ESSEX SOCIETY. 119 



tion, while growing, need not exceed five dollars. The corn 

 fodder, and what hay it will produce more, for the next four 

 years, will pay for the extra expense of planting and cultivating, 

 so that we shall have the one hundred bushels of ears of corn, 

 as gain of one method over the other. This method of reno- 

 vating old grass land, has many advantages over that of seed- 

 ing on the furrow. It pulverizes the soil better, and we have 

 a rotation of crops, in some measure ; as the corn roots decay, 

 they furnish food for the grass, and it is not so liable to be 

 winter-killed. There are hundreds of acres of land in this 

 county, not exactly pine plain land, which produce but little 

 hay, as they have usually been cultivated. When the manure 

 for corn is all put in the hill, and the grass seed is sown among 

 the grain the next year, it is either injured by the dry weather 

 of summer or the frost of winter, or else it is so poverty strick- 

 en that it does not grow. Such land will yield a good crop of 

 hay, if we apply a good dressing of well composted manure, 

 and sow the grass seed among the corn, the latter part of 

 July. 



If we wish to put a part of the manure in the hill, we should 

 furrow it deep, so that the manure may be below the surface. 

 This will keep the land level, and without any hills about the 

 corn. When the corn is harvested, the stalks should be cut 

 near the ground. The following spring, when the frost is out 

 about an inch on the surface, with a sharp hoe cut them off, 

 while the roots are held fast by the frost. As soon as the 

 ground is dry, so that it will not be injured by the cattle, it 

 should be rolled. It is much better mowing on a corn stubble 

 than it is on a grain stubble, for the old grain stubble injures 

 the edge of the scythe. 



When we sow the grass seed, it is well to count the rows ; 

 then we may know how much seed we have to sow in each 

 row ; then take one half of the seed, and go through the rows 

 one way ; then go the other way with the remainder. 



The cultivation of roots for feeding stock, is, by some wri- 

 ters, highly recommended ; but I think it not best for the farm- 

 ers of this county to depend so much upon roots, for their 

 stock, as English farmers do, who cannot raise corn. Our cat- 



