TOPPING AND [Chap. 



ing, generally it will be about the end of the first 

 iveek in September ; sometimes a little earlier, 

 and sometimes a little later; but, I recommend 

 you not to be regulated by the time of the year, 

 in this work of topping the corn, any more than 

 you would be in the work of gathering peaches : 

 you gather the peaches when they are ripe, with- 

 out the smallest attention to the season of the 

 vear ; and you must top the corn when it is fit 

 for topping, without any such reference. The 

 grain is soft, and if you press it with your thumb- 

 nail milk will come out, until the plant be in the 

 state above described. You must not top the 

 corn as long as the grains are in this milky state, 

 even at the tips of the ears ; and these will re- 

 main in a milky state, some time after the grains 

 at the bottom of the ears are nearly hard. 



120. The act of topping is not very difficult 

 to describe, nor is it very difficult to perform. 

 A man goes \w\xX\ a sharp knife, cuts off the top, 

 as at a : this brings off a part of the blades also, 

 as will be seen by a reference to Plate I. He 

 then snaps off the other blades, or strips them 

 off as near to the stem as he can, not taking any 

 very great pains about the matter ; and thus he 

 goes on from plant to plant. He lays the pro- 

 duce down in the interval, hi convenient little 

 parcels, not so large as to prevent the tops and 

 blades being well dried, if the weather be fine ; 



