: 230 BRITISH HUSBANDRY. [Ch. XVII. 



The mode of shelling the corn, ox separating it from the pith of the cob, 

 is performed in America and many parts of Europe by fixing a strong piece 

 of iron, with a sharpish edge, across a tub, and scraping the cob lengthwise 

 across it with l)oth hands until the corn falls into it. The pith is then 

 thrown aside, and we are told that a man with stout wrists will in this man- 

 ner shell from 20 to 30 bushels a-day ; but we know, that it can be effec- 

 tually shelled, by putting the ears into a sack, and thrashing them with a 

 short flail or a stick. The grain, however, requires considerable care 

 to guard it from any kind of damp after it is shelled, for it is subject to 

 heat ; it should not therefore be spread upon the floor more than 18 inches 

 thick, for the purpose of drying; neither should it be left long in the 

 granary without turning; and, if further danger be apprehended, it should 

 be kiln-dried. 



SUMMARY. 



Cobbett estimates the produce of the crop at 100 bushels, and we have 

 heard of several instances of experimental crops in this country having 

 reached from 70 to 90 bushels per imperial acre. This must, however, 

 have been upon rich soils, well manured, and under superior cultivation; for 

 he acknowledges that he has only rarely heard, in America, of so much as 

 60 to 70 bushels, and he admits that the average in Pennsylvania is only 

 from 20 to 30 bushels per acre. In New South Wales the ordinary crops 

 raised by English farmers upon forest land, or those of ordinary quality, 

 only average about 40 bushels per acre; though extraordinary crops are 

 sometimes grown upon alluvial land.* We know also, that in the south 

 of Europe, on favourable soils, and with every advantage of climate, 60 

 bushels is considered a fair produce ; and, reasoning from analogy, we can- 

 not sui)pose that on medium soils, however sedulously cultivated, it can 

 in this country ever be expected to return an average exceeding perhaps 

 the produce of a good croj) of beans. 



The crop, however, has other advantages ; namely — it is neither subject to 

 smut, blight, nor mildew, and it can be harvested with safety at any period of 

 the year. The grain weighs perhaps 60 lbs. to the bushel, with very little chaff, 

 and is extremely nutritive : more so, we should suppose from its eflects 

 on animals, than either rye, barley or oats, and perhaps nearly equal to 

 wheat ;•!- though from its deficiency in gluten, it cannot be made into bread 

 without an admixture of vvheaten flour. The straw is more valuable than 

 that of any other grain crop : the husk is universally used, wherever the 

 grain is generally known, as the stuffing for mattresses ;| and the pith of 

 the cobs, when completely dried, forms, along with the stalks, good firing. 



It may also be strictly called a fallow crop ; for although we are per- 

 suaded that it must rob the ground of a portion of its sap, equal to the nutri- 

 ment which is found in the grain, yet, if that be supplied by a proportionate 

 dressing of putrescent manure, the land will not be exhausted. The cul- 



* Indian coin is in New South Wales dibbled into holes formed with a lioe about 

 3 feet a-part every way ; and, at a proper stage of the growth, it is hilled up with a con- 

 siderable quantity of earth. — iltkinson's Account of the State of Agric. in N. S. W., 

 p. 44. 



f Hogs are, in the south of Europe, almost invariably fattened upon Indian corn, and 

 the pork has a much finer flavour tlian any we have ever tasted in England. In the 

 West Indies, too, our saddle-horses were in good condition with an allowance of half 

 a peck of bruized maize ; while, in this country, we have never been able to keep them 

 in working order with less than double that quantity. 



I The mattresses are not quilted, as when stuffed with hair, flocks, or straw, but the 

 husk is placed loose in the covering, the centre of which is slit open, so as to allow the 

 chambermaid to put in her hand and spread it evi-nly. 



