1858. 
THE CULTIVATOR 
21 
Fig. 3. 
plain, and there will he no brackets. The cornices of 
the gables of the main building will be simple projec¬ 
tions of the roof, two feet and six inches wide, with a 
plain barge board about four inches wide. The cornice 
of the kitchen will have a projection of eighteen inches, 
j- i 
Fig. 4. 
All the floors of the house will be of yellow pine. It 
is unnecessary to go into further details, as the draw¬ 
ings themselves afford sufficient* information if exa¬ 
mined with the scale, and the cost of work and mate¬ 
rials vary so much in different parts of the Union, that 
no safe guide could be found in the prices paid here. 
E. L. R. Baltimore , Md. 
■ --- 
King Philip Corn. 
A good fallow crop, — to precede wheat, — has long 
been a desideratum with farmers. To occupy the 
ground which otherwise would be a naked fallow, with 
something that will not injure the succeeding growth 
of wheat, and at the same time yield a valuable pro¬ 
duct, would be a positive profit. Hoed or cultivated 
crops, by destroying weeds and mellowing the surface, 
are better for this purpose than such as are sown broad¬ 
cast; and hence, if other things are equal, corn and 
beans are better than oats, peas, and barley. A serious 
difficulty in the way of adopting corn as a fallow crop, 
is its lateness , preventing the early sowing of the wheat, 
while the weight of the stalks renders the task of clear¬ 
ing the land of them, one of no small magnitude. 
There is one variety of corn, however, — the King 
Philip,—which to a considerable extent, obviates these 
objections. The past late spring, and subsequent short 
summer, has enabled us to give this variety a severe 
test for this purpose. Several acres were planted on 
heavy inverted sod, without any manure, with Billing s 
planter, in rows about three and a half feet apart, and 
in “ hills ” twenty-two inches in the row. The soil be¬ 
ing quite wet when plowed, a part became baked and 
hardened; but Billings’ planter is an efficient one for 
pulverizing hard earth, and the whole field came up 
with scarcely the failure of a hill. We think this suc¬ 
cessful result was in part owing to the variety of corn 
planted,—which ripening so early, scarcely ever fur¬ 
nishes a poor or immature seed. The field was not 
hoed, but the stalks were mostly thinned to three in the 
hill. It was cultivated three times with a horse; but 
six times would have been much better. 
In one hundred days, most of the ears were har¬ 
dened, notwithstanding the extremely unfavorable sea¬ 
son, and before the middle of 9 mo. (Sept.) the ripened 
ears projected from the dry and open husks. The crop 
from a portion of the field was cut up and drawn off, 
admitting the early sowing of wheat, the crop of which 
is now as green and promising as any from fallowed 
land. In favorable seasons, wheat might be sown af¬ 
ter this corn by the first of autumn. 
A portion of the field was measured, neither the 
heaviest nor the lightest part, but a lair medium, and 
the product was found to exceed sixty bushels per acre 
—which is well for an entirely unmanured field, with 
only ordinary cultivation, the whole being fully ripened. 
The King Philip corn is rejected by some who have 
tried it, because they have not given it proper treat¬ 
ment. To obtain a full product, it requires to be planted 
much thicker than the larger varieties. It should be 
either in drills, or in close hills in one way, — not over 
two feet by three and a half. The smallness of its 
stalk admits closer planting; and this smallness also 
gives an unfavorable opinion of the real amount of the 
crop to those who have never measured the product. 
-• -«o-■ 
Preparing Grounds for Orchards. 
Messrs. Editors —Which is the best time to set out 
an apple orchard of young trees — spring or fall ? If 
in the spring, would it not be advisable to prepare the 
ground by plowing and harrowing, and to dig the holes 
before winter, in order that the frost might pulverize 
the ground 7 For grapevines, bones and oyster shells 
thrown about the roots are thought to be good — how 
would they answer for fruit trees ? C. Salem Co ., N. J. 
For apple trees, it is a matter of little importance 
whether transplanting be done in autumn or early 
spring, provided the work is well done. Good after 
culture is far more essential. Autumn is much the 
best time to prepare the ground for the reason assign¬ 
ed, with the additional one that any enricher applied 
in autumn becomes well reduced and diffused through 
the soil by the time of spring operations. 
Bones, oyster shells, and other special manures, are 
not so uniformly beneficial as yard manure, but some¬ 
times they succeed admirably, being just the thing 
needed under some peculiar condition of the soil. 
Where they prove decidedly beneficial to grapes, they 
would no doubt be useful to apple trees. 
- 0-0 0 - ; - 
Fire in the Chimney. —In cases of fire in the chim¬ 
ney, it is an excellent plan to put salt on the fire in 
the grate below, as it acts chemically on the flaming 
soot above. This has been found to extinguish the fire 
in a short time, and deserves to be more generally 
i known. 
