284 O F T H E C U L T U R E .H^Part II. 



t** the dew is off, and the evening, are reckoned better for this 

 " work than the middle of the day. 



" The hilUng of the corn, as it grows, has been the univerfal 

 " pradice : the delign being to give the plant more nourilhment, 

 " rnd to iupport it better againft the winds : but of late, fome 

 ./f planters have thought it better to plant in holes: the reafon is, that 

 " this plant requires a good deal of moifture : and indeed, nature, 

 " by the form and pofition of the leaf, appears to have intended 

 *' the receiving of the rain that falls around, and conducing it to the 

 " ftalk, aivi by that, down to the roots: but a hill round the flalk, 

 " tends to throw the water off to a greater diftance: and as to fup- 

 " porting the plants, they fay the hills do not effedl it; becaufe, by 

 " covering the Italks, in that part, from the air and fun, which would 

 " harden and ftrengthen them, the mould around them keeps theni 

 *' loft and tender, and thereby rather weakens them*. 



*' The panicles, or toffils, contain the farina fcecundans of the 

 " plants, and therefore iliould not be cut off, till the grain in the ear 

 " is filled. If the tofliJs of a whole field fhould be cut off before that 

 " time, there would be no grain at all in the ears. This has been 

 *^ proved by experiment. 



" In the more fouthern colonies, where hay is fcarce and the 

 *' leaves of this corn are very large, they cut them off for fodder : 

 " but in the northern colonies, where there is plenty of hay, and 

 " the leaves of the corn are imall, they generally negleft cutting off 

 " the toffils, and ff ripping off the leaves. Thefe are left on the ftalks„ 

 " and the cattle, being turned into the fields, after the corn is 

 " gathered in, eat what they like of them : but they are not efleemed 

 " fo good as what, has been cut in feafon. 



" An eaiy way of taking the grain out of the ears, is, to rub one 

 " againil another, holding one in each hand. 



•* When the ears are ftript of their hufics, they are reckoned in the 

 ,1f heft ffate for prelervation j much better thajl when the grain is 



* It muft be- of great ad\ antage to flrong quick growing plants, lilce Indian- corn, 

 to h.ivc a 1 j;.ie deep niouiJ to ^row in. We therefore tnink that the new hufbandry 

 muft be fingrlarly ufeful in the culture of it: for ftirring the ground with the cultivator, 

 or horfe-hoe, wil! keep it in a loofe ftate ; and M. de Chateau- vieux's cultivator with 

 mould boards, is very well adapted to raife the earth int4 hills about the plants, as it 

 goes acrofs the fi.cld, in the manner they hoe the ground ih their ufual way: and as this 

 cultivator leaves a large furrow in the middle between eacli hill, the farmer will thereby 

 bavC' an opportunity of loofening the earth to a great depth. 



fubbed 



