INDIAN CORN: ITS BAD AND GOOD CULTURE.
An agricultural traveller, who has recently passed through parts of Montgomery, Berks, Lehigh, Northampton and Philadelphia counties, by the great roads leading through them, wishes, most cordially and earnestly to call the attention of the farmers to their unfortunate style of agriculture in some important particulars.
After leaving the neighbourhood of Norristown, with a few exceptions, a barely tolerable field of Indian corn was rarely to be seen, until he arrived, on his return from Easton, into the southern parts of Bucks county. The foes to all good husbandry, weeds, were predominant in almost every cornfield. If, perchance, the interior was tolerably clear, a circumstance which rarely, occurred, the weeds around the enclosures were so lamentably abundant, that the corn was, in a great degree, obscured. Good and bad land exhibited the like ruinous and disgusting appearance and miserable promise; and the same bad system of culture prevailed. The ploughing was generally shallow, whatever might be the texture of the soil.—Every field was ridged; many had been broken up in bulks, and furrows were always thrown up to the plants, for the drought to turn into dust, or indurate into impenetrable clods.—The middle spaces between the rows were untouched, either by the plough or the harrow in very numerous instances. Countless varieties of pestiferous coarse grasses and weeds took possession of these neglected spots, furnishing a counterbalance to any supplies from the earth or the air, which the corn plants, in the absence of these pests, might have drawn, and effectually preventing the extension of their roots beyond the bounds of the elevated furrows, or narrow ridges, in which they were imprisoned. Can it then be wondered at, that the crops evidenced a sickly, stunted & wretched appearance, both in colour and size? In some fields, where limestone prevailed, and, perhaps, lime had been applied, the colour was better, but the weeds and grasses abundant; on the head lands particularly, which are seldom sufficiently, if at all, stirred and cleaned: thus establishing a mischievous nursery of poisonous pests to perpetuate their scourges on future crops. Fall ploughing was rarely, if at all, practised; and lime little used, even in many limestone districts. One farmer said, "their land was hot enough without lime." It is hoped, that this superlative ignorance of the qualities of lime, which, when slacked, is the coldest of all substances applied to land, is confined to the individual sporting the opinion. One of the uses of lime is to supply the soil, and that not too lavishly, with calcareous matter, when its caustic qualities are subdued.
This is not exaggerated, but is a regretful picture. It is held up to intelligent and well-disposed farmers, who, by viewing its deformities, may banish entirely their present mode of culture, which, by its own showing, is proved to be radically wrong. A corn crop is not only in itself, but, when well cultivated, is in its consequences the most valuable of all our products. With an abhorrence of weeds, the test of intelligence in a farmer, he can, with a corn crop, more effectually clean and prepare his fields for succeeding crops, than can be done by any other culture. Whilst he is attending his corn, which will not, with impunity, suffer neglect, he is not only invigorating and increasing his crop, but he is subduing his worst enemies—weeds of all kinds. This makes ample amends for the exhaustion of the soil by this gigantic plant.
The change recommended, is dictated not only by reasonable theory, but is founded on long experience and multitudinous practical proofs.
Deep and Flat Culture.
Plough your fields throughout deeply; and that in the fall, to expose and destroy the eggs of the grub moth; and roll, to pulverize the clods. Harrow in lime at this season, or on spring ploughed ground, for corn; and do not spread it on your fallows for wheat; because it is then injurious to your winter grain crop; as frequent experience has shown. Mark out your squares or drills, lightly, with the plough; and thereafter never suffer the plough to enter your fields. Work entirely with harrows; whereof procure the necessary variety; some with large, and others with smaller hoes. These cut up weeds, and sufficiently stir your intervals to any depth you choose. If the hand hoes be found indispensable, use them near your plants; but never hill or plough up furrows. The common harrow will have its share of usefulness; and spare it not. As often as young weeds appear, or your surface becomes crusty, often occasioned by drought after rains, ply the harrows. You will then have a deep, loose and light body of pulverized soil, for your roots to penetrate. It will imbibe the dews and gases from the atmosphere; and afford, in the severest droughts, perpetual moisture and nourishment; which will be exclusively applied to your corn plant; having no robbers to contend with. In droughts, deeply stirred soil inhales and retains moisture. In wet seasons it is the least injured; because it affords room for superabundant wetness. Being elastic and buoyant, it does not consolidate or settle into concrete bodies, like shallow ploughed, cloddy, and unstirred ground. The corn roots (which have, in such ground, been measured ten feet long,) will have a continuous and not a divided soil, wherein to expand and extend themselves; in which, it being loose, deep, and constantly moist, the roots will far exceed those confined to narrow detached ridges, wherein they are short and starved. It is an idle opinion, to suppose that plants spend themselves in roots. The stronger, the root, the more vigorous is the plant.
If you will introduce the plough after the first breaking up, either before or after planting; and squares are the most commodious for thorough stirring and cleaning; plough shallow; so as not to disturb the deeply buried sod. Let the harrows level and flatten your surface at the next operation; and continue them exclusively in all future stirrings. Your culture will be easier, cheaper, and more abundantly profitable, than those who are accustomed to the old modes will believe, until they see.
If your field requires drains, draw furrows in proper places. If it be naturally wet, break up deeply in very broad lands, on which the harrows may still be used, and drains sufficiently multiplied. If it be stony, rugged, or harsh, either plant other crops; or strengthen your harrows; ridged ground dries the soonest, and burns through; so does all shallow ploughed soil, whether ridged or flat. Attraction of moisture is trifling, and evaporation rapid.
Be not afraid of cutting corn roots, which benefit by excision; throwing out, on the parts attached to the plants, numerous fibres, to draw in and communicate their food.
Your corn, in deeply ploughed and frequently stirred ground, will resist storms and heavy rains, owing to the strength and numbers of its roots, far beyond hilled or ridged plants. If it yields to the storm, and leans, the extent, tenacity, and re-acting contraction of the roots, will generally restore the erect position of the stalks: whereas, in the ridged or hill culture, the roots are short, brittle, and incapable of recovery. It is not uncommon in the deep and flat culture, for those called finger roots, to grow entirely or greatly extended under instead of above the surface; and throw out innumerable fibres, to support the stalk.
Detach all suckers, which are robbers; and top, in due season, to shorten the lever, insure the standing of the stalks, and facilitate the ripening of the grains.
Banish all apprehensions, that working among corn in dry weather, is injurious. The contrary is the truth; for your harrows will, in such weather, have the double effect of more certainly destroying weeds, and pulverizing, to open mouths to take in moisture and gases, from the dews and the air.
It being seldom practised in Pennsylvania, I need not warn you against sowing winter grain in the same year with corn. This not only scourges your land, but interferes with the great use of the cleaning culture, affording the time and opportunity for weeds to recover their pestiferous reign, and is a sure test of slovenly and covetous farming.
If you will not at once believe in this system of corn husbandry, now frequently and ever successfully practised, where the best crops are to be seen, try a small portion of your field—do it justice—and compare it with the old mode, for your own and your neighbour's conviction. Whatever may be hastily thought of these observations, they are, with the most friendly wishes for their prosperity, offered for the serious consideration of liberal minded and unprejudiced farmers; among whom numberless instances of good farming, in other respects, are to be found, and to which the greatest proportion of the corn culture is a mortifying contrast.
September 10, 1820.
MENTOR.
Sept. 18, 1820.
Messrs. Richards & Caleb Johnson—
In the Lancaster Journal of September 8th, 1820, there is an excellent charge of Judge Franklin to the Grand Jury, on the subject of the Act of Assembly "for promoting agriculture and domestic manufactures." I think it well deserving a place in your Magazine; as it contains, in epitome, much useful and impressive advice on the importance of agriculture, and the formation of agricultural societies; by the instrumentality whereof both the principle, and practice of husbandry can be successfully promoted, and most effectually encouraged.—Your obedient servant,
RICHARD PETERS.
Address.
But I am desirous at this time, gentlemen, of introducing to your notice an Act of Assembly of this Commonwealth, passed at the last session of the legislature, which, if its provisions be duly attended to, may produce many beneficial effects. It is entitled, "An Act for the promotion of agriculture and domestic manufactures." The 1st, 2d, and 3d, sections enact:
"That as soon as the Board of Commissioners and two-thirds of the Grand Jury, of any county within this Commonwealth, shall agree, in writing under their respective hands (which agreement shall be filed in the office of the Prothonotary of the proper county) that a society shall be established within the same; then it shall and may be lawful for twenty or more inhabitants of any such county, fifteen of whom shall be practical and actual farmers, under the name of The Society for the Promotion of Agriculture and Domestic Manufactures, in and for such county, to sign an agreement, promising to pay the treasurer of said society, so long as he shall remain a member thereof, the sum of one dollar each, or more, annually, for the purposes hereinafter mentioned, and cause such agreement to be filed in the office of the Prothonotary of proper county; every such society shall by virtue of this act become a body politic and corporate, in deed and in law, with perpetual succession, and all the rights, liberties, privileges, and franchises incident to a corporation, for all the purposes of this act, and to admit new members upon the terms aforesaid. Provided, That the association which shall have first filed their articles of agreement shall be the only one entitled to the privileges granted by this act.
"That the said societies, respectively, shall meet at some convenient place on the Wednesday of the next Court of Common Pleas, after the said agreements shall have been filed as aforesaid, and choose by a majority of votes, out of their number, one president, ten directors, one treasurer, and one secretary, who shall be officers of said society for one year and until others are duly elected. And the said societies respectively, at their first meeting, shall have power to fix on the time and place of their annual meetings on such day of the year as they shall designate, which shall continue to be the day of the annual meeting of the societies respectively, until otherwise altered by a vote of the members as aforesaid; and also to make their own rules and by-laws, not inconsistent with the constitution and laws of the United States, or of this state; and to add other officers to those designated, and prescribe their respective duties. And the president and directors shall have power to summon special meetings of said societies respectively, at such other times as to them shall seem proper.
"That at the next assessment of county rates and levies, after said societies respectively shall have been established and organized in any county within this commonwealth, and annually thereafter, the county commissioners are hereby required to assess, levy, and cause to be collected, in the same manner that county rates and levies are assessed, levied, and collected, an additional sum of fifty dollars for every member which said counties respectively are or may be entitled to elect to the House of Representatives of this commonwealth, and to cause the same to be paid to the treasurer of the society, by warrants drawn on the county treasurer: to be expended, together with their annual subscriptions, in the manner hereinafter mentioned."
I need not read the remaining sections of this law. The pamphlet containing it will be laid upon your table, and you will have an opportunity of deliberately considering it in all its parts.
I wish to impress you, gentlemen, with the importance of this subject, as it affects the vital interests of our country; particularly at a time when our foreign markets are almost destroyed, and we must learn to establish our prosperity on the interchange of commodities within our own limits. This will produce a solid independence, teach us the value of our connexions with one another, and bind us in bonds of mutual interest. The struggle has heretofore been (and a fatal one it has proved) to get rich: the endeavour now must be, how to live in comfort and plenty.
The consumption and use of the necessaries and conveniences of life, by 10,000,000 of people, and the demands for the materials of domestic manufactures, cannot fail to afford to every quarter of our Union the means of substantial enjoyment. Industry must take the place of hazardous Speculation, and Frugality must succeed Extravagance. We shall then be taught to live within our means, and this will easily be accomplished, when we have only real wants, and not those which are, for the most part, artificial and fanciful. We must "eat our bread in the sweat of our faces," and we shall find it the sweetest and most nutritive of any food we have heretofore enjoyed. It may not be accompanied by luxurious and expensive viands; but its associates will be health, peace of mind, and corporeal vigour, ensuring exemplary life and purity of morals.
The foundation of the public prosperity is undoubtedly agriculture. This brings forth all the materials about which other branches of labour are, for the most part, employed, and sustains the workers in every department of the mechanic arts, in their labours. Without it, the earth would be a howling desert: with it, the cultivated world is an artificial Paradise, produced by the labour of Man, who, being doomed to "eat his bread in the sweat of his face," thus fulfils the decrees of Heaven, while he ensures to himself and his race the blessings of plenty, innocence and health. To what a high destiny, then, is the farmer appointed, when to him is committed the art on which the subsistence of his fellow men necessarily depends. His responsibilities are great indeed; and shall he rely only on his individual efforts and limited experience, for the fulfilment of such important duties? No: he should call to his aid the experience, the intelligence, and the scientific as well as practical knowledge, which associations for promoting agriculture are universally found to afford, and thereby add to his own, the experience of those with whom he is associated, and, by joint efforts, produce results to which any one individual is incompetent. The practices, good or bad, which are handed down by his predecessors, are repeated; and little progress is made in improvement by isolated or self-confident individuals.
It would be a toilsome task, nor indeed would my limited information enable me, to enumerate all the discoveries and improvements in husbandry which modern times have developed. I will mention one or two of the most prominent. There have been but few articles used among our farmers, for the most essential of all requisites, manuring their lands. Dung, which can be produced only in quantities inadequate to the demand for it, has been the universal and main reliance, Lime is also generally esteemed of primary importance. Both of these are estimable, without dispute; and yet it is now well known in Europe, and begins to be so here, that the ashes of burnt clay constitute a manure which is superiour to them all, for every purpose to which they have been applied. Clay is found every where in immense quantities, and can be cheaply converted into ashes, and whole farms may be rapidly fertilized in place of partial and protracted applications of more expensive and less attainable manures; it is fortunately best adapted for strong and clay soils, which thus afford renovations of their surfaces out of their own bowels. This account of so valuable an addition to our stock of manure, obtained from a material of little estimation, walked over every day, and heedlessly neglected, will not, perhaps, be believed by the generality of our farmers; and yet the most celebrated agriculturists in England, Scotland, and Ireland are so convinced of the fact, from actual experience, that it is maintained to be "the most important discovery in agriculture which modern times have produced."
The application of salt to our fields as manure, is now under very extensive experiment. There is no doubt of its efficacy: but it requires experience, as to quantity per acre, and the kinds of soil the most suitable. This is not a new discovery; for its application to land as manure has been known before, and at the time of, our blessed Saviour's appearance upon earth. In St. Luke's Gospel[1] it is said, "salt is good; but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out." Its uses, both for cattle and manure, can be traced through the writings of the most eminent among the Romans, down to the most celebrated chymists and agriculturists of our own day. Where are our farmers to learn such facts and discoveries? Not of themselves; for there are many who do not read, and few go out of their way to try experiments. They can only be taught by agricultural associations, wherein the experience of practical farmers, the information derived from books, and the assistance of scientific characters, are happily combined.
The spirit for agricultural improvement, and the formation of societies, has very much spread throughout the Union. Shall Pennsylvania be behind her sister states in such associations? She is before them in many practical proofs of her good husbandry; but has yet much to learn. Let us then promptly obey the call of our legislature, and begin the great work by forming societies and rendering them efficient. Let us pride ourselves in our household manufactures; and for this purpose let us invite the female branches of our families to join in our plan. Without their aid, we can do nothing in such manufactures; with it, everything. Instead of foreign gewgaws and expensive finery, we may be independent in articles for household uses and our attire, and save the expenditures which now go into the pockets of foreigners. Commerce is certainly essential to an agricultural country; but the extent of it should be no greater than our products will reach: when the balance turns against us, our prosperity declines.
You know, gentlemen, that our farmers will be satisfied only by actual observations of practical proofs. We must have public manifestations of improvement. The institution of cattle-shows should be promoted. They would be useful as places of sale, or for the exhibition of the best breeds, or for exposing for imitation or sale the best and greatest variety of household manufacture. On these occasions, premiums, more honorary than costly, should be distributed to successful candidates, either for such cattle or manufactures, or for agricultural discoveries or improvements, or the best execution of known practices. Emulation must be roused and encouraged, and the honourable pride of excelling must be fostered. Such public exhibitions must be conducted by discreet and reputable men.
Under such guidance and with suitable accompaniments of innocent pleasure and amusement, they will make a much stronger impression than any oral addresses or written communications. By these exhibitions, the emulation, excited in some neighbouring states has improved their agriculture and increased their manufactures to a degree almost incredible. Agricultural societies are extending to every quarter of the Union. Until very lately, there did not exist one to the southward of Pennsylvania, and she had but two, to wit, the Philadelphia Society, which has long continued its useful labours and eminent zeal; and that of Blockley and Merior, in the neighbourhood of Philadelphia. In the Eastern States, they are numerous; and in New York, forty or fifty are recently formed and are making successful progress.
I shall not enlarge further upon these topics, but will dismiss you with the expression of a hope that you may be governed in all your deliberations by the pure principles of justice; that by preserving your minds entirely free from hate, from friendship, from anger, and from pity, they may be directed to such conclusions as may best effectuate the great purposes for which you are assembled, and that in clearing the innocent from unjust suspicion, and dragging the guilty to deserved punishment, you may promote the best interests of society, and secure the freedom and happiness of its individual members.