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.