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Indian Corn, Sorghum

ed in urine is not immediately sown, it will infal-attracting attention, especially in the West. It libly lose its vegetative power. The second, viz., sprinkling the urine on the seed, seems to be the safest if performed by an attentive hand, whilst the last may do equally well, if such a quantity of alt be incorporated with the water as to render it of sufficient strength. It may also be remarked, that this last mode is often accompanied with smut, owing no doubt to a deficiency of strength in the pickle; whereas a single head with smut is rarely discovered when urine has been used.

To cultivate Indian Corn.

The land should be a loamy sand, very rich. In April the grains should be set like hops, at three to four feet distance, three to six grains in a hill, each grain about an inch deep in the ground.

The seed from New England is the best. In May the alleys should be hoed and the hills weeded and earthed up higher; many good farmers plough three times after planting. At the latter end of that month all the superfluous stalks should be taken away, and only three stems of corn left in each hill. By the middle of June, it will cover the alley. It grows much like bulrushes, the lower leaves being like broad flags, three or four inches wide, and as many feet in length; the stems shooting upwards, from seven to ten feet in height, with many joints, casting off flag-leaves at every joint. Under these leaves and close to the stem grows the corn, covered over by many coats of sedgy leaves, and so closed in by them to the stem, that it does not show itself easily till there bursts out at the end of the ear a number of strings that look like tufts of horse-hair, at first of a beautiful green, and afterwards red or yellow, the stem ending in a flower. The corn will ripen in October or early November; but the sun at that season not having strength enough to dry it, it must be laid upon racks or thin open floors in dry rooms, and frequently turned, to avoid moulding; the grains are about as big as peas, and adhere in regular rows round a white pithy substance, which forms the ear. An ear contains from two to four hundred grains, and is from six to ten inches in length. They are of various colors, blue, red, white and yellow. The manner of gathering them is by cutting down the stems and breaking off the ears. The stems are as big as a man's wrist, and look like bamboo cane; the pith is full of a juice that tastes as sweet as sugar, and the joints are about a foot and a half distant.

The increase is upwards of five hundred. fold.

Upon a large scale the seed may be drilled in alleys like peas, and to save digging, the ground may be ploughed and harrowed, which will answer very well. It will grow upon all kinds of land.

The ears which grow upon dry sandy land are smaller, but harder and riper. The grain is taken from the husk by hand, and when ground upon stones, makes an excellent flour, of which it yields much more, with much less bran, than wheat does, and exceeds it in crust, pancakes, puddings, and all other uses except bread; but a sweetness peculiar to it, which in all other cases makes it agreeable, is here less so. It is excellent for feeding horses, poultry and hogs, and fattens them much better and sooner than peas or barley.

The stems make better hedges for kitchen garden than reeds do. It clears the ground from weeds, and makes a good season for any other kind of grain. It was the only bread-grain known in America when first discovered by the Spaniards, and is there called maize.

Sorghum. may be cultivated almost precisely like maize, and is more profitable. It is cut off when it is ripe and beginning to fade slightly, or sometimes earlier than this. It may then be ground like sugarcane. This is often done in a mill like a ciderpress. The syrup is then boiled at once, in largo shallow kettles. It is said that sorghum should be grown on a sandy soil, not too rich; if the earth is rich, it grows too strong and fibrous, with less sugar in the stem.

Diseases of Wheat.

Wheat is subject to more diseases than other grains, and, in some seasons, especialiy in wet ones, heavier losses are sustained from those diseases than are felt in the culture of any other culmiferous crop with which we are acquainted. Wheat may suffer from the attack of insects at the root; from blight, which primarily affects the leaf or straw, and ultimately deprives the grain of sufficient nourishment; from mildew on the ear, which operates thereon with the force of an apoplectic stroke; and from gum of different shades, which lodges on the chaff or cups in which the grain is deposited.

Blight.

Blight originates from moist or foggy weather, and from hoar-frost, the effects of which, when expelled by a hot sun, are first discernible on the straw, and afterwards on the ear, in a greater or less degree, according to local circumstances. Let a field be examined in a day or two after such weather, and a careful observer will soon be satisfied that the fibres and leaves of plants are contracted and enfeebled, in consequence of what may be called a stoppage of perspiration. This disorder may take place either earlier or later, but is most fatal when it appears at the time the grain is forming in the ear. It may appear at an earlier stage; and though the productive powers of the plant will thereby be lessened, yet, if circumstances are afterwards favorable, the quality of the grain produced may not be much impaired; or it may appear after the grain is fully formed, and then very little damage will be sustained, except by the straw.

Mildew.

Mildew may be ranked as a disease which affects the ear, and is brought on by causes somewhat similar to those which occasion blight, though at a more advanced period of the season.

If this disorder comes on immediately after the first appearance of the ear the straw will also be affected, but if the grain is nearly or fully formed then injury on the straw is not much discernible.

We have seen a crop that carried wheat that was mildewed where the straw was perfectly fresh, though, indeed, this rarely happens. A severe mildew, however, effectually prevents both grain and straw from making any further progress, the whole plant apparently going backward every day till existence in a manner ceases altogether.

Something akin to mildew is the gum which, in all warm moist seasons, attaches itself to the ear, and often occasions considerable damage. All these different disorders are generally accompanied by insects, and by minute parasitic vegetable growths, considered by many to be the authors of the mischief that follows. Their appearance, however, may justly be attributed to the diseased state of the plant; for wherever putrefaction takes place, either in animal or vegetable substances, the presence of these parasites This, also called Chinese sugar-cane, is now will never be wanting. Rust.