ON COMPARATIVE VALUE OF CROPS. 47 



fered. For this reason do we make these commentaries, in the hope 

 of drawing out this information. We feel that it is what the farmer 

 ought to know, and what, it is in his power to know, if he will but 

 take the requisite pains to acquire the knowledge. 



Indian Corn has long been a cherished and valued crop in New 

 England. No other crop has as yet been found, that will in all re- 

 spects fill its place. Others yielding a more bountiful harvest to the 

 acre, can be named ; but where is the farmer, relying on his own ex- 

 perience, who wants to have his oxen in good condition for the butch- 

 er's stall in the spring, who would be willing to trust them without 

 the use of a portion of Indian meal ? or where is the farmer who has 

 not found a few quarts of Indian meal to be beneficially distributed 

 to his cows, about the time of their lying in ? These are notions we 

 acquired when young, among old school farmers ; and, although we 

 have never gone into a nice calculation of the economy of growing 

 Indian Corn, we believe it will be a longtime before Yankee farmers 

 will be persuaded to abandon its cultivation. Certainly not, while 

 children love Johnny cakes as we used to love them. Our impres- 

 sions are, that a mixture of feed is preferable to any one kind ex- 

 clusively. English hay should be the basis, and Indian Corn the 

 first accompaniment. All the vegetables named may be advantage- 

 ously used, when combined with Indian meal. No stock can be fed, 

 in the most successful manner, without a fair portion of this indispen- 

 sable ingredient. It is to the animal, what steam power is to the 

 traveller, the most certain means of going ahead. 



Some farmers are of the opinion, that the fodder procured from 

 the corn field, "will nearly pay for the labor of growing and gathering 

 the crop. If this be so, and an average of fftij husliels to the acre 

 can be secured by fair manuring of the land, the farmer who culti- 

 vates ten acres of corn, will find it a very pretty appendage to his 

 crops, at the close of the harvest. 



Whatever may be the kind of food used for the feeding of cattle, 

 of this we feel confident, that it should not be sparingly used. Feed 

 full, or not at all is our motto. It is the worst possible economy to 

 scrimp the feed of cattle, or to attempt to impose upon them a kind 

 of food of ordinary or mean quality. How much time is annually- 

 wasted in gathering in the coarser grasses from the meadows and 

 forcing them down the gullets of animals, when their knees have 

 hardly strength sufficient to support their emaciated bodies. If such 



