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It is presumed that stirring the surface of the 

 earth until later in the season than is usual with 

 our farmers would hasten the maturity and increase 

 the quantity of our crops. I should confidently ex- 

 pect advantage from it up to the time when the corn 

 becomes full. I speak of stirring the surface ; and 

 I mark the word as emphatic. Two years ago when 

 thinning corn that was not more than six or eight in- 

 ches high, I accidentally drew out the root of one 

 stalk, that, upon measurement, was found to be twen- 

 ty inches long. Afterwards, by pulling with care, 

 roots much longer than I supposed that little corn 

 possessed, were drawn out from many hills. Subse- 

 quent observation has confirmed the belief that the 

 minute but important roots of our corn spread wide- 

 ly through the ground and that many of them lie 

 near its surface. It is hardly necessary to assert that 

 it is important to spare the roots of our growing- 

 plants. However minute they may be, the plant will 

 suffer from a loss of them. The practice of plough- 

 ing deep between the rows, and making a high hill 

 around the corn must sever many of these roots, and 

 lay the mass of them unnaturally deep in the earth. 

 Corn thus treated is placed at disadvantage. There 

 is no benefit whatever derived from making any hill. 

 I have taken pains the present year to go through 

 many fields, and notice the effect of every grade, 

 from the level surface to the high hill, and I find no 

 reason to think that the corn either grows better, or 

 stands better, for being hilled. In times of drought, 

 the level surface will longer supply the corn with 

 moisture, and will convey the rain, when it comes, 



