30 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
pose be not taken from one place, but gathered from the surface 
between the rows, where it has been loosened by the cultivator. 
Harvesting. —The crop should be cut up at the ground as soon 
as the grain is glazed, or as soon as it will do to top, and, without 
being laid on the ground, set immediately in stooks. There are 
four substantial reasons for adopting this mode of harvesting. It 
secures the crop from the destructive effects of frost; it quadru¬ 
ples the value of the fodder; it clears the ground early for a fall 
crop, and it saves labor in harvesting ; and, we may add a fifth, it 
makes a better crop of grain, under any contingency, than when 
it is topped in the old way. We are confident of this last fact.— 
The grain continues to profit by the elaborated sap in the cut 
stocks, while it does not profit by the unelaborated sap, below the 
ear, in the topped corn. 
Husking and, cribbing. —The ears should be gathered from the 
stocks, and the latter stacked, as soon as they have become suffi¬ 
ciently dry and cured, as unnecessary exposure to the weather is 
prejudicial to both the grain and the forage. From two to three 
weeks generally suffices to effect these objects. The corn may be 
picked off and earned to the barn, and it should be husked within 
24 or 36 hours thereafter, and before the least heat is perceptible 
in the pile, and the stocks bound and placed in small stacks, so as 
to expose all the butts, which have become saturated with ihoisture 
by standing on the ground, to the drying influence of the sun and 
winds—and the stacks topped, or covered with straw, so as to shed 
rain. After a fortnight or so, they may be carried, in a dry state, 
to the barn. When picking the corn from the stalks, the best seed 
ears should be selected, and immediately braided, and hung in an 
airy loft. The corn should be exposed, after being husked, upon 
the barn floor, to the drying influence of the winds, and it may re- 
quire to be turned over and stirred, till the cob is thoroughly dried 
If this is wet, when cribbed, fermentation may ensue, or a frost may 
follow, sufficient to congeal the moisture in the cob, either of which 
will impair the quality of the grain, and destroy its germinating 
principle. 
In sorting the corn, we make three parcels, viz. sound grain for the 
crib, pig corn, embracing the ripened but defective ears, and the 
truly soft and smutty ears, which are not husked, but thrown by for 
immediate use. The silk and husks are carefully separated from 
the two first parcels, as they imbibe moisture, induce mouldiness, 
and afford building materials'for mice. We also separate the grain- 
less tips and stems of that which we place in cribs, for the like rea¬ 
sons, and to preserve the grain in a sound bright condition. 
The forage from the corn crop, when saved in the manner we have 
directed, is an excellent fodder for neat cattle, if cut for feeding 
out. We have used it inthis way, exclusive of hay, for two years, and 
find it answers all the purposes of hay. Our practice is to cut a 
quantity, to mix with if bran, or roots, cut up, when we have them, 
and to sprinkle the mass with brine, and to feed in mangers. 
THE GARDEN 
Will now begin to require the attentive care of those who mean 
to profit by its riches, or derive pleasure from its floral beauties and 
fragrance. 
The first object should be, to render the garden soil dry and 
rich. The first may be effected, where necessary, by under-drains, 
the second by manures. The next, to have the soil well prepared 
by digging, or thorough ploughing, for the garden crops, and always 
to plant, sow and transplant upon the fresh stirred soil. In the 
culture, three cardinal rules should be observed: 1. Never suffer 
plants to grow too close, so as to prevent a full development of 
growth ; 2. Never suffer weeds to rob them of their food; and 
3. Keep the surface of the soil loose, that it may be permeable to 
the influence of the sun and atmosphere. Having spoken in our 
last of the modes of propagating, planting and pruning trees and 
shrubs, we will now make a few remarks upon the culture of culi¬ 
nary vegetables and herbaceous plants. 
Early crops. —About the 15th to 25th April, in this latitude, is a 
proper time to sow in a hot-bed, for the construction and manage¬ 
ment of which see last vol. seeds of plants wanted for early use, 
and of such as require to be started early to bring them to due ma¬ 
turity; of the first may be mentioned lettuces, early cabbage, cress, 
&c. and of the latter, peppers, tomatos, egg plants, &c.—and if 
flowers are to be cultivated, astors, balsams, marygolds, coxcombs ; 
xeranthemums, amaranthus, &c. may be added. All these may he 
sown in a frame of three sashes, sufficient for an ordinary garden 
Cucumbers require a distinct frame. As soon as the season is suf¬ 
ficiently advanced, the plants of lettuce, pepper, &c. may be trans¬ 
ferred from the hot-bed to the open ground. YVhere no hot-bed is 
provided, the hardier kinds of these seeds may be sown, together 
with cellery, in a warm protected border, during the period alrea¬ 
dy indicated, and the tenderer ones early in May. There may al¬ 
so be sown in the open ground, as soon as the soil is sufficiently 
dry and warm, spinach, early beets, peas, radishes, a few carrots, 
Windsor beans ; and in the latter part of the month, kidney beans 
and potatoes, for early use. The main onion crop may be put in 
about the 25th April, and the main crop of beets, carrots and pars¬ 
nips the first fifteen days in May. It is desirable that these seeds 
should not be deposited until the temperature of the soil is such as 
to induce a prompt germination. 
In planting, the rule we have laid down, will require the drills 
for small seeds to be at least twelve inches apart, and that the plants 
in the drills be thinned as soon as they are out of danger. Drills 
are made with a hoe, a stick, a drill-barrow, and with various con¬ 
trivances of the gardener. 
In covering, the great point is to give them no more earth than is 
required to secure to them a proper degree of moisture until their 
roots have got a firm hold of the soil—for heat and air are as es¬ 
sential to growth as moisture is. For this reason the earth is ge¬ 
nerally pressed upon small seeds, superficially buried, with a roll¬ 
er,„hoe, or by other means, to prevent an excess of evaporation. 
When early corn, planted the last of April, breaks the ground, 
which will seldom happen here before the 12th or 15th May, it shows 
a temperature in the soil suitable for the growth of cucumbers, me¬ 
lons and other vines, Lima beans, and all tender annual products, 
and this will be the best guide for planting them. 
Of the perennials useful in the garden, asparagus may be classed 
as among the most valuable. The seed may be sown in drills, on 
a well prepared bed of earth, like beets, and at the same time. If 
well taken care of the grass will be fit to cut for the table the third 
year, and the bed will last fifteen or twenty years. Rhubarb, or 
the pie plant, comes next in usefulness. It furnishes an excellent 
material for tarts and pies for two or three months, and until gar¬ 
den fruits : come in use, and its use is highly conducive to health. 
It is propagated by offsets, or by seed, which latter ripens in August, 
and may be then sown. A dozen plants, in good ground, will suf¬ 
fice for a family. It requires no care except in keeping down 
weeds. Its main leaves spring from the crown like those of the 
burdock. There is a giant variety, a hybrid, of very large growth, 
which does not produce seed. 
Among the culinary and medicinal plants, easily cultivated, and 
always useful, may be named parsley, a biennial, summer savory, 
an annual, and thyme, balm, cammomile, mint, tansy, hyssop, rue, 
sage, smellage and wormwood; all perennials. A few plants of each 
of these will suffice. They may be planted in a border. They 
should bo gathered for winter use when in bloom, and hung up to 
dry in the shade. 
Biennial plants intended for seed, as cabbage, ruta baga, carrots, 
beets, onions, parsnips, &c. should be planted out this month, tak¬ 
ing care not to plant out any two species of the same genus, or 
kinds that will mix, in the same enclosure. The cabbage will spoil 
the turnip, and vied versa; and all the species and varieties of the 
same family will mix and destroy the distinctive character of each 
other’s seeds. As the plants advance in growth, they should be 
secured from falling by being tied to stakes, or by other efficient 
means. ' 
The same rules apply to flowering as to other plants, in regard 
to sowing, transplanting, cultivating and seeding—witlrthis diffe¬ 
rence, that flowers.being here the main object, those will be mul¬ 
tiplied, in a measure, in proportion to the diminished growth of the 
stock; that is, they will be increased by transplanting, in such spe¬ 
cies as will bear this operation. They must have room to flower 
well; and all plants having inferior flowers must be eradicated 
early, if we would secure good seed. 
The tools employed in garden work may be the ordinary tools of 
the farm—such as a spade, rake, hoe, &c. but a garden line, an 
iron rake, a skim hoe, either the Dutch shove hoe, or the turnip 
draw hoe, figured at p. 50, vol. 1, of the Cultivator, and which may 
be made to any required breadth, may assist to give symmetry to 
the garden, and to abridge its labors. 
We will repeat, that most plan’s, in order to develope their ex¬ 
cellencies, require a clean rich soil, pulvurent and dry—with room 
