112 AMERICAN HUSBANDRY. 



long manure if it bo spread and buried with the 

 plough ; nor are its fertilizing properties so much 

 impaired in using it for corn, potatoes, and ruta- 

 baga in this way, as they are by the system of sum- 

 mer-yarding it, so generally adopted in some coun- 

 ties west of Albany. 



The remarks which we have made upon Indian 

 corn, tending to show that the product depends es- 



itiully upon the quantity of food which it finds in 

 '>i| JJUE its subsistence, applies, with greater or 

 l^jjjJJKeTKffHlJarm-crops. The economy of man- 

 / dg^pWlt cfppeglds K upon the judgment of the farmer 

 inT adttyvtifig- thej/ood, both as regards quality and 

 quantify, je.ihe wants of the particular crop. But 

 let uS'noTbeimsapprehended on one point: unfer- 

 mented 'dtnig should not be used for the small grain 

 or ojther crops .which ripen at midsummer, until it 

 has be'e'h first prepared and fitted for them by the 

 autuniit-fipening^crops, as corn, potatoes, ruta-baga, 

 &c. , These latter subsist principally upon the gase- 

 ous and volatile portions of the manure, which are 

 first disengaged from the mass in the process of fer- 

 mentation, and which are rather deleterious to the 

 former at the season when they are maturing their 

 seeds. 



Another criterion which some farmers consider 

 as essential to a good variety, is smallness of cob. 

 So far as this conduces to the early and perfect dry- 

 ing of the grain, it is entitled to weight, but no far- 

 ther. The objection to a large cob was answered 

 by a gentleman by asking the objector whether it 

 required most cloth to make him or his son a vest, 

 pointing to a boy standing by his side. The circum- 

 ference of a cob two inches "in diameter will contain 

 double the quantity of grain that a cob of one inch 

 in diameter will. 



There is no doubt but the habits of corn change 

 with change of climate ; or, in other words, that the 

 4warf Northern varieties, when taken to the South, 



