CORN.
This is the most valuable of all American products of the soil, not excepting wheat or cotton. It is used for human food all over the world. And there is no domestic animal or fowl, whose habits require grain, whether whole or ground, that is not fond of it. It is easily raised, and is a sure and abundant crop, in all latitudes south of forty-six degrees north. The varieties are few, and principally local. The soil can not be made too rich for corn. It should be planted in rows each way, to allow cultivating both ways with a horse. The distance of rows apart has been a subject of some differences of opinion; there is a disposition to crowd it too near together. In western New York, where much attention has been given to it, the usual distance is three and one half feet each way; others plant four feet apart. On all land we have ever seen, we believe four feet apart each way, with four or five stalks in a hill, will produce the largest yield. It lets in the sun sufficiently around every hill, and the proportion of ears to the stalks will be larger than in any other distance. Planting with a span of horses, and a planter on which a man can ride and plant two rows at once, is the easiest and most expeditious. We can not too strongly recommend harrowing corn as soon as it comes out of the ground. It increases the crop, and saves much expense in cultivating. All planters should know that Indian corn is one of those plants which will come to maturity at a certain age, whether it be large or small; hence, anything that will increase the growth while young will add to the product. Corn neglected when small receives, thereby, an injury from which it will never recover; after-hoeing may help it, but never can fully restore it. If there are small weeds, the harrowing will destroy them, and give all the strength of the soil to the young corn; if there are no weeds, the effect of the harrowing will be to give the young plants twice as large a growth in the first two weeks as they would make without it. Harrow with a V drag, with the front tooth out, that the remaining teeth may go each side of the row. Use two horses, allowing the row to stand between them; let the harrow-teeth run as near the corn as possible. Never plant corn until the soil has become warm enough to make it come up quickly and grow rapidly. If you feed corn to cattle whole, feed it with the husks on, as it will compel them to chew it better, and will thus be a great saving. Crib corn only when very dry, and avoid the Western and Southern method of leaving cribs uncovered; the corn thus becomes less valuable for any use. A little plaster or wood-ashes applied to corn on first coming up, and again when six inches high, will abundantly repay cost and labor;—it will pay even on the prairie-lands of the West, and is quite essential on the poorer soils of the East and North. It had better never be neglected. The crop will weigh more to the acre, by allowing it to stand as it grew, until thoroughly dry. The next larger crop is when the stalks are cut off above the ear (called topping) after it has become glazed. Still a little less will be the product when it is cut up at the ground, while the leaves are yet quite green. The two latter methods are adapted for the purpose of saving fodder in good condition for cattle. Intelligent farmers regard the fodder of much more value than the decrease in the weight of the grain. Corn thus cut up, and fed without husking, is the best possible way for winter-fattening cattle on a large scale, and where corn is abundant. To save the whole, swine should follow the cattle, changing yards once a week.
Seed-corn should be gathered from the first ripe large ears before frost, and while the general crop is yet green. Select ears above the average size, that are well filled out to the end, and your corn will improve from year to year. Take your seed indiscriminately from the crib at planting-time, and your corn will deteriorate. The largest and best ears ripen neither first nor last; hence, select the largest ears before all is ripe, and reject the small earliest ears. Soaking seed twenty-four hours, and then rolling in plaster before planting, is recommended; it is conveniently practised only where you plant by hand. Soaking without rolling in plaster is good, if you plant in a wet time; but if in a dry time, it is absolutely injurious. Once in a while there occurs quite a general failure of seed-corn to come up. Farmers say that their corn looks as fair as ever, but does not vegetate well. When this is general, there is a remedy that every farmer can successfully apply. The difficulty is not (as we have often heard asserted) from the intense cold of the winter: it is sometimes the result of cold, wet weather after planting. But we do not believe that such would be the effect, with good seed, on properly-prepared land. The difficulty is, the fall was very wet, and the seed was allowed to stand out and get thoroughly soaked; when it was gathered it was damp, and the intense cold of winter destroyed its vitality, without injuring its appearance. There is no degree of cold, in a latitude where corn will grow, that will injure the seed, if it be gathered dry and kept so. Our rules for saving seed, given above, will always remedy this evil. This is, perhaps, the most profitable of all green crops for soiling cattle. Sown on clean, mellow land, it will produce an enormous weight of good green fodder, suitable for summer and early fall feeding of cows, just at a time when dry weather has nearly destroyed their pastures. Corn-fodder, well cured, is better for milch-cows than the best of hay. Cut fine and mixed with ground feed, it is excellent for cattle and horses. It is best preserved in small stacks or large shocks, that will perfectly dry through. The tops and leaves, removed while green, are very fine.