COBBETT'S CORN. 157 



them up to nails in the walls, or against the beams of 

 your house ; for there is so much moisture in the cob 

 that the ears are apt to heat if put together in great 

 parcels. The room in which I write in London is 

 now hung all round with bunches of this corn. The 

 bunches may be hung up in a shed or stable fora while, 

 and, when perfectly dry, they may be put into bags. 



7. Now, as to the mode of using the corn ; if for 

 poultry, you must rub the grains off the cob ; but if 

 for pigs, give them the whole ears. You will find 

 some of the ears in which the grain is still soft. Give 

 these to your pig first ; and keep the hardest to the 

 last. You will soon see how much the pig will re- 

 quire in a day, because pigs, more decent than many 

 rich men, never eat any more than is necessary to 

 them. You will thus have a pig ; you will have two 

 flitches of bacon, two pig's cheeks, one set of souse, 

 two griskins, two spare-ribs, from both which I trust 

 in God you will keep the jaws of the Methodist par- 

 son ; and if, while you are drinking a mug of your 

 own ale, after having dined upon one of these, you 

 drink my health, you may be sure that it will give 

 you more merit in the sight of God as well as of 

 man, than you would acquire by groaning the soul 

 out of your body in responses to the blasphemous 

 cant of the sleekheaded Methodist thief that would 

 persuade you to live upon potatoes. ^* 



264. You must be quite sensible that I cannot have 

 any motive but your good in giving you this advice, 

 other than the delight which I. take and the pleasure 

 which I derive from doing that good. You are all 

 personally unknown to me: in all human probability 

 not one man in a thousand will ever see me. You 

 have no more power to show your gratitude to me 

 than you have to cause me to live for a hundred years. 

 I do not desire that you should deem this a favour 

 received from rue. The thing is worth your trying, 

 at any rate. 



265. The corn is off by the middle of November. 

 The ground should then be well manured, and deeply 

 dug, and planted with EARLY YORK, or EARLY DWARF 



14 



