t^ARMERS' REGISTER— CULTIVATING CORN. 



561 



the hoes, &c. you then, with (he same two-horse 

 ploughs, (the corn now being large enough to bear 

 the earth, being generally about two or three feet 

 high, and out of the way of cut worms and other in- 

 sects,) throw a good large furrow back to the corn on 

 each side, and nearly or quite lap up theearth on the 

 foot of the stalks, which saves a great deal of hoe 

 work. Your hoes follow the ploughs again, and 

 weed over the corn, and put a flat hill to it, and in 

 that way check the grass and weeds. 



After getting over the field in this way, the next 

 and last operation, is to throw another furrow witi 

 the two horse ploughs l_JVote 4,] from the centre of 

 the " balk" as it is called, to the corn on each side, 

 and this must be a large and deep furrow, so as to 

 reach as near the corn as possible, though it cannot 

 quite reach it. The hoes again follow the ploughs 

 and weed over the corn and put a large flat hill to 

 it, and kill the weeds and grass as well as possible, 

 and this is what is called ' laying by' the corn. 

 [^Note 5,] The corn is then generally ready to be- 

 gin to tassel and shoot, or is tasselling and shooting. 

 Sometimes it is necessary to run a skimmer up 

 and down the rows of corn, if it should be grassy 

 after the last ploughing and weeding, merely to 

 scrape out some of the grass, but this latter opera- 

 tion is not absolutely necessary for the crop of corn, 

 though it makes the sowing of wheat easier and 

 better in the fall. But it is very dangerous to 

 tam[)er with corn after it has begun to shoot and 

 tassel, unless you can have rain whenever you call 

 for it. I believe there has been more corn lost by 

 working too late, than by grass. 



You will remark, that by this mode of making 

 corn, each operation suits the age and size of the 

 corn. In the first process, (the siding down, &c.) 

 you run the ploughs very close to the corn when 

 it is young and the roots have not extended far, 

 so that you do not cut many of them : or if you 

 do, you do no injury to the corn while it is so 

 young. In the second operation, (the throwing 

 back the earth to the corn, &c.) you run the 

 ploughs further off, when the corn has attained 

 some size, and when it might be injured by cutting 

 the roots, if there should be verj' dry weather af- 

 terwards. In the third operation (the " laying by" 

 &c.) you run the ploughs still further off, when the 

 corn would be more apt to be injured by cutting 

 the roots, if you should have a drought afterwards. 



Although three times going over the corn with 

 the hoes, appears very often for a mode of making 

 corn which pretends to be the simplest and most 

 labor-saving, the fact is, where you have not wire 

 grass, or blue grass to contend with, the hoe work 

 in this mode of making corn is very quickly done, 

 and the three hoeings are not more than equal to 

 once and a half the times of hoeing over corn in 

 other modes of cultivation. For you will remark, 

 that in the first weeding, or ridging out, you have 

 only a very narrow slip, or ridge, not more than 

 six or eight inches wide to weed, which can be 

 done very fast. In the second weeding, the plough 

 has nearly done all the work, for the earth is nearly 

 lapped across the foot of the corn, so that it leaves 

 not much for the hoes to do; and in the third, and 

 last weeding, although the plough has left rather 

 more to weed, yet it is not more than a common 

 hoeing; but this is the " laying by," and the most 

 tedious of the three, as is to be expected. 



When the land has either blue grass or wire 

 grass, you must use the double shovel, [Note 6 J 



Vol. I.— 71 



or scarifier of some kind (the double shovel is the 

 best) frequently after every ploughing and hoeing, 

 and you must have a dry summer in addition to 

 all this too, to kill it; for wire grass, and blue 

 grass must never be covered up with the earth (if 

 you wish to kill them) and the double shovel, or 

 scarifier, prevents that by dragging the grass up 

 to the surface, so that the sun may kill it. 



There may be better ways of making corn than 

 this, with more labor; and by more tillage, you 

 also may have a cleaner field to sow wheat upon 

 in the fall : but, for the same amount of labor, I 

 repeat that in my opinion, this mode of cultivating 

 corn is the best. ii. c. 



Note 1.— Some persons break up theii' land 

 flush, and then cultivate it in the way I am about 

 to describe; but for flat land bedding is prefera- 

 ble, as it keeps the land drier in the winter, and 

 enables you to plant earlier in the sj)ring. 



Note 2. — Some persons plant nearer or further 

 according to the strength of the land, but three 

 feet from hill to hill is the most usual distance, and 

 then leave from two to three stalks in a hill, accord- 

 ing to the strength of land. 



Note 3. — Col. John Taylor certainly ouglit to 

 be considered the most useful man to the Virginia 

 agriculturist we have ever had^and is well entitled 

 to our gratitude ; for he was the first man in Virgi- 

 nia, who ever turned our attention to the subject of 

 improvement, by his success in agriculture, as well 

 as his writings on the subject. A part of his system, 

 however, did not suit hilly broken lands (and no 

 doubt was never intended by him, to be applied to 

 them, though it has been very injudiciously so 

 applied,) how-ever well adapted to flat lands the 

 north and south bedding may have proved. 



Note 4. — Some persons use the one horse plough 

 in each ploughing of the corn, and then they have 

 to run more furrows at each ploughing, but the 

 two horse plough is much preferable. 



Note 0. — It should .be observed, that although 

 the corn has been ploughed over three different 

 times, and very efficiently too, yet the land in fact 

 is only gone over entirely, once, which is the 

 greatest possible saving of plough labor, and a vast 

 saving of manure on the land manured for corn; 

 for the less frequently you turn up your manure, 

 in the cultivation of the corn to the hot summer's 

 suns, the less is lost by evaporation. 



I have said nothing about manuring, &c. for 

 corn here, because I set out with the view simply 

 of giving the mode of cultivating the crop as 

 practised in the great corn country of Virginia, 

 the Pamunky, where I think the mere cultivation 

 of it is very well understood. 



As I said before, this mode of cultivating corn 

 does not answer on very foul lands, such as wire 

 grass, or blue grass, or any other very stubborn 

 grass land, without the addition of some scarifier, 

 such as the double shovel, after each ploughing and 

 hoeing; but with this additional cultivation, it is 

 the best possible mode, even on the foulest land. 

 The Pamunky corn lands are generally clean lands. 

 Note 6. — The double shovel when well con- 

 structed, is one of the best scarifiers, and in fact, 

 one of the very best farming implements in the 

 world. It is the only plough, or utensil of any 

 kind, with which I coul I ever check blue grass or 

 wire grass. It goes tolerably deep, and yet does 

 not choke up much, and it keeps the grass near 



