XXYIII. 



GBAIN-GBOWING EAST AND WEST. 







I DISCLAIM all pretensions to ability to teach West- 

 ern farmers how to grow Indian Corn abundantly 

 and profitably, while I cheerfully admit that they 

 have taught me somewhat thoroughly worth know- 

 ing. In my boyhood, I hoed Corn diligently for 

 weeks at a time, drawing the earth from between the 

 rows up about the stalks to a depth of three or four 

 inches; thus forming hills which the West has since 

 taught me to be of no use, but rather a detriment, 

 embarrassing the efforts of the growing, hungry 

 plants to throw out their roots extensively in every 

 direction, and subjecting them to needless injury 

 from drouth. I am thoroughly convinced that Corn, 

 properly planted, will, like WTieat and all other 

 grains, root itself just deep enough in the ground, 

 and that to keep down all weeds and leave the sur- 

 face of the cornfield open, mellow and perfectly flat, 

 is the best as well as the cheapest way to cultivate 

 Corn. And I do not believe that so much human 

 food, with so little labor, is produced elsewhere on 

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