200 MASSACHUSETTS AGRICULTURE. 



at tlie second dressing let the cultivator run on the top of the 

 ridge, which will partially level it ; and again, at the third 

 hoeing, when the surface will be smooth enough for a scythe to 

 pass over it. Some have recommended sowing grass at the 

 third hoeing, to avoid the exhausting influences of a white crop 

 on the land, and in this view it would be unquestionably useful • 

 but in experience, it is found difficult to sow grass seed evenly 

 among corn, and difficult to cut the corn so near the ground 

 that there will be no interruption from the butts in mowing the 

 next year. Three dressings are regarded as sufficient for corn. 

 In many fields it is left with only two, and the last of these 

 performed in a hurried manner. The pressure of other busi- 

 ness often drives farmers too early from the cornfields, to the 

 great injury of the crops. The oftener the surface soil is stirred, 

 the more healthy and vigorous will the corn plants be. If 

 concentrated manure is used to increase the crop, it will prove 

 most efficacious in application just before the last dressing of 

 the corn. The most active operation of it will then take place, 

 when the corn plants require the greatest amount of food. The 

 cost of this kind of manure, the labor of applying it, and its 

 transient influence on the soil, are subjects which farmers 

 should deliberately consider, and well understand, before they 

 subject tliemselves to much outlay in the purchase and use of 

 guano, phosphates, or poudrette. The leading qualities of all 

 these articles can be approached in composting manure on the 

 farm, and what the farmer has himself manufactured he can 

 employ witli more certainty of success than any foreign 

 materials, the composition of which is concealed from his view. 



After the dressings, corn should remain undisturbed till har- 

 vest, if we wish to secure the greatest amount of well-ripened 

 corn. 



In certain seasons, however, tliere will be great loss on the 

 fodder to let all remain till perfcc'tly dry ; the gain in the 

 weight of the corn may not be a compensation for the injury 

 to the fodder by rains and winds. Tlie ancient practice of 

 cutting off the top stalks about the middle of September, and 

 feeding them out immediately to the cattle, or curing them for 

 winter use, under certain circumstances, may properly be con- 

 tinued. We should be careful not to begin the work too early. 



