160 CULTURE OF THE CEREALS. 



a portion of the fine manure or compost should be placed 

 in the hill. 



522. The Indian corn plant is a gross feeder, and needs 

 a great deal of manure unless the land is very rich. If 

 all this manure is put into the hills, the labor and expense 

 of application and the care of the crop through its whole 

 growth will be increased, on account of the hilling up 

 around the corn made necessary by putting so much in 

 the hill. 



523. Another objection to putting much coarse manure 

 in the hill is that the plant is more liable to suffer from 

 drought, and the land is not benefited to so great an 

 extent as when a part of the manure is spread or evenly 

 distributed through the soil. 



524. Some spread and plough in the coarser manures, 

 and use some concentrated fertilizer in the hill to give the 

 crop an early and vigorous start. No doubt a judicious 

 use of concentrated manures is good economy, and in 

 some circumstances it may be well to use them more 

 freely, but they are not to be recommended in all cases, 

 as their cost is frequently greater than the profit which 

 may be made from their use. 



525. To raise corn profitably the land must be in good 

 condition ; it may be made so by the use of a sufficient 

 quantity of manure at the time of planting, or by long- 

 continued and judicious manuring previously. It is not 

 worth while to raise poor crops. It requires about as 

 much labor in ploughing, hoeing and harvesting, to raise 

 thirty or forty bushels per acre, as to raise from sixty to 

 seventy-five bushels per acre, and the profit is irn-alcr \\itli 

 llic bif.ri-r crop. 



.&quot;&amp;gt;- &amp;gt;. In tin 1 , cull u iv of .Indian corn, as of many other 

 crops, the one thing &amp;lt;v|&amp;gt;&amp;lt;v mlly important is thorough and 



