324 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



Under the head of practical agriculture we wish to in- 

 clude the modes of cultivating the farm crops; the charac- 

 ter and value of each species of grass, grain and root, which 

 are usually cultivated by our farmers. As these modes of 

 culture are derived from experience, an opportunity will be 

 afforded of testing the truth of many principles discussed in 

 the preceding chapters. This subject, however, must be 

 treated in a concise and general manner. We shall present 

 the views of practical farmers, and attempt to show their con- 

 sistency with scientific principles. Another topic under this 

 head will be the relation of farm stock to the cultivated crops, 

 a few suggestions upon which will close the chapter. 



Sect. 1. Cultivation of Grains. 



The following are the most important cultivated grains : 

 Indian corn, oats, barley, rye and wheat. 



I. Indian corn, or zea mais, is a native of this country, and 

 was unknown toEuropeans until after the discoveryof America. 

 In consequence of the different climates and soils in which it has 

 been cultivated for a long series of years, there have been pro- 

 duced several varieties, differing more in appearance and hab- 

 its than many distinct species of plants. We know how 

 some of these varieties are produced, and this may instruct 

 us in the selection of the seed, in order to improve any par- 

 ticular variety, or to obtain a new one. One mode of obtain- 

 ing varieties of corn, is by selecting the seed. Thus, for 

 example, a celebrated variety has been produced in the South- 

 ern and Western States, by selecting the first year the seed 

 from stalks which bore two ears, and taking the top ear to 

 plant. The second season there were some stalks of three 



