On Green or Fodder Crops. 
139 
" I am confident that maize should not be sown before the middle or end 
of May, as the slightest frost will cripple its <irowth, and a moderate amount 
of cold at niirlit will kill it when young. A friable loam seems best adapted 
for maize, and it no doubt requires a heavy dressing of farmyard-manure. It 
is not fit to use before the middle of August, and it lasts through a season of 
the year when fodder crops are often scarce, and at the best most unreliable. 
I am so well pleased with the result of my two years' trial that I shall 
certainly repeat it next summer, growing it after vetches cut green in the 
spring." 
I have been fortunate in obtaining a second good descriptive 
account of what may be done with the plant in England as a 
green-crop. It will be seen by the following that Mr. D. 
Sturdy, of Trigon, Wareham, Dorset, sows as late as July ; 
but, presumably, as he feeds-ofF the crop on the land with 
sheep, the stalks would neither get so stout nor grow so high as 
by earlier seeding. No doubt sheep would feed them all the 
closer to ground for this, but the defection in bulk of produce 
which would naturally result has to be taken into consideration, 
and there is a remedy when the stalks are too coarse and hard 
to be readily devoured, that of cutting them up by means of the 
chaff-cutter. Mr. Sturdy says : — 
" For nearly twenty years I have grown maize here, first in the garden as 
a vegetable, where it ripens perfectly, and also as a green-crop for sheep, and 
to cut for cows. It is only suitable for light or sandy soils. I began by 
sowing it 1 foot apavt in the drills, but it grows slowly at first, and requires 
much hoeing, or the weeds soon choke it ; so latterly I have drilled 3 bushels 
an acre, at 6 inches between the drills, and then it comes up thick enough 
to kill the weeds. I have sown it as early as May, but the best time with 
me to sow it for a green-crop is the last week in June or first in July. I have 
sown it in the middle of July, but that is rather late, and it is fit to fold 
about the middle of September. I have not, as a rule, applied any artificial 
manure. It seems to exhaust the ground, even where it is all fed off with 
sheep ; the succeeding corn-crop is generally poor. Green maize is exceedingly 
healthy stuff for lambs ; they never scour on it. Rooks are very fond of 
spoiling the crop after being seeded, and great trouble is occasioned to keep 
them off for nearly a month after the seed has been sown. Even if the seed 
be tarred, they will pull up the young plants when first making their appear- 
ance. I have grown both round and flat sorts, but prefer the European round. 
It ought to be tested before sowing, as much of the maize sold is either so 
old or has been so heated that it will not grow. The crop is very easily 
injured by frost, and ought to be all eaten off by early in October." 
Mr. Sturdy's statement that maize is " only suitable for light 
or sandy soils," is probably only intended to imply that it has 
not been found to answer on the heavier lands, of the character 
generally found in Dorset. It will be seen from Mr, Sewell 
Read's statement, given above, that he considers " a friable 
loam " best adapted for maize, after having received " a heavy 
dressing of farmyard-manure." In the United States, as well as 
in Italy and elsewhere on the Continent, heavy loams, if dry in 
character, are sure to yield abundant produce of maize ; and who 
