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sweet sorts, Avliile it is tender and sweet the few days it re- 

 mains in the milk. Its extreme earliness gives it rakic as a 

 iield corn in Northern hititndes. The small early varieties of 

 field corn are not sufficiently appreciated. If their habits of 

 gi'owth are fully studied so that the proper distance apart and 

 between the drills is learned, it will he found that most of 

 them Avill give as great a crop by the acre as the most prolific 

 large sorts, while the great merit of earliness is all on their 

 side. I have known one of these small varieties yield one 

 hundred bushels of shelled corn to the acre ; yet if planted at 

 the same distance as the ordinar}^ sorts, probably the yield 

 would have been little over half that quantity. In a country 

 having so great a variety of soil and climate as ours, the early 

 small sorts of field corn are not fully appreciated. In seasons 

 when the cold, wet Springs bring planting into June, they are 

 safe, and in seasons or sections Avliere frosts close vegetable 

 growth by the middle of September, they are safe from harm. 



The drill system is the system for high cultivation and large 

 crops, not only with corn, but with potatoes. By no other 

 mode of cultivation can each stalk have its equal proportion of 

 the soil. There are two difficulties in the way of carrying out 

 the drill system ; I am unable to find in any of the agricultu- 

 ral stores of Boston any machine that will drop corn in the 

 drill ; the small seed drills Avorked by hand are of no value ex- 

 cept on ground exceptionally light and well pulverized. On 

 ground to any degree heavy too much strength is required to 

 get the requisite depth, and when this is attained, the earth 

 being somewhat coarse, is pushed forAvard by the covering ap- 

 paratus. Another practical difficulty is that of having the 

 stalks thinned out to the right distance. In one sense this 

 tiould easily be done, but I find that in actual practice it is apt 

 to be delayed so late that injury is done to the crop, and at 

 times overlooked altogether. 



Some years ago I cultivated a variety of corn procured from 

 the Sioux Indians, that surpassed all other kinds in earliness. 

 It Avas of the starch class, the ears Avere very small and thick ; 



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