ON INDIAN CORN. 73 



early planting and consequently early ripening gives an oppor- 

 tunity of laying down the same ground seasonably with winter 

 grain and clover, or which, where the first plantings fail, will af- 

 ford us the prospect of a crop, when the vacancies are not sup- 

 plied or the planting cannot take place, until after even the mid- 

 dle of June, certainly is a great object to farmers. 



The kind of land best suited for this crop, 1 am satisfied, is a 

 green sward, completely inverted, rolled, and so cultivated as 

 not during the whole season to disturb or break the sod, which 

 has been turned over. This is a point of great importance ; for 

 the decomposition of the vegetable matter in the ground, which 

 is eftectually secured in this way, but entirely lost by the com- 

 mon mode of cultivation, will greatly contribute to the nutriment 

 and vigor of the plant, supplying in fact an amount of manure 

 greatly beyond what any conjectures would have made it, had 

 not an exact experiment determined that in ordinary cases it 

 may be rated over twelve tons of vegetable matter to an acre. 



In the next place we protest against the practice of very deep 

 ploughing for this crop ; and that of burying the manure deeply 

 under the sod. The depth of ploughing may be in some mea- 

 sure regulated by the nature of the soil ; but three or four inches 

 in sward land may be regarded as ample ; and not so much as 

 this, where this would carry you below the vegetable mould. 

 All circumstances considered, I am satisfied that it is most eligi- 

 ble to spread the manure upon the surface, ploughing it in with 

 a very light plough or harrow ; and though something may be 

 lost in this way by evaporation, yet not so much as by burying it 

 under the sod ; and the land is left in much better condition for 

 the next crops where the manure is thus spread, than where it is 

 placed in the hill ; nor is the corn so likely to suffer from the 

 drought and the saving of labor is considerable. 

 - Of the after cultivation little need be said. Repeated stirring 

 of the ground with a harrow or cultivator is advisable ; but care 

 must be taken not to go so deep as to break the roots of the plant. 

 Weeds cannot be too completely kept down ; but hilling or half 

 hilling are utterly useless, either for the support of the corn or its 

 productiveness ; and high hilling is absolutely pernicious. 

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