74 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Feb. 



and uninviting, with all the avenues from the barn- 

 yard prostrate. Nothing loth, the cattle had for- 

 saken its gloomy precinct, and were basking in the 

 sunshine on the south side of the dwelling-house — 

 one cow quietly chewing her cud with her nose 

 over the tlireshold of the front door ! All other 

 things about the premises were in excellent keep- 

 ing with this one point. While we wish the oc- 

 cupants much joy in their primitive possessions, 

 we cannot help believing that they do not take the 

 papers — or, at any rate, that they do not take the 

 New England Farmer ! 



For the. New En^iJand Farmer. 



FARMER'S FIRESID3E] TALK— TOP- 

 PING CORN. 



Well, as I was telling you, the other evening, 

 the man I spoke of had something to say about 

 top) ling corn, as well as hilling up. I do pretty 

 much as the way is here, — a few days before the 

 corn is ripe, I cut off the tops of the stalks, and 

 take them in for fodder ; then, in say a fortnight 

 or so, I gather the corn. After that, I cut the 

 bottom stalks fiir fodder. That is generally the 

 way about in this neighborhood. Some though 

 don't cut the bottom stalks but let them stand, and 

 in the spring cut them down with a plow, spHt- 

 ting the hills, as they call it, and then rake and 

 gather the stalks into the stable yard. 



He says ho has great doubts of the advantage of 

 this plan : and whether there is not more lost to 

 the grain than is gained in fodder. His idea about 

 that is something in this sort, if I can tell it right. 

 "In the first part of the season, in spring and till 

 about midsummer, the sap goes up or ascends, be- 

 ing drawn up by the roots, and it goes up to all 

 parts of the plant. In the latter part of summer 

 the sap goes down. The upward sap, he thinks, 

 forms the stem and leaves of the plant. This it 

 is wliicli gives it growth and expansion. When 

 the sap ceases to go up, it must be because the 

 roots cease to take it up from the earth. The 

 function performed by the roots in the early part 

 of the season is changed. They no longer take 

 up and convey sap to the stem and branches. The 

 descending sap now begins to pass down. The 

 leaves are now formed. The scientific writers up- 

 on the vegetable structure and economy tell us 

 f lat the sap that is taken up by the roots passes 

 into all parts of the plant, and lastly into the 

 leaves; — and that in its passagf through the leaves, 

 it ])ecames changed, and passes again through the 

 plant, a different fluid from that which passed up. 

 The change which is made in the leaf is likened 

 t ) the change which the blood of man undergoes 

 in passing through the lungs. The difference" in 

 fact, between the ascending and descending sap is 

 S3 great,^that there are plants whose sap in the 

 spring when ascending is agreeable and nutritious, 

 and is drank by the people of the country, but af- 

 ter midsummer, when descending, it is acrid, and 

 even deadly poisonous. The inhabitants of the 

 Canary islatids draw off and drink the ascending 

 sap of a species of Euphorbia, a native plant, 

 which is very pleasant while the descending sap is 

 very acrid, and much like the juice of common 

 spurge. Now it is this descending sap that gives 

 whatever is peculiar to any plant. It gives the in- 



dividuality, or particular property. If a tree has 

 a coloring matter, gum, starch, oil, tannin, or any 

 other peculiar product or property, it is commun- 

 icated by the descending sap. This forms theliruit. 

 It is the sap descending, passed down in the latter 

 part of the season, from the leaves, that forms the 

 corn, and gives to it its nourishing property. My 

 idea of the origin and formation of this new £ap is 

 a little diffei-ent from that of the writers ; or, rath- 

 er, I should state it differently. The leaves of 

 plants evaporate very rayiidly. Some plants evap- 

 orate their whole weight, and even more, in twen- 

 ty-four hours. And as the upward sap and down- 

 ward sap flow at different seasons, I am inclined 

 to think that the last is rather to be considered a 

 new matter, not merely resulting from a change 

 in the upward sap, by the function of the leaf, but 

 that the upward sap is wholly passed off by evap- 

 oration, and that then the action of the root ceas- 

 ing, that of the leaf begins, — and taking in oxy- 

 gen and other constituents of the air, the down- 

 ward sap is rather made anew in the leaf, from 

 these new materials, and then passed over the 

 plant. But I need not say anything about this, 

 because whichever it may be, the effect on the 

 plant is the same. It is the downward sap that 

 makes the corn, — and this downward sap is made 

 or qualified in the leaf, and cannot be in any oth- 

 er part, or by any other process. Now, therefore. 

 If you cut off tlie top with the leaves above the 

 ear, before the ear is ripe, you stop the growth of 

 tlie ear, at that point to which it has attained. 

 It grows no more. It had before ceased to dravT 

 anj' thing from the ground. And if lefrto stand 

 on the stalk a fortnight, it will gain nothing, either 

 in weight or nourishment, but will be exactly the 

 same as if gathered on the day it was topped. — 

 It may sweat or dry on the stalk, as it would in 

 the crib, or perhaps better ; but it gains nothing. 

 This has been proved by weighing. Mr. Testall, 

 my neighbor, weighed some of his corn that had 

 been thus topped, and the same quantity on the 

 same Seld that had not been topped, and found 

 the grain of the topped stalks to be three bushels 

 less in measure to the acre, than that which had 

 not been topped, and the bushel four pounds less 

 in weight, making over another three bushels to 

 the acre. If this is correct, the gain in estovers is 

 just balanced by the loss in the grain — and, of 

 course, whatever the stalk is worth as a restorer of 

 the soil, is the true loss by topping. 



By thus weighing the topped and the un topped 

 corn, an estimate by approximation may be made 

 of the advantage or loss by the process of topping. 

 And this is the question. 



Mr. Brooks, of Princeton, Worcester county, in 

 a statement made in the New Enghmd Farmer, 

 Dec, 1851, apparently made with knowledge and 

 care, puts the average for a crop of corn in this 

 State at 40 bushels, the value 80 cents, worth of 

 estovei's seven dollars the acre. One, at least, or 

 perhaps two dollars additional cost is incurred in 

 cutting the stalk or topping and binding, per acre. 

 This would make the value of the tops live or at 

 most six dollars to the acre for fodder. Six bush- 

 els of corn more to the acre, at 80 cents, would be 

 $5.00 less 20 cents. If, by leaving the corn un- 

 topped, you gain so much corn, then there will be 

 no advantage in topping. But if the increase of 

 the corn is only a small part of this ratio, or sup- 

 pose, even, it is nothing, is there not as much 



