GRAINS. 175 



or sow three bushels. This sIioulJ in no case be contiaaed 

 more than three seasons, as it tends to degenerate both the soil 

 and tlie seed if continued longer. Sow grass seed, or clover, as 

 desired, with the last crop. Oats will pay as well, for good 

 composted barnyard manure, as almost any crop. If ten cords 

 of compost, per acre, be applied in the rotation we recommend, 

 we believe an average of seventy-five bushels per acre of heavy 

 oats can be secured, besides a much larger crop of the best oat 

 straw for fodder. The seed should be raised and saved, ivud 

 separated just as described, for growing and saving seed whvat. 

 It toi'U pay. 



Indian' Coun is the great .^staple crop of America, gi eater 

 than wheat, hay, or cotton. It is a prime necessity iu our 

 ai^'riculture. More bushels of corn are raised in tlic United 

 States, than of all other cereals together. It makes our beef, 

 pork, mutton, and poultry. It is a necessary accompaniment of 

 all good farming at the East ; in its culture is the progress and 

 wealth of the Northwest; it is at present the life of the South. 

 Cotton is no longer king. Corn must occupy the attention of 

 southern farmers, if they would arise from their desolations. 

 They must adopt new methods of culture, and new implements, 

 and it will be our aim, in this chapter, to show how it can be 

 made to pay. 



Preparation of the Soil. The necessary preparation for 

 wet lands will be found described in the first chapter of this 

 book. When corn ground is rather heavy, or when corn is to 

 ' planted on sod ground, by far the best plan is to plow and 

 Mibsoil in the autumn. The frost pulverizes the soil, and it 

 will be ready for the seed several days earlier in the spring. If 

 l)arnyard manure or compost is to be used, spread it on after 

 plowing in the fall, or haul it on while the ground is frozen, 

 during the winter, unless the land is sloping, and liable to be 



