AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
337 
Cayuga shore, that the stalwart tulip tree 
(L’Tulipifera), the tall maple and ponderous 
basswood (Tilia Americana), alternate with 
the sturdy oak, denoting a soil as friable as 
it is all-abounding and wealthy in the food of 
plants, to a depth which no subsoil plow, 
yet to be invented, can ever hope to reach. 
The site, too, is picturesque, with a narrow, 
though more extended view of lake and 
shore, and rising grounds, and of arable 
field, orchards, farm-houses and woodlands, 
in far and near perspective. But the pres¬ 
ent location embraces an extensive landscape 
of woods and farm improvements, and the 
broad surface of the misty lake beyond ; and 
the strong, stubborn soil lacks little more 
than mechanical aid to make At teem with 
vegetation. 
Agricultural Exhibitions. —As far as 
heard from, the rural Fairs of every State 
and County are a great improvement on all 
preceding—the State Fair of New-Jersey, 
perhaps, excepted. 
It would seem that a Jersey farmer im¬ 
proves by transplanting into a richer and 
more generous, if not a more grateful soil; 
as some of the best farmers of little Seneca 
County are from that State, and many of 
these have minds so far imbued with the 
importance of look farming, that they are 
among the first, and largest, on the subscrip¬ 
tion lists of our State Agricultural College. 
Our truly astute friend, Harris, of the Gene¬ 
see Farmer, had his English propriety a lit¬ 
tle shocked at the Jersey Fair, when he saw 
only one poor Devon Bull in the large stalls 
appropriated for Devons, and him “ For 
Sale.” And a Durham Cow from J. J. 
Mapes, whose large protuberant bones stuck 
out as if she was an advertisement of the 
“ Professor’s ” bony phosphate. But, me- 
thinks the day must soon come when rural 
New-Jersey will set about availing herself 
of the advantages which her proximity to 
those sores on the body politic, large cities, 
now might give her; I do not mean a mark¬ 
et for products her present soil fails to pro¬ 
duce, but as supplying cheaply the ready 
means for fertilizing that soil, which, how¬ 
ever poor it may be, is always grateful. 
S. W. 
Choking Cattle. —Mr. Geo. S. Palmer, 
of Richmond, Va., writes, referring to a for¬ 
mer article in the American Agriculturist: 
“Let me suggest a sure and never-failing 
simple remedy, by using a wagon or car¬ 
riage whip, putting the butt end down the 
throat and pushing the obstruction down. 
The elasticity of the whip will allow the 
neck to be thrown up or down in any posi¬ 
tion. Of course you must first get the suf¬ 
ferer by the horns.” 
We have in several instances used, and 
seen used, the implement above recommend¬ 
ed. Great care is necessary, or the sesopha- 
gus (meat-pipe) will be ruptured. We prefer 
in all cases to try the oil first, as stated in 
our former articles. So, also, a handful of 
snuff thrown into the mouth and nostrils of a 
choked animal induces coughing, which 
often throws out the obstruction.— [Ed. 
Tis’ sweet to abuse ones relations but 
painful to hear them abused. 
CORNSTALKS, THEIR VALUE EOR FEEDING— 
EARLY RIPENING OF CORN, &C, 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist : 
If any one of the herbaceous grasses 
will pay the labor and expense of ear¬ 
ly cutting, covering, and drawing, with 
juices unimpaired by either molding, or 
fermenting into the sour state, it is the 
stalks of the Indian corn, and more especially 
the shriveled or sweet variety. I have stalks 
of this corn cut as the green ears were 
plucked in August, and dried in an open shed, 
they are now half as rich in sugar as the 
dried stalks of the sugar cane. If your city 
M. D.’s, instead of denouncing still-fed cow’s 
milk as unhealthy, could have made it obli¬ 
gatory on the feeders of these cows to sup¬ 
ply them with small rations of sweet corn 
stalks, (which may be obtained from your 
market gardeners), this would replace the 
sugar which is taken from the slop to form 
alcohol. Then still slop, barring the odium 
of its lost associate, alcohol, will be found 
the full equivalent of hasty pudding ? 
But to have corn fodder in perfection, with 
fragrant leaf and saccharine stalk, it should 
be planted early, since a perfect crop in 
stalk and its juices, no less than in its cereal 
product can not be made outside of the long¬ 
est days and shortest nights of three sum¬ 
mer months. When I hear a farmer say, 
“ if the frost only keeps off I shall have 
good corn,” I set him down either as no 
farmer, or one who has no experience in 
corn growing. In no good corn growing re¬ 
gion do the earlv frosts cut off a crop of 
corn that would have ripened well had the 
frost kept off. Corn only grows and matures 
fast and well with a temperature of 80° and 
over, by day, and not less than 60 Q at night. 
It has been asked why late planted corn 
has barren stalks and fails to ear as^well as 
that which is planted only two weeks ear¬ 
lier? I reply, that even if ears, form, they 
can neither grow nor fill after the long and 
cooler nights commence, as it takes all the 
warmth of the shorter day to counterbalance 
the chill that the plant has received through 
the lengthened night. For this very reason 
good corn of the large variety is never grown 
in the equatorial regions, where twelve hours 
night sinks the thermometer much lower 
than it falls in our shorter summer nights. 
The great value of corn grown expressly 
for late summer soiling of milch cows in 
particular, I will illustrate by giving the 
very successful example of our amateur 
farmer, Joseph Wright, who keeps up 
the yield of milk from his twelve fancy 
cows, through the dry season, each cow near¬ 
ly filling a pail at a time, while some farm¬ 
ers milk five to seven cows into one pail. 
His cows run in as good pasture as our cal¬ 
careous region affords. But as this fails 
under our long continued summer drouth, 
Sweet corn in drills from the same cause 
becomes rich in saccharine matter, in which 
state it is most nutricious. This is cut in 
August., September, and October, and fed to 
his cows at milking time. In August much 
is cut and dried, and mowed away on top of 
his hay, &c., for winter feed, always dis¬ 
posing it in a way that the juices .of the 
stalk may neither mold nor sour. If any 
man doubts the value of full grown Sweet 
corn stalks (that have matured a crop of 
ears) for milch cows in winter, let him cut 
up a pail full of the butts that have their sugar 
unspoiled, and then another pail of English 
turnips, pithy as they are in winter, and 
place them before bis cow ; she will inva¬ 
riably take the sweet stalks first; and who 
has not as much faith in her practical judge¬ 
ment, as in any mere pen and ink, chemist’s 
analysis ? 
Waterloo, October 10, 1856. S. W. 
BEST MODE OF SAVING POTATOES. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Your correspondent asks how potatoes 
are best saved? Gen. Barnum, of Vergennes, 
Vt., had his potatoes gathered by shaking 
the tops into the wagon, dirt and all, and 
conveying immediately to large bins in the 
cellar, when turf, carefully cut, was placed 
closely upon the surface to exclude air. 
He succeeded well. 
I fell in with a gentleman from Virginia, 
reared in Connecticut, who said he ordered 
potatoes from Connecticut every year, and 
that they were dug in cloudy weather, or 
just at twilight, and immediately barreled up, 
and kept from the light as much as possible. 
He found no other modes equally good. His 
potatoes were excellent. 
An Irishman became celebrated in one of 
our cities for furnishing excellent potatoes. 
Taking advantage of his celebrity, lie was 
paid one shilling a bushel more for potatoes 
than the market price. But presently it 
was discovered that his potatoes were no 
better than others brought to market, unless 
his directions were followed—to have them 
placed in a barrel, in the dark , and excluded 
from the air. 
These hints come too late for this potatoe 
harvest; but may save some in disposing of 
their Winter’s stock, and be remembered 
hereafter. 
But poor potatoes will be poor, kept any 
way. Choice kinds should be planted on 
dry sweet soils, and dug before they are sat¬ 
urated with Fall rains. And good potatoes 
need to be well cooked. Let the cook take 
off the skin with a knife, once round the po¬ 
tato. Boil constantly till cooked. The 
water to be drained from them and the pota¬ 
toes left uncovered to steam off. Serve 
them up with the skins on. Many a good 
potato is spoiled in cooking. Profited by 
the hints furnished by others, I cheerfully 
furnish these in return. 
Fayette Shipherd. 
Pulaski, Oswego Co., N. Y. 
Keep Weed Seeds out of Manure. —Some 
seeds will live through almost any usual 
fermentation of the heap, and besides it 
should not heat and ferment. Many weeds 
cut in flower will still ripen seed, and as a 
general thing the seeds of our most perni¬ 
cious weeds are most tenacious of life. The 
fire is the proper place for them, and as 
ashes they arejiarmless.and profitable. 
