of milch cows through our severe droughts of summer, and
as an article for soiling cows kept in the stall. No dairy farmer will
neglect to sow an extent in proportion to the number of cows which he
keeps. The most common practice is, to sow in drills from two and a half
to three feet apart, on land well tilled and thoroughly manured, making
the drills from six to ten inches wide with the plough, manuring in the
furrow, dropping the kernels about two inches apart, and covering with
the hoe. In this mode of culture, the cultivator may be used between
the rows when the corn is from six to twelve inches high, and, unless
the ground is very weedy, no other after culture is needed. The first
sowing usually takes place about the middle of May, and this is
succeeded by other sowings, at intervals of a week or ten days, till
July, in order to have a succession of green fodder; but, if it is
designed to cut it up to cure for winter use, an early sowing is
generally preferred, in order to be able to cure it in warm weather, in
August or early in September. Sown in this way, about three or four
bushels of corn are required for an acre; since, if sown thickly, the
fodder is better, the stalks smaller, and the waste less.

The chief difficulty in curing corn cultivated for this purpose, and
after the methods just spoken of, arises from the fact that it comes at
a season when the weather is often colder, the days shorter, and the
dews heavier, than when the curing of hay takes place. Nor is the curing
of corn cut up green so easy and simple as that of the drying of stalks
of Indian corn cut above the ear, as in the common practice of topping.
The plant is then riper, less juicy, and cures more readily.

The method sometimes adopted is to cut and tie into small bundles, after
it is somewhat wilted, and then to stook upon the ground, where it is
allowed to stand, subject to all the changes of weather, with only the
protection of the stook itself. The stooks consist of bunches of stalks
first bound into small bundles, and are made sufficiently large to
prevent the wind from blowing them over. The arms are thrown around the
tops to bring them as closely together as possible, when the tops are
broken over or twisted together, or otherwise fastened, in order to
make the stook "shed the rain" as well as possible. In this condition
they remain out until they are sufficiently dried to be put in the barn.
Corn fodder is very excellent for youn