On Corn, 47 



The year succeeding my crop of Indian corn, I tilled 

 the field I believe without any manure, and sowed it 

 with barley and clover seed. The product was very 

 great. A gentleman who had been an agriculturalist in 

 Great Britain, viewed the barley when it had just head- 

 ed, and told me that he had seen no field of barley in 

 England superior to it. The crop by its own weight, 

 and a heavy rain, fell, and by being badly lodged, was 

 diminished, yet it was very considerable. I did not mea-^ 

 sure it, but it was I believe about 40 bushels per acre. 

 The ground has been in grass ever since. 



This same year 1797, I planted another field with 

 Indian corn in my second method, viz. in rows of cus- 

 tomary width, three or four feet apart, and in hills two 

 con» in a hill, about eighteen inches apart. 



This was to reduce the labour by the assistance of 

 the corn harrow. This field was suckered three times 

 as in the preceding year. But the land itself was not so 

 good as the other field, nor had it been so richly manur- 

 ed. However, allowing for these disadvantages, the 

 produce was, I believe as great as in the preceding year. 

 But while the stalk was in full size, and in a full state 

 about the time of setting for ears, a heavy tempest pros- 

 trated the whole, as it did other fields planted in the 

 usual way. And although the crop was valuable, and 

 more than I had expected, yet it by no means equalled the 

 product of the former year. Yet I should say, that as 

 far as the crops progressed, without any uncommon 

 interruption, it was a good voucher for that particular 

 method of cultivating Indian corn. In the mode of cuJ- 

 tivating, especially my first mode of planting in squares 

 of two feet ; creeping under the plants on the ground^ 



