IND 



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223 



product, and operation on the 

 earth, we must contrast farinaceous 

 crops with each other; and con- 

 sider the htter or oflfal they pro- 

 duce, not as wasted, but as judi- 

 ciously applied to the compensa- 

 tion of the land. At the threshold 

 of the comparison, corn exhibits a 

 return from the same land of more 

 offal, or litter in its stalks alone, 

 than wheat does altogether. But 

 to the stalks of corn its blades, 

 tops, husks and cobs remain to be 

 added, each of which will nearly 

 balance the litter bestowed on the 

 land by wheat. " The author con- 

 cludes his encomium upon Indian 

 corn, with observing, that " as a 

 fallow crop it is unrivalled, if, as 

 fallow crops aught constantly to do, 

 it receives the manure.''' 



" Arthur Young, who has given 

 such an impetus to rural economy, 

 and to root culture particularly, in 

 Great Britain ; in his travels through 

 France in 1789, makes the follow- 

 ing remarks. " The line of maize 

 (corn) may be said to be the divi- 

 sion between the good husbandry 

 of the south, and the bad husban- 

 dry of the north of the kingdom, 

 till you meet with maize very rich 

 soils are fallowed, but never after ; 

 perhaps it is the most important 

 plant that can be introduced into 

 the agriculture of any country, 

 whose climate will suit it. The 

 only good husbandry in the king- 

 dom, (some small rich districts ex- 

 cepted,) arises from the possession 

 and management of this plant. For 

 the inhabitants of a country to live 

 upon that plant, which is the pre- 

 paration for wheat, and at the same 

 time ke€p their cattle fat upon the 



leaves of it, is to possess a treasure, 

 for which ihey are indebted to 

 their climate." " Planted in 

 squares or rows, so far asunder, 

 that all imaginable tillage may be 

 given between them ; and the 

 ground thus cleaned and prepared 

 at the will of the farmer, is an in- 

 valuable circumstance ; and finally 

 it is succeeded by wheat. Thus a 

 country, where soil and climate 

 admit the course of, 1st maize, 2nd, 

 wheat, is under a cultivation that, 

 perhaps, yields the most food for 

 man and beast, that is possible to 

 be drawn from the land." 



" The perfect culture and copi- 

 ous manuring demanded by corn. 

 " Mr. Pomeroy maintains, instead 

 of being an objection to the culti- 

 vation is an argument in its favour; 

 and he contends " that should In- 

 dian corn be made the basis of an 

 extensive rotation system, with a 

 pointed attention to the manures, 

 which it has the capacity to in- 

 crease in a compound ratio, the 

 agriculture of Massachusetts may 

 not only approximate to that of 

 Great Britain, but with the en- 

 ergies such a system might be ex- 

 pected to elicit, equal it." 



In speaking of his method of cul- 

 tivating corn Mr. Pomeroy says, 

 " Having a large bed of Beets 

 planted in narrow rows or drills, in 

 the usual way, and a severe drought 

 ensuing, the leaves were observed, 

 in the middle of the day to wilt and 

 fall down, in all but the out-side 

 rows, which remained erect and 

 flourishing ; and when the crop 

 was taken up were nearly double 

 the size of those from the centre 

 of the bed ! That a greater expos- 



