206 THE CULTIVATOR. July 
that in time will put an end to further expense. The 
board fence costs 88 to 100 cents a rod. There is a con¬ 
siderable portion of my fences of rails, mostly cedar, 
but no new rails are made. As to the condition of my 
fences, I would respectfully refer to the report of the 
committee on farms for this year, for the county of 
Onondaga, a copy of which report is attached. 
34. Most of my fields have been measured, but some¬ 
times more than one kind of grain is raised in a field— 
and thus the amount of ground covered by each kind of 
grain is not always accurately known. All the grain 
raised on the farm is measured, and the measurements 
entered in books kept for that purpose by proper men. 
The work hired by the day is entered in these books, 
and any other thing that appears of sufficient impor¬ 
tance. 
These memorandum books furnish most of the mate¬ 
rials for a farm book which is kept by myself. 
From the farm-book, it appears that there have been 
nine hundred and twenty-seven days’ work done on the 
farm, from the 1st day of April to the 1st day of No¬ 
vember. This account covers all the work done in 
drawing plaster, sowing it, drawing out manure, thresh¬ 
ing and delivering so much of the grain in market as 
has been sold, and all other men’s labor on the farm. 
There have been produced on the farm five thousand 
six hundred and forty-three bushels of grain, aside 
from garden vegetables. Besides this, sixty-six loads 
of hay. 
As the grain is sold, entries are made in the farm 
book, of the price it bring*s; and that part of the pro¬ 
ducts of the farm that is kept for home consumption, is 
estimated at the price it is worth in market. Thus 
arrived at, the grain and hay raised this year was worth 
three thousand five hundred and twenty-three dollars 
and seventy-nine cents. 
I have no means of determining the value of the 
pasture, fruit, and many other things produced on the 
farm, nor the cost of team work. Geo. Geddes. 
Fair Mount , Onondaga Co ., N. Dec. 31, 1845. 
INDIAN CORN: CULTURE OF AT THE SOUTH. 
Mr. Tucker —On the 8th page of the Cultivator I 
this day read an article from “ A Young Planter,” call¬ 
ing for information. I know not that I am qualified to 
give the desired information to so young a planter, as 
he wfe© dates from “Eufaula;” but in consequence of 
that writer being a devoted friend to a good cause, and 
as I may possibly do some good, I will at all events try 
what I can do. 
Allow me first to digress from the question, that I 
may be better enabled to have a hearing. I was absent 
from this place the years of 1836, 1837, 1838, and 1839; 
the crops of corn then made here were never exceeding 
an average of 20 bushels, and seldom to that extent, 
whether corn was cotton seeded or not. I have since 
made a crop of corn on 100 acres to average 30 bushels 
per acre, and do average 30 bushels per acre on my en¬ 
tire crop. As to measurement, my fields are generally 
square—fences placed on section lines—and where not, 
they have been surveyed and plotted in a farm book— 
done by myself, true; but as I can do such little mat¬ 
ters, and have no interest in deceiving myself or others, 
I presume this will suffice. 
As to quantity per acre,I have measured my wagon 
body, and calculated 3 square feet to a bushel of shucked 
corn. I have measured the same with a barrel, shuck¬ 
ing and shelling the same. I have measured my corn 
cribs, and believe my measurements are mathematically 
correct. These are my modes of calculating; if such 
can be relied on, then will I proceed. 
In 1838, I had determined on increasing the product 
of my farm, or seting fire to it and run away by the light; 
I procured a few two-horse plows, and instructed my 
overseer in their use. But as well might I have coun¬ 
selled with a wild goose; an overseer’s interest is to 
make a large cotton crop at any expense or any loss. 
This is changing, for I can lay my hand on men that 
I could relinquish the control of my little matters to; 
enough said. 
I began my improvement with deep and thorough 
plowing. I was not content to see fresh land on the 
surface, but I required the furrows to be run straight 
and parallel, so that there would be no unbroken strips 
or ridges. On my thin land, where 60 acres had pro¬ 
duced the two years before not over 15 bushels per 
acre, I sowed oats, and covered with a horse rake— 
abolishing the plowing in of grain from that time—1840, 
when I returned. I cut but little of these oats. The 
next year I plowed well again, and again sowed to oats; 
this year I did not cut the third. In 1842 I planted to 
cotton, in 1843 and ’44 to corn, in 1845 to cotton, and 
this year, these 60 acres are planted to corn and rye. 
My general plan is, thin land two years in corn and 
one in cotton; good land, two years in cotton and one 
in corn. 
I use good plows, and am as particular in my plow¬ 
ing as in any part of my farm operations. Never am I 
during plowing time without a tape line of 5 feet in my 
waistcoat pocket, and do not rely on eye sight, and in 
setting my plow to a required depth, for, after thirty 
years’ constant control of negroes, I find whipping 
and scoldiug will not do; constant attention is the 
only thing. I use all my cotton seed for manure, but I 
have never yet manured in the hill. I use all manure 
from my stable, cow and horse lot, and pig sty, but not 
in the hill. Generally I scatter broadcast; this year in 
the drill. I have used all my manure for three or four 
years on my orchard lot, and until this year, as I said, 
broadcast, not for the main purpose of increasing my 
crop, but to improve the land, with the view of ceasing 
the cultivation of any annual crop saving my fruit. I 
do not burn grass, corn, or cotton stalks. I have in a 
measure ceased the turning of cattle or horses into my 
fields; I sow down largely of rye in corn or cotton 
fields for hogs and sheep; I sow from two to ten or fif¬ 
teen acres of turneps yearly for stock; I never allow my 
work horses to be turned out during the crop year, nor 
even the most of the residue, as I have wagons, or gins, 
or plows running. I give them an occasional bite in 
the spring. 
If feeding seven mules and 3 horses all the year, be¬ 
sides feeding one to five cows during winter, hogs, and 
poultry all the year, 120 sheep during winter, and now 
have enough old corn to take me to the 1st of May, is 
any evidence that ten hands can make corn, then our 
Eufaula friend may know it is done here.. In 1844, I 
made 3,063 bushels of corn; in 1845, I made 2,200 to 
2,400 bushels, with 15 acres that my wagon was not in, 
save to haul two loads, the last day we hauled corn, it 
being Saturday evening. I could not sell corn of ’44 
crop at 40 cts., and concluded to gather only enough to 
do me. This year I have reduced my crop. I work 
ten hands, and average over 7 bales of 400 lbs. each per 
hand. 
I have thus rambled over ground, that I might give 
other information than the mere cultivation, because I 
think there are other things necessary. 
When I plow for corn I invariably plow deep; if not 
done to please me, I plow the middle out early and 
deep, by running a furrow in the water furrows, and 
I plowing from it to corn with shovel plow, running 
around corn with a bull tongue plow. 
But I will, as requested, state the general routine. 
If land was in cotton, I lay off rows four feet apart, and 
bed to it, breaking out all the land, leaving water fur¬ 
row open with a shovel plow, sow corn one-hall 
bushel per acre—this year 24 bushels to44 acres; cover 
with the harrow. My corn is soaked this year in 
water so hot that the hand can only be borne in it, not 
too hot for the hand—in which tar one-half gallon to 
four bushels of corn has been dissolved by pouring on 
to it, there being about one-half gallon of salt to some 
8 or 10 galls, of water, the corn remaining 12 to 24 
hours, and rolled when taken out in ashes. Generally, 
if not wet, I run the harrow over the rows when 
the corn is getting up, and when the corn .is old enough 
to have three or four leaves, I run around it with a bull- 
tongue plow, close and deep; I thin as soon as the corn 
