Jasper Banner, Volume 2, Number 12, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 April 1855 — Cultivation of Corn. [ARTICLE]

Cultivation of Corn.

A PRIZE ESSAY. At the. annual meeting of the Eminence Agricultural Mechanical Association, for 1854, held in Henry county, KyA-N premium was offered for the best Essay on the cultivation of Indian Com. There were four competitors. The committee awarded the premium to Mr. S. T. Drane, of Henry county, for the following Essay; which we copy from the Louisville Courier, and recommend to the careful attention of our farming friends: In writing an essay on the cultivation and management of a corn crop, the writer of this will not strive so much to maintain a system in writing, as merely to contribute what he may know from practice. Among the many requisites to insure a good corn crop, the period of breaking the land, according to its kind, whether it be turf, stubble, py land which had produced corn the proceeding year, is of great consequence, and should be varried according to its tendency, to wet or dry; and I will remark here, that I have but little faith in the benefits resulting from fall or early winter plowing, if it be done earlier than November, the effects of the sun will prove injurious to the land thus exposed, and it will be sure to want re-breaking before it should be planted. If the land is broken in November, December or January, it is still not exemptfrUnithe necessity ofre-break-mg, but it is liable, if the winter be a wet one. to excessive washing, and the consequence ia, the valuable liquids are drenched out, and the product will consequently be diminished. Those remarks are intended to apply to stubble and sod lands. From my observation and experience, I would say that February is preferable in Kentucky to any ether time for breaking turf or sod land, and no farmer should, if he can avoid it, let a day pass, when this period arrives, without having some plowing done wneir the ground is sufficiently clear of frost to do so. Stubble lands may be broken in this month also, but should give precedence to turf land. Experience has proved to me, and I think will convince any one who will try it, that turf or stubble which is turned undpr in February will rot as soon as that wrich is plowed earlier, while it is not liable to the injuries mentioned. Land from which a crop of com was taken the year previous should not be broken before March, but I bold that it is bad economy, except fanOFgreat fertility, to tax it with two consecutive crops of corn. It is not only too exhausting to the land, but is always attended with more difficulty in the cultivation from " ■ • I*- . grass and weeds—an important feature in the production of a good corn crop. The plowing should be deep and thoroughly done; and, if practicable, We sub-soil plow should follow the ordinary plow, for upon the complete preparation of the land depends, in a great degree, the success jof..’the crop. __Tfie' planting »houjd not be done until the ground becomes dry and warm enough to insure the speedy germination of the seed, so as to make a good stand,-to avoid replanting the vacancies, and sometimes furrowing out entirely, which, if done without rebreaking, seldom produces a good crop, and is difficult to cultivate. It would be infinitely better for the farmer to attend tosomeothes job until the proper season arrives. ' An important point in this matter is the method of planting There are, as I conceive, but two definite Methods of planting corn, one of which is by crossing off the land with a plow, the required width, and planting the crop so as to form rows each way, and the other is to drill it. — Drilling is either performed by hand or by some of the numerous kinds of seed drills now in use. ■; From three years’ experience in planting with Gambill’s patent cornplanter, I prefer that to any other method of putting in my ecop. The advantages afforded by this method are: IM. After lam ready to choek off the planting,! can dispense withthree fourths of the laborers qpd two-thirds of the horses, and the planter may from this-cause alone be enabled to prepare bis land thoroughly while the seasow® W

plant with safety, and he can thus be enabled to wait upon the weather and for the preparation of the land, which, if he does not, fie seldom fails to regret. The land should in all cases be first harrowed before the planter. I consider the proper time for putting in this crop ih Kentucky is about the middle of April; and in the most of the land from the 20th of April to the sth or even to the 10th of May Would not be too late. Another reason in favor of the drill system with this machine is, that it deposits the grain at intervals of about 12 or 14 inches apart, in rows say 4 feet to 4 feet 3 inches apart.— The plants should be thined out, so as to leave but one stock to each deposit. The corn is thus regularly dispersed over the ground, whereas, if in hill, the amount of stalks on the land would be* abont the same; but the more uniform distribution of the drilled corn over the surface of the land, I am confident, will produce the largest yield, and if properly cultivated will withstand the effects of drought better than com planted in hills, while the dilled corn can be cultivated easier and in n)uch better rotation. For instance, if the entire crop is in one field, your workings will always be in regular succession from one side to the other. The period between workings to all parts of the field will be regular. Otherwise, if in hills to be plowed both ways, when the field is once plowed over, say from east to. west, you turn across and are obliged to re-work a part of the corn immediately with a part that has not been worked for 8 or 10 days. The System of cultivation that I pursue, and which I believe as successful as any other, is, as soon as the corn is planted and before it is up, if you choone, to run twice in a row with aone-horse Rounder or Livingstons county plow, the bar side to the corn. I start half my teams thus, when they have proceeded this way long enough for the land to want stirring again, I start the second half, to follow with Cultivators, also twice in a row, which levels the ridges down.— As soon as a third working!* needed, or when those who used plows in the first ca«e get over the crop, start them with cultivators, also twice in a row. By this time the corn should be thoroughly and carfully thinned before the fourth working, which should be done with shovel plows. Those who thin the corn should always carry hoes for the purpose of cutting briars, elders, sprouts, &c.. that may have escaped the plow. The fifth process, which is apt to be the last, should be with Cultivators twice in a row. You now have the crop 'laid by,’ as the term■»',, with the ground in a level condition to avoid washing, and in a good condition to receive small grain in the fall or spring. We have now come to the period when we await the process of maturing, and the further management of the crop will vary according to the design to feed to the various kind of stock; but it is good economy, as soon as it p sufficiently ripened, to cut and set in stacks (if in hills) of 16 hills square, or, if in drills, a little less than that proportion, as there is apt to be more on the ground unless carfully thinned. There is more danger from too cutting than too all com intended to be cribbed should be secured by the first of January.—otherwise it is very liable to receive material injury before it can be housed. The stacks or shocks of fodder should be doubled after the com is shucked out by laying about one-third on the grourifi and setting the remainder carefully around. This method of saving provender for stock in winter, is by far the most speedy and cheap that can be pursued.

-—— w Tub Logasstob* IndUxcx Co.—A crisis has arrived in W affairs of this Company. Its issues have been driven home and the. business men of Logansport, finding that it cannot be made to answer the purpose of money, have determined to take measures to wind the concern up. Meetings have been held to deliberate as to the proper coum to pursue. The L>»gan>port papers /o think i that the determined spirit manifested, by 'the bill-holders will compel the stock-' I holders to redeem every dollar of the Insurance mouafo‘They are said to be amply able WOK. A final meeting was to have beesrrield on Saturday last Delphi Twttt. . I 1 | i , ..it—inferior quality retailed on the streets st abuihel ■■■ ■ v

(D => In taking sound* to MOCltolft the feasibility of a submarine telegraph from Cape Breton to Ireland, it was discovered by Captain Murry, that the bottom of the ocean; at a depth of two thouaahd fathom*, was thickly coated with mod, which, on microscopic examination, proved to be composed entirely of the shell* of minute insects, without misters «f sand and gravel. The living animal* had sported near the surface of the ocean, and sunk gradually to the bottom. The fact n heM to establish the theory, that in that partof the Atlantic, there are no under our* rent*, nor any impedimenta tp tto laying down of a submarine toU g ra P h - flCT’In the Bower House of the Massachusetts Legislature the Committee on Mercantile Affairs and insurance have reported a bill tt> establish a Board of Insurance Commissioners, with duties similar to those of Bank Commissioners. T y the report accompanying the bill, it is remarked that no reason can be assigned “why insurance companies are Tess likely than banka to tail to discharging their duties, or why they are more likely than banks.to give exact and honest replies to a schedule of questions.” OCT’The case of Wi Hi* against Forrest has been argued at the present term of the Court of Appeals. It will be remembered that some two or three fears ago, Mr. Forrest gave Mr. Nf. Willis, a severe whipping, for , which piece of incivility, Mr. W. brought an action against Mr. F. and recovered some $2,500. The case was carried up through the different Courts, until it is now iq the Court of last resort. Mr. Willis has thus far succeeded in sustaining his judgment. The Court of Appeal* has not yet rendered its decision. □□’There are about seven million pores in thejbody ofa man of ordin-' ary size. If these were joined lengthwise, a tube would be formed twentyeight miles long. OCTThos. B. Bsowm, Esq., Clerk of the Hardin Circuit Court, was *het by W.S. Ingush, a merchant at Elisabethtown, Ky., on Saturday, and instantly killed. Mr. Baowx was an amiable man, and highly esteemed. tO* Be sure to annex a woman that will lift you up, instead of push you down. In merchantile phrase get a piece' of calico that will wash.— There is nothing in a pinch like •> femenine who can cook your “vittles” and iron your clothes. 'Sall,’ said one girl to another, “I am so glad I have no beau, ndw.” “Why so?” asked the other. “Oh.cadse, I cm eat as many onions a*l please.” a country tradesman to hi* parish day in settling account*.” The minister immediately replied- “You will find, sir, that the day of judgment will be spent in the same manner.” An Irishman remarked that a true gentleman never looks at tbo faults of a pretty woman without shutting The man who immagined himself wise because he detected some typographical errors in a newspaper, has gone East to get a perpenjiMar new of the rainbow, 'T-fc ■

——A little girl, about five yearn old, one day, heard a preacher of the Chadband order praying moat lustily, till the roof rang with the strength of his supplication. Turning to her mother and beckoning the maternit ear down to speaking distance, she whispered, Mother don’t youthibk that if he lived nearer to God he wouldn’t have to talk so fThg: . . Forgiveness is the mort refold and generous point of virtue tbsWt htf* man nature can attain to. fowarda have done good ang kind actions; b«t a coward never forgave—it is notin hisnature. ■_ . ‘ Nothing sets go mde a mark between a vulgar and as the respect and reverential love of coarse proffigate or a coarser bigot. ———MTssdom aMows nothing to be good, that will not be frevedg*' man to be that Pyb. no other happiness than vßtfltyilWF in himself, no man WfMMTMr powerful, that is not master of him* self—fibtow. *>'.*' . !X- X «. .tit ~