1852 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
181 
Corn and Potatoes grown Together. 
Eds. Cultivator —Last spring I had a piece of land 
of three acres and one-eighth, which I was intending to 
plant with corn and potatoes. Instead of planting each 
by itself, I concluded to try the experiment of mixing 
the two crops. I accordingly planted them in the fol¬ 
lowing manner: Commencing upon one side, I planted 
two rows of corn, then one of potatoes, and then again 
two of corn, and so on with the whole piece, planting the 
rows exactly three feet apart, and the hills about twenty 
inches in the rows, both corn and potatoes. The corn 
from three to five grains in a hill, subsequently thinned 
to three—and the potatoes one in a hill, the size being 
from one half inch to one inch in diameter. When the 
corn was about four or five inches high, and the potatoes 
just coming up, I went through with the plow, turning 
the furrow from the rows. The corn was then hoed, 
without much hilling, and the potatoes were not hoed at 
all. The plow was again run through, turning the fur¬ 
row towards the row, when the corn was from twelve to 
eighteen inches high, and the whole was then hoed. This 
was all the cultivation the crop received. 
The corn was topped at the proper time, with the ex¬ 
ception of two rows, which were cut up at the bottom, and 
put in small stooks. These rows were thirty-five rods long, 
and when the corn was thoroughly ripe, they were husked, 
weighed and measured; and the produce was 12 bushels 
and three pecks, weighing 464 lbs. Two rows were then 
picked adjoining those, which were topped, and exactly 
of the same length, and the produce was 13 bushels and 
one peck, weighing 485 lbs. 
I will here state that the four rows upon which the ex¬ 
periment was made, were treated every way alike until 
the time of harvest. After husking, I carefully weighed 
and measured a bushel from each parcel—put each in a 
bag by itself, and hung them up to dry, intending to as¬ 
certain the shrinkage; but in this I was disappointed by 
the rats getting into one of the bags and destroying some 
of the corn. The corn that was cut at the root, w r as 
much the dampest at the time of husking and weighing, 
and it is my humble opinion that here lies the grand 
secret which causes so many of the experiments of this 
kind, to result in favor of corn cut at the root instead of 
being topped; for who does not know that corn which is 
kept from the influence (in a great measure) of sun and 
air, by being set together in stooks, will not dry so fast 
as that which is completely exposed to both, as in the 
case of that which is topped. And the difference in the 
ripening or drying process, will be still greater, if the fa¬ 
vorite theory of the advocates of cutting up be true, viz: 
that the juices of the stalks thus treated, continue to 
flow to the grain more than they do in the case of that 
which is topped. 
In regard to the comparative value of fodder obtained 
by the two methods, I will only say, that when I hear 
persons so stoutly assert the preference to be greatly in 
favor of cutting at the bottom, I am led to conclude that 
they have never tried any other way, for the reason that 
I never saw any cornstalks that stood in the field in stooks, 
until the grain was properly cured, that I should consi¬ 
der of much value to place before any live stock, with 
any other object in view, than to produce death by star¬ 
vation. I cannot help, in this connexion, adverting to 
some remarks on page 296 of vol. 8, of Cultivator, New 
Series, from which I extract the following —“ It has been 
proved that cutting off the top stalks lessens the yield 
of grain.” This I do not doubt is true, in comparison 
with letting the whole plant stand unmutilated, until the 
grain is properly matured. Again, it is asked—“ what 
other plant would bear such mutilation without injury.” 
I would, with all deference, reiterate this question, with 
a slight alteration—what other plant would bear such 
mutilation as cutting up at the root, without destruction? 
It is further said—“ Deprive the vine of its leaves, and 
the grape is imperfeet.” I should say, deprive the vine 
of its roots, and the grape is destroyed. So it is with 
the apple, pear, plum, &c. 
The utility of cutting at the root, to secure from frost, 
in some situations and seasons, I fully admit; but I have 
never been under the necessity of practicing this mode, 
for this purpose, as my corn is always ripe before frost, 
owing to my planting an early kind, and my soil being 
warm. 
I have multiplied more words than I intended, and 
have not yet given you the result of my experiment with 
the mixed crop, with which I commenced. I harvested 
335 bushels of corn in the ear, and 125 bushels of pota¬ 
toes, from the three acres and one-eighth, all accurately 
measured. The corn was perfectly ripened, and the po¬ 
tatoes were the finest that I have raised for many years, 
there being but seven bushels in the whole too small for 
market. They rotted on some parts of the field, I should 
think enough to diminish the crop at least 25 bushels. 
Deducting one-third of the ground planted for the pota- 
toes, makes the produce of corn a trifle over 1G2 bush¬ 
els of ears per acre. The best crops here do not proba¬ 
bly exceed 40 bushels of well dried shelled corn, when 
planted in the common way. F. B. Canaan , N. Y., 
Feb., 1852. 
Specimens of Successful Cultivation. 
In looking over the official account of the weekly ex¬ 
hibitions of the New Haven Horticultural Society, we 
find the following articles noticed, which, as we cannot 
judge of their quality at some hundreds of miles off, 
we give for their size. They could not have received 
bad treatment, and are therefore worthy of notice:— 
May 21, 7- stalks of rhubarb, one measuring 42 inches 
in length, from E. C. Read. 
June 11—2 stalks rhubarb, 4 lbs. weight, leaves 33 
inches in diameter—from E. C. Read. Also, 1 cucum¬ 
ber 20 inches long and 7 inches round, from Prof. Salis¬ 
bury. 
June 18—2 heads lettuce, wt. 6 lbs. 4 oz., from E. 
C. Read. Also from the same, June 25, 1 head early 
cabbage weighing 3| lbs. 
July 9—6 varieties gooseberries, 2 dozen of the largest 
weighing 11 ounces, from E. C.Read. Also, from Prof. 
Salisbury, 1 cucumber 26 inches long and 3£ lbs. weight. 
July 30—1 head cabbage weighing 18 lbs.—from Mrs. 
Ilillhouse. 
August 13—1 Mexican cucumber 4 feet 10 inches long 
—from E. C. Read. Also, 1 cabbage 14 lbs., from A. 
N. Skinner. 
August 19—1 water melon, 27 lbs. from J. Fellows. 
It will be observed that these were all made objects of 
public view, and the statements are unquestionably cor¬ 
rect. 
