1851 
THE CULTIVATOR 
339 
will be produced by letting the crop ripen in the order 
of nature; and second, that by cutting up at the bot¬ 
tom, although a greater molestation or derangement of 
nature’s operations, yet we get more grain than by top¬ 
ping. Now as to the value of the stalks topped, com¬ 
pared with those cut up at bottom, I have not any posi¬ 
tive knowledge, but will venture an opinion that stalks 
cut at the bottom are worth about double what they 
would be topped, after taking all the bearings into the 
account, such as getting them clean off the land, making 
manure of the refuse, and the extra trouble of getting 
the topped^stalks out of the corn ground, &c. I am 
sensible that cntting up at bottom makes heavy work, 
which some, who are on the watch-tower for a quarrel 
with labor, complain of. but when the crop is well stook- 
ed up, and gets suitably dry for storing, it is a much 
shorter job to get in a field of corn in that way, than it 
is to pick and husk in the field, or even to pick it with 
the husks on and carry it into the corn-house or barn , 
or any other building that may be designed for such 
uses. And then it is out of the way of bad weather, 
and may be husked out more at one's leisure, than when 
standing in the figjd. Oliver Moore. Kensington, 
Sept. 1, 1851. 
Extremes—Comparative. Value of Carrots. 
We notice in an “ official” report of a discussion by 
the American Institute Farmers’Club, Mr. Meigs stated 
that “ carrots are equal, bushel for bushel, to corn or 
oats,” as food for animals. Prof. Mapes, speaking on 
the same subject, said, 
“As to carrots, parsnips, &c., experiment has dis¬ 
tinctly shown that in feeding for pork, the roots make 
it for four and a half cents a pound, and corn for twelve 
and a half cents a pound. Campbell of Jersey has fully 
demonstrated this, and so have I.” 
We regard these as random assertions. We think 
highly of the carrot, and have often recommended its 
culture ; but even gold may be too highly estimated, and 
we cannot understand how carrots can be “equal,” in 
nutriment or value to corn or oats, bushel for bushel. 
True, it may be better for an animal to receive a certain 
proportion of carrots, to the exclusion of an equal pro¬ 
portions of the grains mentioned. But this ho more 
proves that the carrots are “ equal” to the grains, than 
the fact, that it would be better for a man to eat a 
pound of potatoes and a pound of meat, rather than two 
pounds of meat, proves that potatoes are “ equal” to 
meat, pound for pound. Both facts simply show that 
the animal system is benefitted by the mixture of food 
mentioned. 
We should like, to see the details of the experiments 
which “ distinctly show” that pork can be made from 
carrots and parsnips at four and a-half cents per pound, 
and that when made from corn, it would cost twelve and 
a-half cents per pound. We do not deny that pork may 
be made from roots at the price named, but we cannot 
see why it should cost twelve and a-half cents per pound 
to make it from corn. We know there are not many 
accurate experiments on which we can rely as positive 
proof, on this subject. From the results of some trials 
made in Essex county, Mass., a few years ago, it was 
concluded by a committee of the Agricultural Society 
of that county, to whom the subject was referred, that 
a bushel of corn would make twelve pounds of pork. 
Supposing the corn to be worth sixty cents per bushel, 
this would make the cost of the pork five cents per 
pound. Prof. Johnston, in a late lecture in Scotland, 
said, “ the Chinese and Berkshire pigs are said to pro¬ 
duce ten pounds of bacon for every imperial bushel of 
corn [grain] they consume.” But, as before remarked, 
there is an advantage in mixing food for animals, and the 
experience of many farmers teaches that pork can be 
made to better advantage by mixing grain or meal with 
vegetables or fruits, than by either separately. 
Agriculture and Horticulture in Greene Co., N. Y. 
Eds. Cultivator —I was very much interested in the 
“ Sketch of the late Judge Hayes,” in the August No. 
of the Cultivator—especially in that part of it which 
sketches his plans and mode of agriculture. There is so 
much good sense in his management, that I concur with 
his plan, and have substantially practiced it for years 
past. I have but a small farm of 30 acres; five of it I 
have set out, mostly with fruit trees, and nursery trees, 
of which I have a great many choice varieties, as well as 
a fine flower garden. For many years past, I prepared a 
pen for my hogs, which is a hard pan*bottom, slightly 
sloping south, at the lower fence of which I set up edge¬ 
wise, fiat stones settled down to the hard pan, to prevent 
leakage of manures, and like Judge Hayes, I make it a 
depot of all surplus weeds, potato tops, straw, and many 
large kinds of weeds that our highways are filled with; 
and to these I sometimes add slaked lime and leached 
ashes, and all the manure and bedding of one of my hor¬ 
ses, and from this source I usually get from 25 to 30 
loads per year, of the best manure. I also have a com¬ 
post hollow in my yard, where two cows and another 
horse are kept, which adds a rich dressing for my lands. 
Some four years since, I added to my little farm about 
three acres, on one acre of which the refuse tan-bark of 
an old fashioned tannery had been spread, including the 
lime, had been mixed with the earth; and from this I 
drew many a load of rich dressing for my strawberry 
beds, and ground my grape-vines and roots, and some 
in my flower garden, and around quince trees, gooseber¬ 
ries and currants, which I cultivate in single stalks, kept 
free from weeds or grass. These dressings produced large 
gooseberries, particularly the imported “ Roaring Lion,” 
of Scotch origin, and which have measured over six inches 
in circumference the longest way, and five the other way, 
and the imported English Sweet Williams are nearly as 
large. I have a small jar of them preserved in the purest 
alcohol, reduced one half by pure water, and sealed up. 
I now have over one hundred quince trees that are 
bearing, nearly all in single standards, and of the apple 
kind. They often have weighed a pound each, and bear 
annually. Currants trimmed in single stalks, often grow 
five and eight feet high, and the white, red and black, 
are much enlarged, and remain good till frost comes, by 
reason of keeping the ground clean, and well dressed 
with compost, and the plants either staked up with hem¬ 
lock stakes, or trimmed! up along picket fences; and 
they produce large quantities of large stems. So it is 
with the common black raspberry, which I have trans¬ 
ferred from the field, and have staked up with the Red 
and White Antwerp, and keep the ground clean. 
