The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1879-05-07
Hints About Corn Raising.

ION liAA- H0DlGEL III AuIllEOLIE tOutOj
paper, who, it Is to be judged from the
manner in which he speaks, has had
considerable experience IN this branch Of
farming, says, among other things, that
he has long since come TO the conclusion
that one among ten corn-growers deserves
the name Of "a good corn-grower" Men
could be pointed out who have been
farming thirty or forty years, and vet
are not successful in this respect He
then goes on to say that they don't
know that they have been half farming
all their lives. A thirty-fve or thirty
eight bushel crop, he SAYS, IL a mean
crop, and there are many crops that
viii not yield over twenty bushels to
the acre. These are the crops that
| break up both tenant and landlord The
| writer then says that next to good Is
thorough preparation, and it Is right
here too many farmers blunder for they
simply aim to @ab their corn in, and
then prepare the land All land should
not only be thoroughly plowed, but
| narrowed, rolled or dragged until mellow
and smooth. Mellow land is a great
necessity, for a grain Of corn falling in
| to the creyices Of clods has a poor
chance to start forth a strong and
AltthiAilf STAN II II tdIl start ANY Ut All.
All corn should be planted so as to be
both ways, since the introduction of the
double plough 81 feet each way tends
best and produces the best crop An
acre thus planted gives 3,555 hills. |
Counting an average Of three stalks to
the hill-allowing no hill to have less
than two nor more than four stalks. and
allowing as many stalks to have two ears |
as will make up for blighted stalks
gives within a fraction Of eighty-nine |
bushels to the acre, counting 120 ears |
to the bushel. An acre thus planted, |
with two stalks to the hills, will give |
fifty bushels, while one stalk and one 7
ear to the hill will yield thirty bushels
to the acre.
There Is no machinery so perfect as to
do away with replanting and thinning
The best machine will drop some too
thick and these will need thinning.
Where but ten hills to the acre are mis-
sing the labor of replanting is Very
light job, while failure Of Il hundred
hills becomes matter Of Importance,
too great to be neglected. Men have
argued that a hill missing here and there
lid not detract from the Weld, as the
hills would make up the
oss by turning out greater number of
,ars. This is a grand mistake, and it is
)ut lazy mans excuse for not replant-
ng. The writer knew an old grower !
hat claimed one year to have an excel Il
ent stand, when actual count showed an +
verage of seventy-fve hills to the row
With no corn in, and eightv-One hills s
Nth one stalk, while about an equal
lumber Of hills had too many stalks to
leld. So that when this farmer deduc- r
ed the missing hills, and the one-stalk ;,
Ills, and the hills with too many stalks II
, the hill, together with the hills spoiled q,
Y weeds, he got forty bushels an acre 81
# the best bottom land in Ohio, which
as bare half crop, No one thing
,nds so much to secure a good stand as a.
lie selection Of good seed corn, for, no vi
after how well prepared the land may It
:, mouldy corn or rotten corn viii not a.
axe a good stand. All seed corn an
ould be selected, ear by ear, bv com in
tent man. 1t is better to select this "
gathering time, since corn cribbed or
nned up often heats, so as to impair
vitality without changing its appear
ce. All seed corn should be tested
fore planting, by taking a handful
I'M a hll-ACNl HldtIllllN anu counting the |
aims planted, and then the stalks that
me up. Such a precaution would often
We great amount of labor and loss
to the time to plant, the first fifteen
VS. OF May, taken one year with an
ler, will be found the surest and best. :
e have been more precise about pro- =
ring good stand since. without
5, all after attention and labor
4 not make up Il defect in the ]
nd. To get good stand is to get the
Iuisite number of stalks on the ground
| so distributed as to produce the re-
Ired number Of ears, since the crop is
de up Of single ears
The farmer that gets good stand of
n on land well prepared has but an l
y, pleasant task to perform in after s.
tlvation. With the machinery now s.
use, and corn planted to tend both o
VS., but few weeds need escape the tS
W. No one need be afraid to com II
nee working corn too soon. One of 81
best corn growers that he ever knew 1t
him he made it a rule to 90 through St
II corn just so many times it is u
ded. All corn blowing should be q
e before the tassel begins to show. "
ny corn growers seem afraid to get p
r the corn when it is small, and sim Sc
tend the middle of the row, instead g
ending the corn. He had seen corn VI
ers go through their corn as many as 81
re times without getting dirt to the u -
5, and then when they should pillow "A
! little from their corn they come up a.
lose as nearly to kill it.
his is mean farming, and always ST
5 poorl Y. If corn be thoroughly a. a.
led till it is hip high, there will tLl
no need of any more blowing. a
practice of going through corn with ~
double patent pillow after harvest. ~ ~
n the corn is tasseling and silking -
breaking hundreds and thousands Of =.
largest stalks, is worse than no -
wing at all. He considered no crop I'd
oughly tended without what is cali %
'ehOpping out" after the ploughing 81
ceased. With the best machinery
crop ploughing there will be chance
Is left, and, even if they did no in
to the growing crop, the seed they CA
Tor the next year give much more tal
BILE than the cutting requires. He the
found single weed with more than cat
90 seeds. One spat with a hoe or
Id put an end to that jamestown. adj
saved somebody more labor than dis
cutting of twenty such weeds. So
as his observation has extended, a 6
half farmed, or farmed so as to
little grain with a good many
Is, becomes poor as fast or faster
when well farmed and full crops of II
4 alone raised without the weeds. PR
e is no prettier crop cultivated than I
j, and few crops that pay better the
| properIy MANAGED Bro
i
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