THE CULTIVATOR. 
Sowing Clover with Corn. 
tration of the sacred writings, in which it is said, 
“ Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yield¬ 
ing seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his 
kind, whose seed is in itself upon the earth.” 
It has been objected to the theory herein ad¬ 
vanced, that if it were true, plants would grow 
and increase in size in winter as well as in sum¬ 
mer, because the roots have access to the stores 
of nutrition as well in the one season as the other. 
But I adduce the same objection to the atmos¬ 
pheric theory. If plants derive most of their 
nourishment from the air, through the leaves, 
then they would not grow in winter at all. But 
all perennial plants do grow in winter. Measure 
the circumference of a thrifty young tree imme¬ 
diately after the leaves have fallen, and then 
again in the spring before the leaves put out, and 
you will find the tree has made considerable 
growth; not so much as it would have made in 
the same length of time in summer, but it will 
have made a very appreciable increase. This is 
attributable to the continued circulation of the 
nutritive fluid, and its appropriation by the plant, 
notwithstanding its deprivation of leaves. In this 
case I believe the hark of the plant exercises 
functions similar to those of the leaves, though to 
a less extent. 
I do not know that this point in vegetable phy¬ 
siology, is of great practical importance to the 
farmer. The atmospheric theory might, if adopt¬ 
ed, induce inattention to the supply of proper 
manures to the soil, and too much dependence 
upon a supply from the atmosphere j but the most 
strenuous advocates of it require that the same 
manures shall be applied to the soil that the ob¬ 
jectors apply, to enable the plants to draw their 
nutriment from the air. So that it matters little 
which theory is adopted in practice. 
Whether it is the oxygen of the air or the nitro¬ 
gen, or the carbonic acid gas that is found in the. 
air, that acts the part of vital air to plants, is a 
question I do not now discuss. One thing is to 
me certain, the atmosphere, in whole or in some 
of its parts, acts in vegetables as well as in ani¬ 
mals, as a sustainer of the vital principle by gene¬ 
rating heat, and this it does in winter as well as in 
summer, as may be very readily ascertained by in¬ 
serting a thermometer into the center of a tree in 
a very cold day, when it will be found that though 
water shall he frozen a foot deep, and even more, 
by the side of the tree, yet the temperature of the 
tree will be above the freezing point ; or, if the 
weather be so cold as to freeze the tree, yet the 
temperature in the tree will be found much higher 
than that outside. 
To manure and lime wet lands, is to throw ma¬ 
nure, lime, and labor away. 
Mr. Tucker — I see in the last number of your 
Cultivator, some person inquires of you about 
sowing clover among corn, and as it is a common 
practice here, and onr manner of doing it appears 
to be somewhat different from yours, I thought I 
would give you a brief account of it. As our oat 
crop here brings but a poor price, and is general¬ 
ly considered an exhausting one to our soil, a 
number of our farmers have ceased raising it, and 
instead of following our corn crops with an oat 
crop, as was our usual rotation here, we now al¬ 
ways sow our corn fields with clover seed. We 
always sow it just after the double-shovel plow 
runs through our corn the last time. I sowed my 
seed this summer, in the first week of July, and 
the corn-field now looks fine and green, with a 
good coat of clover on it. A neighbor of mine 
has now one of the finest looking clover fields, 
done in the same way, that I have ever seen. I 
did the same thing last year, and the year before. 
It affords early pasture in the spring following * 
and then the cattle are kept off until after harvest, 
when it has grown up considerably, and is then 
turned under for wheat. I never turned under 
better clover than I did this fall, that was sowed 
in among my corn last summer a year. Of course 
we do not sow it as thick as if we would want to 
keep it for mowing or permanent pasture. We 
consider that it pays us much better in the way 
of pasture, and then in a manure for wheat, than 
the ordinary oat crop would after our corn. We 
seldom fail here in getting it to- catch, unless the 
season is unusually dry, and then it partially fails. 
We always sow it immediately after a rain, or 
directly after the plow, while the ground is fresh 
and mellow, and it will then start at once, and if 
the drouth does not kill it, you will have a fine 
crop of clover. A Plain Farmer. Franklin 
Co., Penn. ——o-—- 
Stowell Evergreen Corn. 
Mr. Editor— -During the past season I raised a 
quantity of this new variety of sweet corn. It 
proved superior in all respects but one, and is un¬ 
doubtedly a valuable addition to the farmer’s crop. 
You are aware that this is the variety which the 
learned Prof. Mapes asserts will keep green and 
plump, for table use, all the year round. My 
seed came from that gentleman, but the corn, ac¬ 
cording to my experience, will not keep , as he 
states. Perhaps I have made an error in the 
mode of preservation, though I followed the di¬ 
rections closely. If any of your readers have 
tried the variety, during the past season, I think 
they would benefit the public by sending you their 
results; upon the preservative qualities of this 
corn especially. E. 
