226 



BRITISH HUSBANDRY. 



[Ch. XVII. 



The seeds of the sort which has been introduced into England under the 

 name of " Cobbetl's Corn " were however obtained from the province of 

 Artois, in France, which lies nearly parallel to our southern counties, but 

 the plant is a dwarf species, the height of which does not exceed four feet 

 on good land ; neither does it usually produce more than three cobbs, nor 

 the ear attain the length, or produce an equal number of grains, though 

 the corn is of the full size of the maize grown in a warm climate. The 

 fibres of the root spread equally around to the extent of full six inches iri 

 diameter, and take a firm hold of the ground. 



Fig. 1, in the annexed cut, is a drawing of the plant in a state of ma- 

 turity ; and Jig. 2, represents a cobb, or ear of corn, when stripped of its 

 husk. 



The soil best suited to Indian corn is a friable loam, and it is found in 

 foreign countries to succeed better on light lands than in those which are 

 clayey. Last year, however, we have known a large crop of it grown upon 

 heavy clay ; but the land was dug, and it is almost unnecessary to add, that 

 it was by that operation rendered more pervious than it could have been by 

 common ploughing. Cobbett indeed says, " that a tolerably good crop 

 would certainly succeed, in numerous cases, on land much too poor to 

 yield a crop of wheat, or even a good crop of barley, oats, or rye ; " yet in 

 that assertion we think he is mistaken, for other accounts, from countries 

 where it is grown extensively, and under climates more favourable than 

 this, say, that it requires an abundance of manure, and on poor land does 

 not pay the expense of cultivation.* 



Cobbett describes iivo modea of sowing : one, by dibbling in hills four 

 feet every way apart — " which may be formed by ploughing longways and 

 crossways ;" the other by drilling the corn in rows at the same distance. 



In the first method, if the land be not previously dunged, the manure 

 may be laid in the hills, which are marked out by the plough, and at every 

 crossing a hole is made with the hoe, about six inches in diameter, around 

 ■which five or six seeds are placed, at the depth of less than two inches, and 

 the earth is drawn upon them by the hoe ; taking care that it be f;-ee of clods, 

 and merely pressed down by the back of the hoe, or lightly trodden. This 



* De Crud. '< Economic de rAgric," 4to, p. 303. 



