENING-IN CORN. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
In going over a patch of sweet corn re¬ 
cently, I could find but few ears sufficiently 
forward enough for cooking. What struck 
me as singular was, that the ears which 
were mature enough for use, were those 
from which the silk and husks had been nip¬ 
ped off down to the end of the cob by cattle 
that had broken into the field a short time 
previous. In their haste and greediness 
they had left some ears thus shortened-in, 
and on these ears the kernels were large 
and'full'sct, while all others throughout the 
field, and even on the same hills, were not 
as ripe or perfect until a fortnight after. 
I have not met with any statement of a 
similar fact in my reading, nor do I under¬ 
stand the cause. I mention it, thinking that 
it may furnish a hint to those growing early 
corn for market. It also suggests future 
experiments, that may result in useful dis¬ 
coveries. . D. B. 
Staten Island, Sept. 13,1856. 
EDITOR’S EARM NOTES. 
AGRICULTURE IN EASTERN CONNECTICUT. 
It is no disparagement to the farmers of 
New-London County, to say that Windham 
County farmers are far ahead of them. 
While the former have been mainly interest¬ 
ed in commerce, and for the last thirty 
year’s have been investing their capital in 
whale ships, merchant ships, and other 
marine enterprizes, and sending their sons 
to look after their capital in the city and 
upon the sea, the latter have been steadily 
working their farms and building up factory 
villages to make a home market for their 
produce. A larger share of their sons have 
been retained at home upon the farm, and 
the old homestead has more of the air of a 
permanent residence where the dwellers 
have pitched their tent for life. The miser¬ 
able system of renting farms for a long se¬ 
ries of years, to be skinned by remorseless 
tenants, does not prevail so extensively as 
upon the sea board. Men generally own the 
soil they till, or mean to, as soon as they 
lift the mortgage. Every thing looks for¬ 
ward to permanence. This feeling operates 
most favorably upon the farming interest. 
To bring up a New-England farm, run down 
by careless tillage for a century is a work 
of years, and no man who expects every 
year to emigrate, or to change his business, 
will undertake such an enterprize. The 
man who feels settled upon his farm can 
safely invest his capital in his business, put 
up good buildings, and good fences, clear 
his land of stone, and deepen the soil. He 
will not see the results the first year, but 
the capital thus invested will be bringing in 
its returns, for his whole life time, and for 
his heirs after him. 
Evidently, in this county, at least in the 
towns we visited, the farmers rely upon their 
farms for their livelihood. On every hand 
we saw evidence of intelligent husbandry. 
One of the most prominent objects, that 
strikes the visitor as he enters the county 
from the south, is the Academy upon Plain- 
field hill and thus perhaps gives us a clue to 
the intelligence and taste, that look out from 
clean meadows, the bending orchards, and 
the well kept gardens of so many rural 
homes in this region. This institution has 
sent out its classes every year for a genera¬ 
tion, and many of its pupils, some of them 
graduates of colleges, are now found upon 
the farm, bringing well disciplined minds to 
the investigations and experiments, which 
are so essential to successful husbandry. 
The County Agricultural Society embod¬ 
ies the wealth and intelligence of the whole 
