TOPPING CORN AND STRIPPING OFF ITS LEAVES. 
275 
porpose, round turnips should be sown more 
abundantly such a season than any other, as 
they serve well to save hay, particularly for a 
flock of sheep, until well into the winter. Above 
all things, if you have sheep, and are short of 
hay, do not neglect to sow a broad belt of rye, 
or wheat. This serves for fall, winter and 
spring feed, and perhaps is one of the best things 
you can possibly substitute for hay. 
Another good substitute will be found in the 
somewhat neglected and often despised buck¬ 
wheat. If cut as soon as some of the earliest 
seeds are ripe, and well cured, it makes an ex¬ 
cellent substitute for hay, and all kinds of stock 
are very fond of it. The greatest objection to 
buckwheat, is, that it is an exhausting crop upon 
the land. But in our opinion, it is better to ex¬ 
haust the land than it is to exhaust the cattle 
for want of sufficient nourishment. The great¬ 
est objection to buckwheat, as a substitute for 
hay, is, the difficulty and labor of curing it, but 
even this is better than curing hides on the fence, 
in the spring. 
In some parts of the south, chess, or cheat, 
(bromus,) has been used as a substitute for hay 
or fodder, but we do not think it half so good a 
crop as grass and cow-pea vines, which cer¬ 
tainly make a most excellent nutritious winter 
feed for horses, mules, and cattle. 
Sheep need but little feeding where the pea 
vine grows luxuriantly. 
topping corn and stripping off its leaves. 
Having seen a wish expressed, at p. 182 in the 
eighth volume of the Agriculturist, that some of 
the fodder-pulling farmers would carefully try 
the experiment, and determine whether stripping 
off* the leaves injures the product of the corn, 
I give the result of my experience on the subject. 
Although I never have made the experiment by 
weight nor measure, but by observation, and 
from topping and pulling the blades, and by cut¬ 
ting it up by the ground, I greatly prefer the 
former practice, which, if done at the proper 
time, will not injure the quality nor lessen the 
quantity of the corn. 
A neighbor of mine cut up a part of his crop, 
by the ground, and I topped and stripped mine. 
My corn weighed 58 lbs. per bushel, while his 
weighed only 53 lbs. His corn was equally as 
ripe as mine, when the topping and cutting 
were performed, and of the same kind. We 
both sold for 50 cents per 56 lbs. 
I would not have my corn cut up by the 
ground, if a man would do it for nothing and 
board himself. First, because it is a lazy man’s 
plan, and a quick way to get down fodder, 
but double the work to secure it; and then it is 
worth but little or nothing, after it is secured. It 
must stand out until it is so weatherbeaten that 
there is only a little of the inside of the shocks 
that is fit for fodder. 
Secondly, because it is almost impossible to 
keep the shocks standing upright, as the weight 
of the corn causes them to lean over, and 
heavy winds are sure to blow them down. 
Thirdly, because in shucking the corn, a great 
many of the husks break off'and are blown away. 
Fourthly, because if you have not barn room 
to house the fodder, it is almost impossible to 
stack it so that it will keep. 
Fifthly, because the corn is not worth one 
fourth so much as it would have been, if it had 
been topped, stripped of the husks, and put into 
the barn in dry weather. 
I will now tell you when to top and strip your 
corn so as not to injure the grain, and how to 
do it so as to have good fodder, that will not be 
grinned at by old cows that have got no upper 
teeth. When the husks of the corn begin to 
turn of a yellowish color, and loosen up from 
the ear, and some of the lower blades begin to 
turn brown and the tassels of the most forward 
stalks also die, try the grain with your thumb 
nail, and if no milk shows itself, and the grain 
appears hard and glazed, you can muster all 
hands and go to cutting tops and pulling blades, 
which do in the following manner :— 
Give to every third hand a good sharp shoe 
knife; tell him to cut the tops at the smooth 
joint just above the ear, and take two rows; 
throw four rows together flat on the ground; 
let them lie only one day; that is, tie up every 
day just before night, in bundles as large as a 
band made of two of the tops will tie conveni¬ 
ently ; set three or four bunches together, around 
a hill of corn and tie all together by another 
band around the tassels. The other two hands, 
(boys suit best,) may pull off the blades from the 
ear downward, taking a row each, and should 
keep up with the toppers. They may stick the 
blades into the rows from the tops; that is, in two 
rows and then leave two, letting them remain 
in the hill two days, if the weather is fair, and 
then tie up in bundles, haul to the barnyard, 
or place of stacking. Give them two days of 
sun in the bundle; then stack or mow away. 
On rainy days, when the fodder is curing, throw 
the blades into the barn, or stack them up every 
night; or let your tops stand in the field two or 
three weeks, until by twisting the stalks, no sap 
will ooze out; then stack up or put into the barn, 
as suits you best. J. G. C. 
Black-Swamp Farm, Kent Co., Del., 1850. 
RESULTS FROM SUBSOIL PLOWING. 
Mr. Jacques, of Rahway, New Jersey, speak¬ 
ing of subsoiling says: On acres of shelly 
land, he raised 530 bushels of corn, which was 
a much greater yield than he anticipated, tak¬ 
ing the season, soil, and all into account. 
The ground was prepared by plowing about 
four inches deep with a surface plow, which 
was as deep as the implement could be made to 
go, owing to the compactness of a shelly subsoil. 
The subsoil plow followed immediately after, 
loosening the earth some twelve inches deeper. 
Had he not made use of the subsoil plow, he 
thinks his crop would have proved a failure, as 
the roots could not have penetrated the subsoil, 
and consequently would have perished by the 
severe drouth. J. B. 
Companions of Civilisation.— Crows, swallows, 
henhawks, foxes, rats, cockroaches, bedbugs, 
and some other bugs. 
