92 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[MARCH, 
If it is only a beginning- that is to be made 
this year—go straight for a crop of drilled corn. 
Hever mind about the oats and the clover. If 
you have got on until now on your ordinary 
pastures, you can make out for the first two 
months of one year more, and it is desirable 
that, as this is an experiment, it be made as con¬ 
vincing as possible. One may question, whether 
it pays to raise oats for green cutting, (though 
the question will be answered in the affirmative 
by any one who will give it a fair trial,—if he 
can command the necessary labor,) but no one, 
who has once raised a really good piece of drilled 
corn, and has marked its influence on his herd, 
can doubt that it does pay to raise corn for soiling. 
I don’t advise that any beginner go largely 
into the business,—probably few would be able 
to do so without making some change in their 
plans, which ought not to be made temporarily; 
—but any farmer can afford to devote half an 
acre to the trial. This should be manured as 
soon as possible, not later than the middle of 
March, the manure being thickly and evenly 
spread over the surface, and so left until at least 
one drenching rain has washed its soluble parts 
into the ground. If the land is in grass, nothing- 
more should be done to it until the middle of 
May,—especially, should not one blade of its 
grass be eaten off by pasturing animals;—but 
if it is fallow land, as soon as it becomes dry 
enough after one heavy rain has fallen on the 
manure, it should be thoroughly plowed, but 
not too deeply , and after a few days, rolled or 
harrowed (or both). It should be plowed and 
harrowed at least twice more before planting 
time,—which should not be earlier than May 
15, in the latitude of New York, or not until 
settled warm weather anywhere. The more 
frequently it is plowed, and the finer the soil is 
made, the better. 
The drills should run north and south rather 
than east and west, and they should be marked 
out about 8 feet apart. For seed, get the best 
“Southern 'White” corn, (half an acre needs 
two bushels), and sow it thickly in the rows, oc¬ 
cupying a width of two or three inches, and 
dropping not less than 25 to 80 kernels to the run¬ 
ning foot. If this docs not use up all of the seed, 
go over it again. It cannot be too thick in the 
drill. The thicker it stands, the finer the stalks 
will be, and the more completely it will be eaten. 
As soon as the corn is up, it must be cultivated 
and hoed clean, and the cultivator should be 
run through it once a week, as long as there is 
room for the whifile-tree between the rows. Af¬ 
ter that it may be laid by. As this is an experi¬ 
ment, let the crop stand until it begins to tassel 
out. It will then be about six feet high, and 
will completely occupy the ground.—Now take 
the cows from the pasture; tie them in well 
ventilated stables or in sheds; give them their 
liberty in the yard, two hours in the morning 
and two hours in the afternoon, when it does 
not rain; feeding them, five times a day, as 
much of the corn as they will cat up clean; and 
note the effect on the milk, and on the manure 
heap. If it don’t pay, don’t try it again; but 
don’t sow the corn broadcast, on poor land, and 
let the weeds choke it down, for I know that 
that will not pay. Fodder corn, needs rich 
ground, thorough and frequent cultivation, and 
ample sun and air;—without these, it will be a 
failure; with them, it will be the most profitable 
forage crop that can be grown. 
In saying that land for this crop must not be 
plowed too deeply, I have in mind a notable 
failure of my own, my last crop of corn (10 
acres) having been nearly ruined by too deep 
plowing. Tiie surface soil for a depth of four 
or five inches was good enough. After the 
draining of the field was finished in September, 
I gave it a very heavy dressing of manure 
from the cellar, and left it for the autumn rains 
to work upon. In November the land was 
broken up by a double team to a depth of eight 
inches—a subsoil plow following in the furrow. 
The subsoil that was brought to the top was a 
cold blue clay that had been water-logged for 
years, and it was beyond the power of one sea¬ 
son’s wintering to make it fertile. The conse¬ 
quence was, that the corn came up slowly, rip¬ 
ened slowly, and made less than half a crop, 
that was got in in bad order on account of its 
lateness. I am satisfied that if—with the liberal 
manuring I gave—I had plowed only four inch¬ 
es deep, my crop w r ould have been a good one. 
That the land will be better in the future for 
the deep plowing, I have no doubt, but if I had 
left the deepening till the next time of plowing, 
I would have saved an important crop, and 
probably another year’s action on the drained 
subsoil,—helped by the cultivation of the corn, 
—would have so changed its character that it 
might have been brought up without harm. 
When I say “ too deeply,” I mean bringing up 
so much of an unprepared subsoil, as to inter¬ 
fere with the growth of the current crop. Many 
soils cannot be plowed too deeply,—mine can; 
—and corn will surely suffer from being com¬ 
pelled to germinate and make its early growth 
in an uncongenial soil. It likes the abundant 
vegetable matter and the porous condition of 
the top-soil. It should have a chance to send its 
roots beyond the reach of drought, which may 
best be given by the use of a subsoil plow, that 
loosens the under soil without bringing it up. 
Horse Papers for Farmers.—Ho. 3. 
BT A SPECIAL CONTBIBUTOR. 
A good breeding mare, brought into good 
physical condition, and served by a thorough¬ 
bred stallion at a cost of from $25 to $100 for 
the service, is too valuable a piece of property 
to be allowed to shift for herself and take her 
chances in a disorderly farm stable;—neither 
should she be turned to pasture and allowed to 
pass the summer in the unprofitable labor of 
kicking away the flies. She is in the best con¬ 
dition for the performance of regular work, and 
will be far more benefited by it than by lying 
idle in the stable, or skylarking in the field. 
Moreover, she needs grooming and grain, which 
she should work to pay for. 
It should be remembered that we are now 
engaged in carrying out a definite plan which 
has for its object the production of a superior 
horse. The mare has been selected with care, 
and sent (at some expense) to a “four-miler,” 
and the young colt is already susceptible to our 
attentions and to our neglect. The foetus can 
get its development only from the dam. The 
influence of the sire is secured, and it -will make 
no difference to the foal what becomes of him ; 
the destiny of his progeny lies for the present 
solely with the mare. In proportion as she is 
well fed, well groomed, well exercised, well 
housed, and generally kept in a healthy condi¬ 
tion, will the foal thrive and become fitted for 
a life of usefulness. If she is starved, neglected, 
allowed to go dirty, or deprived of proper exer¬ 
cise, the foal will have all these disadvantages 
to overcome after he is born,—and it is doubtful 
whether ho will be able to entirely overcome 
tiiem, whether he will ever be so perfect an ani¬ 
mal as if he had had no drawback before birth. 
If it v r ere a question of a future race-horse, 
possibly the mare would have a groom detailed 
to her own especial care. She would be fed 
and watered by the clock, exercised with great 
care and with unvarying regularity, and made 
the object of the daily observation of a man 
skilled in the care of the race. All this would 
be too troublesome and too costly business for 
a farmer, and would make the colt too expensive. 
Fortunately it is not necessary. Such extra 
care may add the grain of strength and consti¬ 
tution that will enable the future race-horse to 
win his race “by a neck;” but much less than 
this will produce an animal good enough for the 
best service of the farmer. The infallible rule 
for the case under consideration is to keep the 
mare in the best possible condition for work; for 
the slate of health that this implies is that which 
will give us the best colt at a moderate cost. 
During the first eight months of pregnancy, 
nothing further will be required than to keep 
the mare in good condition for summer and au¬ 
tumn work. After this,—usually in the winter 
and earl}' spring when farmers are too apt to 
leave their horses idle and to give them onty 
dry hay in their stalls, some extra attention is 
desirable. Especially is it important to feed 
from four to eight quarts of grain daily, and to 
keep the mare in as regular exercise as the 
weather will allowx After this time (the eighth 
month) especial care should be taken to avoid 
loo hard work, or to allow any over-exertion. 
During the last four weeks the mare should be 
allowed free movement at all times, being allow¬ 
ed a box stall if possible, or being kept in a 
small enclosure, open only to the south or south¬ 
east. It will be especially injurious to keep her 
tied in an ordinary stall for days together with¬ 
out exercise. It would be better even, to give 
her light work up to the very day of foaling. 
In this operation she should be watched with¬ 
out being disturbed or annoyed by over atten¬ 
tion. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, 
nature, unaided, will be her best help; but in 
the case of a false presentation, or of difficult 
labor from any r cause, it may be necessary to 
call in professional assistance. In such cases, 
recourse should be had to a regular physician, 
rather than to the average “cow doctor” of a 
country neighborhood,—though the two togeth¬ 
er may be better than either one alone. 
After the colt is born, it and its mother should 
be left entirely to themselves for about six hours 
or over night. After this the mare should have 
a thin, ■warm, bran mash, and this should be re¬ 
peated daily for a week, unless the season is late 
enough for grass to be cut for her. For two 
days after foaling she had better be kept quietly'- 
in her box stall. After that time, the foal will 
be strong enough to take a little exercise, and 
they r may be turned into a small enclosure dur¬ 
ing the day-time, except in stormy weather. 
After the colt is a month old,—if the weather 
has become settled,—they may bG kept ia good 
pasture except while the mare is at work, then 
the colt should bedeept in the stall to prevent 
him from running. 
During the first two months the marc should 
be taken in to suckle him as often as once in 
three hours, and during the next three months 
he should not at any time go more than four or 
five hours without food. 
It will be best to wean the colt partly on oats, 
which he will soon learn to eat from the same 
box with his mother. And two quarts of oats 
per day, from weaning time until he is turned 
out to grass as a yearling, will tell throughout 
his whole life in his form, size, and vigor. 
