INDIAN CORN FODDER. 339 



stated, is to sow in drills from two and a half to three 

 feet apart, on land well tilled and thoroughly manured, 

 making the drills from six to ten inches wide, with the 

 plough, manuring in the furrow, dropping the corn 

 about two inches apart, and covering with the hoe. 

 In this mode of culture the cultivator may be used 

 between the rows when the corn is from six to twelve 

 inches high, and, unless the ground is very weedy, no 

 other after culture is generally needed. The first sow- 

 ing commonly takes place about the usual time of corn 

 planting, and this is succeeded by other sowings, at 

 intervals of a week or ten days, till July, in order to 

 have a succession of green fodder. But, if it is designed 

 to cut it up to cure for winter use, an early sowing is 

 generally preferred, in order to be able to cure it in 

 warm weather, in August or early in September. Sown 

 in this way, about three or four bushels of corn are re- 

 quired for an acre ; since, if sown thickly, the fodder is 

 better, the stalks smaller, and the waste less. 



The chief difficulty in curing corn cultivated for this 

 purpose, and after the methods spoken of, arises mainly 

 from the fact that it comes at a season when the weather 

 is often colder, the days shorter, and the dews heavier, 

 than when the curing of hay takes place. Nor is the 

 curing of corn cut up green so easy and simple as that 

 of drying the stalks of Indian corn cut above the ear, 

 as in our common practice of topping, since then the 

 plant is riper, less juicy, and cures more readily. The 

 method sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small 

 bundles, after it is somewhat wilted, and stook upon the 

 ground, where it is allowed to stand, subject to all the 

 changes of the weather, with only the protection of the 

 stook itself. The stooks consist of bunches of stalks 

 first bound in small bundles, and are made sufficiently 

 large to prevent the wind from blowing them over. 



