HARVESTING. 111 
Small stacks are preferable to large ones— 
from 50 to 100 shocks to each one. Such a size 
can be handled to better advantage than a large 
one, whether the fodder is fed in field or 
stable. 
Pulled fodder is especially prepared in the 
South. This operation is well described by 
“H.” in the Country Gentleman of Feb. 5, 1885: 
“There are usually two stalks in a hill of corn; the blades 
are gathered as high as the operator can reach, from both 
stalks, and thrust between them to remain until dry enough 
to bind into bundles, which are as large as the blades will 
reach around and tie. This tying is done very late in the 
evening after the dew begins to fall, when the corn blades, 
thoroughly dry, are just moist enough not to crumble. The 
fodder has then to be packed [carried] by hand, either to the 
ends of the rows, where it can be hauled to the barn, or if 
the rows are very long, to some central point to be stacked, 
not in loose leaves, but in bundles.” 
This method of securing fodder is becoming 
less and less practiced in the South. The cost 
of fodder so secured is too great and valuable 
food material is lost in the stalks left in the 
field. As a practical business matter the 
Southern farmer should cut his corn within six 
inches of the ground and cure it in the shock, 
as is done elsewhere. The practice of topping 
corn is equally as undesirable as pulling. 
Husking.—In the eastern United States 
where the weather is somewhat uncertain in 
the fall, and snow comes early, the corn is usu- 
ally husked as soon as dry enough. The ears 
