SECRETARY'S REPORT. 85 



inches wide, with the plough, manuring in the furrow, dropping 

 the corn about two inches apart, and covering with the hoe. 

 In this mode of culture the cultivator may be used between the 

 rows when the corn is from six to twelve inches high, and unless 

 the ground is very weedy no other after culture is generally 

 needed. The first sowing usually takes place about the 20th of 

 May, and this is succeeded by other sowings at intervals of a 

 week or ten days, till July, in order to have a succession of 

 green fodder. But if it is designed to cut it up to cure for win- 

 ter use, an early sowing is generally preferred, in order to be 

 able to cure it in warm weather, in August or early in Septem- 

 ber. Sown in this way, about three or four bushels of corn are 

 required for an acre, since if sown thickly, the fodder is better, 

 the stalks smaller, and the waste less. 



The chief difficulty in curing corn cultivated for this purpose 

 and after the methods spoken of, arises mainly from the fact 

 that it comes at a season when the weather is often colder, the 

 days shorter, and the dews heavier than when the curing of hay 

 takes place. Nor is the curing of corn, cut up green, so easy 

 and simple as that of drying the stalks of Indian corn cut above 

 the ear, as in our common practice of topping, since then the 

 plant is riper, less juicy, and cures more readily. The method 

 sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small bundles, after it 

 is somewhat wilted, and stook upon the ground, where it is 

 allowed to stand, subject to all the changes of the weather, with 

 only the protection of the stook itself. The stooks consist of 

 bunches of stalks first bound in small bundles, and are made 

 sufficiently large to prevent the wind from blowing them over. 

 The arms are thrown around the tops to bring them together as 

 closely as possible, when the tops are broken over or twisted 

 together, or otherwise fastened in order to make the stook 

 " shed the rain " as well as possible. In this condition they 

 stand out till sufficiently dried to put into the barn. 



But Indian corn stocked in this way often becomes musty or 

 covered with dust, while the rains often soak it thoroughly and 

 wash out much of its soluble matter, and its nutritive value is 

 in a great measure lost. Besides, every one knows that to cut 

 up a green plant, as a willow or any other thriftily growing 

 plant or shrub, and set it up with the cut end resting upon the 

 ground where it can still derive moisture from the soil, will 



