in 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
your land, plant tliem. Two seeds in every other 
hill and only in every other row will he enough. 
AETER CULTURE. 
As soon as the corn is fairly up, so as to show 
plainly in the rows, I commence going through it 
with the “• cultivator,” twice in each row, as near 
to the com as possible without disturbing it, re¬ 
planting any that is missed. If planted in rows both 
ways, I work it first one way, then across. I aim 
to keep down all weeds and grass all the time that 
the corn is growing, hoeing where it can not be 
reached with the cultivator and pulling the weeds 
by hand where necessary. When the corn gets 
about a foot high, or as soon as I can get through 
without covering it, I go over it once each way with 
a double shovel plow, twice in a row. Afterwards, 
use the cultivator as long as I can get through it 
without breaking the stalks, using a short whiffle- 
tree when it gets high. After it gets too high to 
take a horse through, I keep down all the weeds 
that appear with the hoc or by hand. 
ENEMIES. 
Blackbirds, crows and other birds are sometimes 
troublesome in taking up the seed, both before and 
after it comes up. This can be prevented to a 
great degree by preparing with gas tar, as directed. 
They also sometimes take a considerable quantity 
from the ears while it is standing; but, on the whole, 
they do the crop a great deal more good than harm 
by the immense quantity of worms which they de¬ 
stroy. Rats and mice destroy the corn in the shock 
and after it is stored If they can get at it. Mice also 
sometimes take the seed in the ground but not 
often, unless, as some say, they follow in the tracks 
of the moles. It is the opinion of some people that 
moles do not eat corn, but be that as it may, I have 
always found it missing when it came in their way. 
Cultivation interferes considerably with their ope¬ 
rations by breaking up their underground passages. 
When you replant, leave their tracks undisturbed 
and plant a little on one side. They will seldom 
go out of their way. (In replanting generally, do 
not break the ground any more than you can help.) 
Ants sometimes do the young corn great injury by 
making their hills around the stalks, especially af¬ 
ter it has been cut off by worms. A dose of ashes 
will drive most of them away. Scratching around 
the stalks also clears them out. The cut worm is 
a brown worm about three-fourths of an inch long 
when fully grown, but commencing its ravages 
when it can scarcely be seen. It cuts off the young 
shoots at the surface of the ground. It is most 
active in cool and cloudy weather, the hot sun driv¬ 
ing it into the ground. The corn generally grows 
out again and often docs not appear to sustain any 
permanent injury. Plowing in the Fall is a partial 
preventive, probably destroying the pupte or the 
eggs by exposing them to the cold. The most ef¬ 
fectual remedy would be to let alone those birds 
which eat the worms. “Heart worm” as it is 
called, affects corn in all varieties of soil. It is not 
settled whether this is caused by an insect or by 
some peculiar property of the soil. It is not a want 
of general fertility, for the same places bring good 
crops of other grain and of grass. Neither is it 
altogether attributed to wet ground, for I have 
sometimes seen it in very dry places. It is, how¬ 
ever, most common in stiff, cold clays. The corn 
'thus affected appears suddenly to stop growing, 
sometimes after making a very fine start. After a 
time, generally as it begins to ear, it falls partly 
down, the stalks falling away from each other. The 
ears on such Stalks are seldom well filled and do 
not ripen well. The roots have a blackened and 
blasted appearance, and some of the main ones are 
entirely destroyed. I have sometimes found a 
small red worm among the roots so effected; but 
whether that is the cause of the mischief or not, I 
am unable to say. The ground where corn is thus 
affected should be thoroughly drained, if at all wet, 
and the com kept growing strongly by a liberal 
application of manure. 
HARVESTING. 
If the corn is to be shocked on the ground, 
make the “horses” (four hills tied together for 
support,) as soon as the blossom is fairly off 
convenient size to make the shocks is six rc 
each way, making thirty six hills to the shock. 
The horse should be made of four hills, leaving foui 
rows each way between the “horses.” Take two 
, of the hills that are diagonally opposite and bend 
them together, crossing the tops. Lap the tops of 
one of the remaining hills once around the tops 
thus crossed, and gathering all together in an up¬ 
right position, lap the tops of the remaining hill 
around all and tuck in the ends to hold them fast. 
If the corn is drilled you will have to make the 
shocks in rows one way and estimate the distances 
the other. By making the horses early you have 
them secure in case the rest of the corn is blown 
down. Commence cutting as soon as the husk on 
the ears begins to die, or sooner if hard frosts are 
apprehended. If cut green, care should be taken 
to let all the buts touch the ground and to spread 
it evenly around the shock go as not to have too 
much in one place. The most common implement 
for cutting is a knife made of a piece of an old 
scythe about two feet long. Take hold of the tops 
with the left hand, or gather them in the arm and 
cut the hill with a stroke slanting from the ground 
upwards. Cut low enough to keep the ears off the 
ground, set up carefully, with an equal quantity on 
each side of the horse. The accompanying diagram 
will show how to cut a shock to the best advantage. 
Begin with the hill marked 1, and cut in succession, 
1, 2, 3, 4. Thus you will finish each armful at the 
shock and save much carrying. You also secure an 
equal quantity on each side of the horse, making 
two armfuls or eight hills to the side. This may 
seem too simple to mention, but most men slash 
away till they get as much as they can carry, often 
finishing as far as they can get from, the shock, 
and piling the stalks without system on which¬ 
ever side comes handiest. The shocks should be 
bouud by a band of rye straw or by a couple of 
stalks, first broken between the joints; after pas¬ 
sing them around as low down as you can make 
them reach, draw tightly together, wrap the tops 
around the buts and tuck 
©--©-© in , The stubs should be 
knocked off with a sharp 
strong hoe immediately 
IP after cutting the corn, as 
they cut much easier while 
green. The practice of 
6 f @ | ^ cutting off the tops and 
# ' A /l i i i blades, leaving the stalks 
©--© ©.© © with the ears on standing 
Fig. 2. till husking time, is not so 
customary here as it used 
to be, but is much more common at the South. 
Husking may commence as soon as the corn is 
ripe enough to keep, which, here, is generally about 
the middle of October. In husking a shock, we 
first cut off the horses, then pull the shock over, 
so as to make four shocks fall towards each other, 
throwing the corn into a heap between. The more 
care taken to spread out the shock evenly, the 
less time will be required to husk it, and the fewer 
ears will be left in the fodder. The best husking 
pegs are of iron with two holes to pass a strap 
through, which goes around the two middle fingers; 
the end a little bent to fit to the forefinger, and the 
point flattened and a little hooked. Leave the husk 
on the stalk and when the shock is husked tie up 
the fodder in bundles with bands of rye straw. In 
gathering up the bundles do not push the fodder 
together, but rather roll it; this makes a solid sheaf. 
We put the fodder from sixteen shocks of corn into 
one stook. A good husker will huskand tie up the 
fodder of from thirty to fifty shocks in a day. Se¬ 
lect the most perfect and best ripened ears for seed. 
These should be kept in a place where there is no 
danger of freezing; a very good place is on a> rack 
hung up in the kitchen or some other warm room; 
or the husks may be left on to hang them up by. 
I have had corn kept in this way, every grain of 
which grew, while that kept in a cold place dia not 
half come up. Pick out all the sound ears and 
put them in the cribs, keeping the nubbins or soft 
corn separate to be fed out first. If the weather be 
warm or the com not very dry, do not pile much of 
it together. We use cribs not more than five feet 
wide, and twelve feet high, the sides of strips just 
close enough together to prevent the ears from 
falling through, and the roofs so made as to be 
raised up on one side to allow the cribs to be packed 
full. There should be a door in the side or end of 
each for taking the corn out. To keep out rats and 
mice, set the cribs two feet above the ground, on 
posts firmly planted and topped with tin. 
The fodder may be kept, either iu the barn or in 
stacks. If put in a mow it should be very dry when 
taken in, or it will mold. Make the stacks of a 
little less in width than the length of two sheafs, 
about 12 feet high and as long as you please, lay¬ 
ing the tops together and keeping the middle full 
by an occasional extra course on top. Towards the 
top draw the sides in nearly to a peak; and top off 
by setting sheafs upright on each side and bending 
the tops together. 
The corn is shelled by machines run either by 
hand or horse power. It should not be shelled un¬ 
til wanted to sell or for use, as it keeps much better 
in the ear. If going to market, it is run through a 
fan mill after shelling to clean it from dust, pieces of 
cob, etc. It is sometimes sold in the ear, and then 
a double bushel is given, or seventy lbs.—fifty six be¬ 
ing the standard weight for a bushel of shelled corn. 
The proportion between the corn and cob varies 
much, however, in different varieties and stages of 
dryness and ripeness. The best time for selling is 
whenever it will bring a fair price. The best way 
of disposing of it is to feed it on the farm. Some 
of our best farmers will never allow an ear to go 
off their land, except in the shape of beef, mutt on, 
pork, poultry, butter, etc.—justly considering that 
they gain more in the manure than they loose in the 
price of the corn. 
Boussingault says, “This is the true wheat of the 
Americans,” and indeed it seems peculiarly adapted 
to our wants. Growing in all kinds of soil, and a 
wide range of climate, and furnishing food for man, 
and all kinds of domestic animals, it is almost im¬ 
possible for an American farmer to imagine how 
any people have ever done without it. It is certainly 
the most economical grain crop that can be raised. 
The yield is greatest both for the ground and the 
seed—sometimes producing a thousand fold , thus 
requiring but a very small proportion of the crop 
to be kept for seed. The stalks are of more value 
for fodder than the straw of any other grain and the 
cobs are worth a good deal for fuel. 
Cotton Cultivation. 
The impression that the culture of cotton is not 
understood at the North, should deter no one from 
at least experimenting with it. It may be raised 
precisely like corn, in drills, or with a single stalk 
in a hill, for it branches in all directions. Plant 
the upland, or furzy seed, on rich soil, as soon as 
danger of frost is over. The rows may be 4 feet 
apart, with seed 9 to 10 inches distant, removing 
half the plants if all vegetate. If seed is plenty, 
plant still closer to secure a good stand. Cover 
with fine soil one inch deep, and then treat the field 
as though it were corn, using the horse and hand- 
hoe to keep down weeds. As soon as the first 
bolls open, pick the cotton; and repeat the opera¬ 
tion at intervals as successive bolls ripen. Early 
frosts will very likely cut off a portion of the crop, 
but if the season is at all favorable, enough will 
mature, south of 40°, to pay for the trial. Besides, 
there is no doubt that persistent efforts, using the 
earliest matured seed of that grown at the North, 
will so acclimatize the plant that it may be grown 
in much higher latitudes than at present. The 
prospect now is, that the amount of cotton planted 
at the South this year, will be far below the usual 
quantity, so that northern grown cotton will prob¬ 
ably find a ready market. New or pretty rich soil, 
is best for the cotton plant. It is considered some¬ 
what exhausting to the soil — unless.keptup by ma¬ 
nuring. See our large prizes for specimens to be 
exhibited at the Agriculturist ofiice next Autumn, 
(February number, page 64. 
