Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1878-04-03
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When to Plant Corn.

Should the month Of April contin-
ue as pleasant as February and March,
it will be a serious question with
many when to plant corn. Not only
vegetation but the work on the farm
is month in advance of the average
year. Wheat is about all sown this
23d of March, and considerable corn
has already been plowed for corn.
Our usual time for planting corn,
even for good farmers, has been from
the first to the tenth of May. But all
corn planted in April, and which had
favorable weather long enough to get
the upward sprout of the corn an
inch long before any cold weather or
freeze, always proved the best corn
on the farm. Last year the corn
which was planted in Northern Iowa
from the Goth to the 25th of April,
and had sprouted before the fall of a
foot of snow on the Goth and 30th of
April, 1877, was far ahead of any
corn planted after that snow had dis
appeared and the ground become dry
enough to work. 1t was ahead Of all
other corn all the season, and was dry
enough for cribbing before the fall
rains. Frost-bitten corn in the spring
does but little harm, but it is fatal in
the fall. Iowa, and especially North
ern Iowa, is on the extreme edge of
the great corn raising belt, and it be-
comes farmers to economic every IA
vorable day in the spring. Many
persons claim that they prefer to have
their corn out of the ground during
the cold nights and cold winds Of car
ly May. But if the sun shines, even
If the wind be cold, the corn roots
are growing and spreading, even if
the leaves are torn and yellow in the
cold and winds, and in the home
stretch in the fall it is always ahead
oflater planted corn. But it requires
good seed to plant early, and we have
q right to presume that all good far
mers have seed full of life and vitali-
ty. The right kind ofseed will stand
planting in November and come up
well in the first genial warmth of
spring. If our readers have never
tried planting in the fall, they have
seen an abundance of cases of corn
being plowed under in the fall and
coming up the spring. We are aware,
however, that our State is full of far
mers who learned their lessons in the
cold, sour clay soils of other States,
who contend, like the fancy Ameri-
can agricultural, that corn must not
be planted until the soil is warm and
light. And that doctrine, too, is grad
ing Iowa corn as No. 2, and in many
cases as rejected. We have, however,
frequent seasons when it is impossible
to plant corn till May, and sometimes
till far advanced in that month. But
those are years when our grand corn
crops are about as doubtful az prizes
in lotteries.
Corn ground will probably be all
ready early in April for planting
The item Of seed for corn is SO small
and the work of planting so light
that if good farmer should plant by
the 10th Of April, and it should fail
1t will all be determined in time to
plant again. But if the first planting
should succeed, it will be SO much
better that it will amply repay for all
risk and additional work. Should
the season advance, as it gives all
promise now, we hope our farmers
will take advantage OF 1t.
There are north of us no vast fields
of ice, nor woods full of snow to cool
the April breezes, or keep back yege.
tation. And unless we should have
an unusual fall of snow, there is eve.
ry reason to suppose our spring is to
be early. So far advanced are fruit
trees, shrubs and vines, if heavy
freezes should come late, good-bya
fruit and fruit trees. Let us
hope for the best, and work up az
though we believed it would be so
If the ground is ready and April IA
vorable, plant the corn, but be care
full that there is plenty of good seed
left for second planting. Every
good farmer should always have
double the amount Of seed corn nee
essary to plant his fields. AT the time
Of planting, it costs but little, and II
one-half is not needed, it is all right
for hogs or cattle. If Nature contin.
ues to smile let US have an early and
sound crop of corn this year. We
ought to raise 250.O00,OO0 bushels
C.. #. Clarkson IN Register.