Agriculture is the most healthy , the most useful , and the most noble employment of man .— Washington. 
VOL. VII. 
NEW YORK, AUGUST, 1848. 
NO. VIII. 
A. B. Allen, Editor. 
C. M. Saxton, Publisher, 
205 Broadway. 
TOPPING CORN. 
It has long been a mooted question, whether 
topping Indian corn (that is, cutting off the stalks 
between the ears and the first joints above the ears), 
a few days before the kernels are fairly glazed, has 
a tendency to increase or diminish the yield. Mr. 
J. Ely, whose opinion on topics connected with 
practical agriculture is deserving of the highest 
respect, arrived at the conclusion, from several ex¬ 
periments made by him, on a limited scale, and 
detailed in Buel’s “ Farmer’s Instructor,” that 
“ about twenty per cent., or one fifth part of the crop, 
ts destroyed by cutting the stalks in the way they are 
usually cut.' 1 ' 1 Experiments have since been made 
by others, though limited in extent, which have 
been attended with opposite and variable results, 
yielding in some instances more, where the stalks 
had been cut, in others less, while in a few, the 
yield was essentially the same. 
As this is a subject of vast moment to the 
farmers of a large portion of the United States, it 
is highly important that the question should be de¬ 
cided by several well-tried experiments on an ex¬ 
tended scale. Let a whole field, of one or more 
acres be taken, of uniform management and growth. 
Cut the stalks from half the hills, beginning at one 
end of the first row, cutting the first hill, then 
leave the next uncut, and thus proceed, alternately, 
cutting one, and leaving one, throughout the field. 
As soon as the half from which the stalks have 
been cut is sufficiently ripe, let the ears be harvested 
husked, weighed, carefully noted, and stored away 
to dry. Then, in a like manner, as soon as the 
other half of the field of uncut stalks has arrived 
at an equal degree of ripeness, let the ears be har¬ 
vested. husked, weighed, and dried, in a separate 
parcel, in all respects the same as those from which 
the stalks were cut. Then, early in winter, let the 
two parcels be carefully shelled, measured, and re¬ 
weighed, both before and after shelling, and the 
results will be a fair test of the comparative merits 
of the two methods. 
In the same field of corn, also measure off one or 
more acres, cut the stalks alternately, as directed 
above, from one half of the hills, and leave the 
other half until the grain has become glazed, or 
hard, on the outside. Next cut up, close to the 
surface of the ground, the half from which the stalks 
have not been cut, and put it immediately into 
“ stooks,” or “ shocksand, as soon as it is suffi¬ 
ciently dried, separate the ears from the husks, 
weigh them, and store them in the crib. As soon 
as the other half, from which the stalks have been 
cut, is well matured, let it be harvested, husked, 
weighed, and stored in the crib for drying. Then, 
early in winter, let the two parcels be shelled, 
measured, re-weighed, and compared as above. 
IMPROVEMENT OF EAST-JERSEY LANDS BY 
GREEN-SAND MARL. 
It may not be known to all our readers that 
there exists along the Atlantic coast a mineral fer¬ 
tilizer commonly called “green marl,” which has 
been of immense service in restoring to productive¬ 
ness meagre, or worn-out lands. The stratum, in 
which this substance abounds, as the principal in¬ 
gredient, commences, as far as known, in New 
Jersey, at the base of the Highlands of Nevesink, 
near Sandy Hook, and along the sea shore from a 
little north of Long Branch to Shark Inlet, thence 
ranging south-westward, in a wide belt, through 
Shrewsbury, Marlborough, Squankum, and other 
towns in Monmouth county, gradually contracting 
as it runs parallel with the Delaware River, at a 
distance of a few miles, to Salem. It is then pro¬ 
longed across the state of Delaware, in a narrow 
strip, into the easterly part of Maryland, where it 
disappears under the overlapping formations. It 
