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It may not be improper to mention here that an enterprising 

 farmer in Hampshire county has practised laying down his 

 land to grass while in corn, sowing the grass seed among the 

 corn at the last hoeing. The corn serves to shade the young 

 plants of the grass against the summer's heat. The corn in 

 such cases was not hilled at all ; and the experiment has proved 

 eminently successful. 



Experiments have been made to test the advantages, if any, 

 of suckering corn ; that is, cutting or pulling off the suckers 

 from the plant, and the barren stalks. In respect to the suck- 

 ers, the experiments which have come to my knowledge, in a 

 form to be relied upon, have shown no advantage whatever, or 

 none which would compensate for the labor and for the injury 

 which the corn almost inevitably suffers from cutting the suck- 

 ers and carrying them out of the field. 



A very observing farmer in Groton, however, is of opinion, 

 after several years' experience, that great advantage is obtained 

 from suckering corn before it is in flower ; but after this, it is 

 unadvisable to sucker it. The cases which have come under 

 my observation have been, where the suckers were taken out 

 after the corn had flowered. The opinion of this farmer de- 

 serves much regard. 



One of the best cultivators of this crop in the State never 

 suffers the plant to be topped or suckered ; and when the corn 

 is ready to be harvested, the plant being entirely dead and dry, 

 he then gathers the corn in ears ; and afterwards cuts up the 

 plants at the bottom, puts them in bundles, and stows them 

 immediately away in his barn. He says the fodder is equally 

 well relished by, and equally nutritious to, his cattle as if the 

 stalks had been topped, or the whole cut up in a less ripe state 

 and dried in the shock. I cannot come so strongly to the same 

 conclusion ; but there is a considerable saving of labor in this 

 management, and his own experience speaks well for the 

 practice. 



2. Wheat is cultivated on a limited scale, and I have 

 the testimony of several respectable farmers in the county that 



