THE CULTIVATOR. 
89 
will increase the produce of that land in the next corn 
crop at least two hundred bushels. This being the case, 
how very wasteful to fatten hogs in a little pen by the 
side of the creek, branch or pond, where all the manure 
is washed into the water and is wasted. I do not speak 
of those who scrape up their manure and haul it upon 
their fields. They do not live about here. Very few of 
our Kentucky farmers have as yet engaged in hauling out 
manure. And why should they, when by a proper rota¬ 
tion of crops, and feeding upon the fields whilst in grass, 
they may make their manure so much easier in the fields 
where they want it? 
When a field is much' exhausted it should be kept in 
grass four or five years. In this case there should be 
sowed three quarts of clover seed, the same quantity of 
timothy (Phleum pratense) seed, and half a bushel (in 
the chaff) of blue grass seed to the acre. If the field is 
not much exhausted, two years will be a sufficient time 
in grass, and the blue grass seed may be omitted. The 
grass may either be fed off to stock or mowed. If the 
latter, the hay may be fed with other food, on the same 
ground, to stock cattle. The soil will improve much 
faster where stock are fattened than where they are only 
fed so as to winter them. The ground is enriched in 
proportion to the richness of the food that is fed thereon. 
When the grass is plowed up, two crops of hemp may 
be taken, a crop of corn, oats fed down to hogs, corn 
again, wheat or rye followed by grass sown upon it in 
the spring. Thus in an eight year course, giving two 
crops of hemp, two of corn, one of oats, one of wheat 
or rye, and two of grass. Land will improve under this 
course if stock are fattened upon it the two winters it is 
in grass. 
Another shorter rotation is two crops of corn, rye fed 
down by hogs, grass seed sown upon the rye in the spring 
after it is sown, grass two years with stock fed or fattened 
on it during winter. Land will also improve under this 
course, and the second crop of coi*n will be better than 
the first, in years equally good. In the first case also the 
second crop of hemp will be better than the first. The 
soil will be rotted the second year, and there will be 
much less labor in cultivating the ground in corn. 
I could never get grass to come well when sowed with 
oats, if I put on a sufficient quantity of oats to insure a 
good crop. Wheat is often injured by the early start of| 
the grass in the spring, producing the rust in it. There¬ 
fore I prefer putting in my grass seed with the rye crop. 
I have had clover come very well, however, when I 
would only put in a small quantity (half a bushel) of oats 
to the acre. Saml. D. Martin. 
Colbyville, Ky., January, 1845. 
RESULTS OF EXPERIMENTS 
In the Culture of Indian Corn, W heat and Potatoes. 
Mr. L. Tucker —Last spring I made an experiment 
on my corn crop, with compost prepared in the follow¬ 
ing manner: Took twenty-five bushels leached and un¬ 
leached ashes, ten bushels plaster of Paris, sixteen bushels! 
lime, and about fifty bushels fine sheep manure, mixed 
the whole together on the barn floor, and dissolved the 
lime with beef and pork brine. After thorough mixing, 
the compost heap had the appearance of the grey plaster. 
I put one handful in a hill of corn until I found I should 
not have enough to go over the field, which was about I 
twelve acres. I then reduced the quantity to one hand¬ 
ful to two, and even to three hills. 
The field selected was the poorest on the place, and I 
was told I could not possibly have over half a crop of 
corn. It had been in wheat last, and laid out one sum¬ 
mer without clover; hence the prospect was not very 
encouraging. Some of my neighbors rather quizzed me 
about the compost; but when husking and hauling-in 
time came, they were amazed. The corn grew sur¬ 
prisingly. It was very tall, although the cut and grub 
worms and blackbirds worked on it to such a degree that 
I replanted at least one-third of the field about the 20th 
May. The crop was as good as any in the neighborhood, 
if not better—hauled twenty-six wagon loads of seventy 
bushels each. Some of the ears were so high upon the 
stalks that my hired man of six feet could not reach the 
top of the ear. The corn planted was the large and 
small yellow, and was all hard. Where the handful 
of compost was put, was the best corn; as the quantity 
was diminished the difference was perceptible. 
I have tried an experiment on two bushels wheat sowed. 
When it is harvested, I will communicate to you. I also 
tried an experiment on my last year’s wheat to prevent 
smut. One portion I washed and soaked with salt brine, 
dried with-quick lime: another portion I washed and 
dried with lime; and another lot spread out, made wet 
with a watering can, and dried with lime. The former 
was almost clear from smut, whilst the second and third 
lots were considerably smutted—the second n®t so much 
as the last. 
I put ashes and plaster on my potatoes when planted^ 
and so far they prove good. 
Charles Colfelt. 
East Kishacoquillas Valley, Pa., January, 1845. 
PRODUCTS OF THE DAJRY—NO. III. 
We intimated, in closing our remarks upon this subject 
last month, that we should make some suggestions as to 
“ the means which should be adopted to secure the 
greatest increase in quantity and improvement in quality 
of dairy products.” Before attempting this, however, 
let us first see what is the quantity now actually made in 
most of our dairies. Upon this point we have very little 
positive information, and must rely mainly on the opi¬ 
nions of dealers and persons who are well acquainted 
with the dairy business. Our intercourse with farmers 
and dairymen has enabled us to judge perhaps with some 
degree of correctness, especially as we have hundreds 
of times asked the question, “ How much butter or cheese 
do your cows average in the season?” To this question 
we have received various answers, some putting the 
amount as high as 200 lbs.; others at 150 lbs.; and many 
nearly or quite as low as 100 lbs. of butter. We suppose 
that two and a half pounds of cheese are about equivalent 
to one of butter, so that the range in the average of cheese 
dairies would be from 250 to 500 pounds. Our own 
conviction, strengthened by the opinion of a number of 
dealers in dairy products with whom we have consulted, 
is, that the average production of butter cannot exceed 
125 lbs. per cow. The average product of cheese can¬ 
not much exceed 300 lbs. It is not asserted that these 
are the actual average products, but the amount here as¬ 
sumed will be found, on a careful inquiry, very nearly 
correct. The extremes, as before stated, are far above 
and below this amount. 
For the purpose of showing what may be done with 
good, cows and good management, we now propose to 
give a few statements which have come under our notice, 
or been communicated to us by persons engaged in this 
business, and to give our readers an opportunity of judg¬ 
ing correctly in the premises, we shall accompany the 
statements, as far as practicable, with an account of the 
measures pursued to arrive at the results spoken of. 
We will first give some extracts from the report of the 
committee on cheese dairies to the New-York State 
Agricultural Society, February 13th, 1845. From that 
report we learn that Mr. Abraham Hall, of Floyd, Oneida 
county, has made the past season, from forty cows, 23,427 
lbs. of cheese, and 200 lbs. of butter. This is an average 
of five hundred and eighty-five and five-eighths pounds of 
cheese per cow; and if we add the butter, we have 
equivalent to 598 lbs. of cheese per cow. To accomplish 
this, Mr. H. informs us that he has 100 acres of pasture, 
(in addition to the cows, four horses and three dry cows 
are kept,) of good quality, though not very abundant, 
and about fifty-two acres of meadow. Cows are supposed 
to consume about two and one-fourth tons of hay each, 
as they are fed in stormy weather in summer as well as 
a full supply in winter. Has not fed sixty bushels of 
grain to cows. The whey was all fed to twenty of the 
oldest cows, and Mr. Hall has no doubt that the twenty 
cows to which the whey was fed have made full 700 lbs. 
each. Cows come in from the first of April to the first 
of May. They have access to salt at all times, which is 
considered important. The cows are well selected, re 
gularly milked, and attended to in every respect. The 
