GRAIN AND ITS CULTIVATION. 129 



flat. Stirring the ground in dry weather is peculiarly be- 

 neficial to corn and all hoed crops. Some omit it then from 

 fear of the escape of moisture, but its effect is precisely the 

 reverse, as nothing so certainly produces lightness, porosity 

 and unevenness in the soil, which under the head of soils and 

 draining, we have shown facilitated the admission and es- 

 cape of heat, that inevitably secures the deposit of large 

 quantities of moisture, even in the driest and most sultry wea- 

 ther. Corn and other crops, which were withering from ex- 

 cessive drought, have been at once rescued from its effects by 

 a thorough use of the plow and cultivator. Well drained, 

 dark colored and rich porous soils will be found to suffer much 

 less in drought than others which lack these characteristics. 

 HARVESTING. If there be no danger of early frost, the 

 corn may be suffered to stand till fully ripe ; though if the 

 stalks are designed for fodder, they are better to be cut when 

 the grain is well glazed, and this should be done in all cases 

 where frost is expected. Scarcely any injury occurs either 

 to the leaf or grain if the corn be stocked, when both would 

 be seriously damaged from the same exposure if standing. 

 The stalks of corn should never be cut above the ear, but 

 always near the ground, and for this obvious reason. The 

 sap which nourishes the grain is drawn from the earth, and 

 passing through the stem enters the leaf, where a change is 

 effected analogous to what takes place in the blood when 

 brought to the surface of the lungs in the animal system ; 

 with this peculiar difference however, that while the blood 

 gives out carbon and absorbs oxygen, plants under the influ- 

 ence of light and heat, give out oxygen and absorb carbon. 

 This change prepares the sap for condensation and conver- 

 sion into the grain. But the leaves which thus digest the 

 food for the grain are above it, for it is while passing down- 

 ward that the change of the sap into grain principally takes 

 place. If the stalk be cut above the ear nourishment is at an 

 end. It may then become firm and dry but it is not increas- 

 ed in quantity, while if cut near the root, it not only appro- 

 priates the sap already in the plant, but it also absorbs addi- 

 tional matter from the atmosphere which contributes to its 

 weight and perfection. It must be perfectly dried in the 

 field, and after this husked arid carried into an airy loft or 

 stored in latticed or open barracks. The stalks may be housed 

 or carefully stacked for fodder. Many of our Western farmers 

 allow both grain and stalks to stand in the field till wanted for 

 use, when they are fed in an adjoining enclosure. This is 



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