SECRETARY'S REPORT. 177 



Fitch* has described five varieties, and remarks, that neither the 

 fertility of the soil or the kind of manure applied has any influ- 

 ence on the cut-worms, "except in making the plants grow more 

 succulent, for it is vegetation of this character which appears to 

 be their favorite food." About once in four years the cut-worm 

 does great injury to corn, if it is planted upon sward land ; and 

 for this reason our farmers think it more safe to plant this crop 

 upon land which has previously had the sod rotted by cultivation. 

 To avoid the cut-worm, some recommend late planting. Dr. Fitch 

 says : " Commonly only one or two stalks in a hill of corn or 

 beans are cut off, and the remainder are left unmolested. * * * 

 It is well, therefore, to plant so much seed as will enable these 

 depredators to glut their appetites without taking all the stalks- in 

 the hill." This is doubtless a wise suggestion, but if they appear 

 in so large numbers as to gi*eatly injure the crop, the most sure 

 remedy is that mentioned by the same author, viz., " digging the 

 worms out from their retreats and destroying them. The safest 

 way, however, is not to plant corn upon sward ground, but upon 

 land which has been cultivated at least one year with some other 

 crop. 



Southern corn is now extensively planted as a fodder crop. It 

 is sown in drills, three feet apart. The first is sown early in June, 

 and again about the middle or last of the month. This furnishes 

 a succession of tender feed for milch cows, at a time when pastures 

 become short, keeping up the flow of milk at a season when it is 

 of the most account, and also improving the condition of the ani- 

 mals. For working oxen engaged in fall plowing or other farm 

 work, it forms a handy and nutritious food. The amount of green 

 fodder which can be grown upon a small piece of ground, even, is 

 immense, and it is a safe statement, that land under a moderate 

 state of cultivation will produce at least six tuns of fodder per 

 acre. - It is often cured for winter forage. 



3. — Grain Crops. 

 Wheat. When the county was first settled, and for many years 

 afterwards, wheat was the crop most largely grown. The land 

 was new and fertile, and produced bountiful returns. As fast as 

 the trees were cut away, the growth of wood was piled, burnt upon 

 the ground, and wheat was sown on burnt land. By this process 



* " Report on the Noxious, Beneficial and other Insects of the State of New 

 York." Vol. l,p. 310. 



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