COBBETT'S CORN. 155 



Horses, sheep, and pigs, bite the grain off, and leave 

 the cob ; but horned cattle eat cob and all. 



262. 1 am to speak of it to you, however, only as a 

 thing to make you some bacon, for which use it sur-^ 

 passes all other grain whatsoever. When the grain 

 is in the whole ear, it is called corn in the ear ; 

 when it is rubbed off the cob, it is called shelled corn. 

 Now, observe, ten bushels of shelled corn are equal, 

 in the fatting of a pig, to fifteen bushels of barley ; 

 and fifteen bushels of barley, if properly ground and 

 managed, will make a pig of ten score, if he be not 

 too poor when you begin to fat him. Observe that 

 everybody who has been in America knows, that the 

 finest hogs in the world are fatted in. that country ; 

 and no man ever saw a hog fatted in that country in 

 any other way than tossing the ears of corn over to 

 him in the sty, leaving him to bite it off the ear, and 

 deal with it according to his pleasure. The finest and. 

 solidest bacon in the world is produced in this way. 



263. Now, then, I know, that a bushel of shelled 

 corn may be grown upon one single rod of ground 

 sixteen feet and a half each way ; I have grown more 

 than that this last summer ; and any of you may do 

 the same if you will strictly follow the instructions 

 which I am now about to give you. 



1. Late in March (I am doing it now,) or in the 

 first fortnight of April, dig your ground up very deep, 

 and let it lie rough till between the seventh and fif- 

 teenth of May. 



2. Then (in dry weather if possible) dig up the 

 ground again, and make it smooth at top. Draw drills 

 with a line two feet apart, just as you do drills for 

 peas ; rub the grains ' off the cob ; put a little very 

 rotten and fine manure along the bottom of the drill ; 

 lay the grains along upon that six inches apart ; cover 

 the grain over with fine earth, so that there be about 

 an inch and a half on the top of the grain ; pat the 

 earth down a little with the back of a hoe to make it 

 lie solid on the grain. 



3. If there be any danger of slugs, you must kill 

 them before the corn comes up if possible : and the 



