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hilling, as Avitli. The produce of a field of corn, well cultivated in this 

 manner, may safely be set down at from thirty to fifty bushels per acre, 

 and at an expense of, at least, one half less than by the old mode of hoe- 

 ing. The crop should be cut up after the first appearance of frost, if 

 ripe, and if it should be only partially ripened, it will ripen in the shock 

 from the nutriment already in the stalk ; and the stalks thus cured are 

 estimated at one half the value of common hay for keeping stock. The 

 shocks, if well bound, will stand in the field without injury to the grain 

 or stalks, until mid-winter, if it is necessary. It can be drawn and fed 

 to the stock, as occasion may require, which may be done if it is impossi- 

 ble to husk and store the crop in the fall. 



Corn is one of the best crops with which we are acquainted to prepare 

 land for oats, barley, or any other spring crop ; and wheat, in the case 

 of a wet autumn, often does well after corn. Drawing a large portion of 

 its food from the atmosphere, which inference is deduced from experi- 

 ments related in a former part of this essay, it does not exhaust the soil 

 as rapidly as most other crops, for we see good crops of corn produced 

 in some parts of the country for many years in succession, and upon the 

 same ground. We would not, however, recommend this practice. One 

 important fact should be borne in mind, by those who wish to save 

 labor, and avoid disappointment in the cultivation of corn. The 

 seed should always be selected in the autumn from the field, and the 

 ripest and fairest ears should be selected with a portion of the husk 

 attached to each ear, they should then be braided tocjether, and if hune: 

 i;p in some dry place, and left until planting time, not one grain in a 

 thousand will fail to germinate. If, however, taken promiscuously from 

 the corn-house or crib, much of it will fail, and often the whole planting 

 must be gone over again, and the careless farmer lays the blame to the 

 season or ground, when the fault is entirely his own. Never soak corn 

 to make it germinate quickly. If the ground should be wet after plant- 

 ing, it will decay. Dry seed is longer coming up, but never decays in 

 the ground, if prepared as above. 



Oats. — This crop, so universally used as food for horses, is probably 

 without a rival, where the safety of the animal is taken into considera- 

 tion, connected with the go-a-head spirit of the age, which has imparted 

 its energy to road traveling as well as everything else, the horse must 

 perform his part in the drama, and thirty miles a day will only do for 



