No- 133.] . 137 



view to profitable expenditure, attests tlie high appreciation there 

 placed npon this comparatively recent acquisition to the farming 

 interest; Our position, happily, is somewhat different, especially 

 in districts lately. opened to Agriculture, where but recently the 

 axe has been laid aside for the plow, and where the generous soil 

 so liberally gives forth its treasure. There we are aware that the 

 subject of manuring is not so important, but in the older districts, 

 superficial farming, in connection with the advanced prices of 

 lands, is found unprofitable ; to which we may chiefly trac3 the 

 intelligpnt enquiry that has within a few years past been directed 

 towards the improvement of the soil, by furnishing special ma- 

 nures to supply the missing constituents required by the respect- 

 ive crops. With the aid of chemistry, there is scarcely any soil 

 unworth}' of cultivation, or which, in my opinion, cannot by ju- 

 dicious treatment be profitably employed, and of which the capa- 

 bilities and deficiencies cannot be unmistakeably made known. 

 The requirements for Indian corn and all other crops, may, by 

 chemical aid, be supplied to all soils, and the results anticipated 

 with as great a degree of certainty as are the laws which govern 

 the science, which all admit are constant. 



Although the seed of Indian corn is the first object to be attained 

 by cultivation, it nevertheless possesses a high value in its capa- 

 city of furnishing from its foliage a large quantity of excellent 

 fodder, the value of wliich, however, greatly depends on the mode 

 of preserving it. If left standing on the field until late in the au- 

 tumn, most of that portion in which consists its chief value is lost ; 

 but if the tops are cut, and the leaves below^ the ears are stripped 

 off when their extremities are changing from green to yellow, 

 which does not occur until the grain is well glazed, they furnish 

 an excellent substitute for the best of hay. This mode of proce- 

 dure, we are aware, meets with opposition chiefly on the ground 

 that what is gained in fodder is lost in grain ; but having repeat- 

 edly practiced both modes with alternate rows, and finding no 

 established difference in the product, either by weight or measure, 

 have adopted the system of topping with the certainty of superior 

 fodder. I entertain the o])inion that when the grain is as far ad- 

 vanced, and as well glazed as it is when the extremities of the 

 tops indicate maturity, that the process of filling is accomplished, 



