HARVESTING CORN. 99 



rains, mth high winds, may materially damage the stover, if 

 not the grain. It should therefore be examined occasion- 

 ally, and, as soon as cured, taken to the barn. The grain will 

 usually be ready for the bin when the leaves are dry, and 

 the stalks dry for half the distance between the ears and the 

 ground. If the " stub " stalks are quite green, or contain 

 ■visible juice, they will do no harm in the stack or mow, 

 if the upper stalks and leaves are well dried. The method 

 of husking must be governed somewhat by the weather, 

 the floor-room in the barn for doing the work, and whether 

 it is desired to save the husks separate from the rest of 

 the fodder. One main thing in the process is to utilize 

 time, and save expense, by handling the stalks as little as 

 possible. This will be accomplished by picking the ears 

 from the stalks in the field, to be husked afterwards, and 

 then to cart the stalks directly to the storage-room. Husk- 

 ing in the field, with average hands, is objectionable, as more 

 or less of the fodder will be wasted. The other method of 

 harvesting to be noticed, and which is practised to a consid- 

 erable extent, is called " top-stalking." It was the way of 

 our fathers, and, for aught that I know, of the Indians be- 

 fore them. Theoretically it consists in cutting off the ster- 

 ile stalks at the ground, and the fertile ones, smoothly, at 

 the junction of the ear, when the stalks and leaves are 

 quite green, and the grain just commencing to harden; but 

 practically it is the cutting-off the top-stalks, with one clean 

 sweep at each hill, near the top of the highest ears. The 

 remainder of the stalks, with the ears, are then allowed to 

 stand in the field until they become dry, sear, and dead ; 

 when the ears are husked on the hill, or picked and stored 

 in some building convenient to the corn-crib, and husked as 

 opportunity offers. The fodder remaining in the field after 

 taking off the corn is sometimes cut at the ground, and 

 taken to the barn for feeding to stock; but generally the 

 stock are turned into the field in the bleak days of Novem- 

 ber and December, to pick off some of the dry leaves and 

 husks, and to trample down the remainder preparatory to 

 ploughing it into the soil. The advantages of this method 

 are supposed to be, that, by drying, binding in bundles, 

 and "housing" these stalks at once, it enables the farmer 

 to secure a portion of the fodder in such admirable condi- 



