The Florida agriculturist., 1881-05-25
nlanting on thel,rAer must be classed

planting on tneh1Ver musU Uo 0i"0'e
among the lost arts.
We think that the corn actually
gathered along the river will average
nearer to fifteen thai to twenty
bushels per acre. The cause OF this
poor crop is not due to poor land'
but to poor preparation, poor cult1va' ~
tion and poor management, Inc
cotton planter, before planting DIS
crop, puts aside an amount OF lana
sufficient to make corn enough to do
him." calculated at the rate OF forty
bushels to the acre. The cotton or
corn stalks and "trash" are piled ana
burned, aud the blowing commences
say in March. The season is get
ting on" and the negro plowman' to
save time, will clap" his burrows;
in other words, will cover up, under
the ridge he throws up, strip OF
hard unbroken land twelve inches
wide. The strip is directly under
the center of the "bed" on which the
corn must grow.
In the rush the planter has neglect"
ed to secure good seed corn, and,
rather than wait, plants from a sack
of "boat cornp which has probably
been heated. A bad "stand" is the
consequence, but the cotton land Is
only half prepared, and time is press
ing A part of the cotton crop Is
planted and plowing still goes on.
More cotton is planted, and the hrst
planting needs scraping, and before
this is through, the planter, who has
had no time to look after his corn,
finds that it is up, needs thinning and
is foul with grass and cockleburs.
When it can wait no longer he runs
around it, )" barring it off" with one
furrow, and goes back TO his cotton.
The corn is left standing on mar
row slice OF land, with The roots eX.
posed, and if hard rain comes much
Of it is washed down.
When the corn is knee high, and
the weeds in the "middle" still higher,
it is chopped out and two furrows
thrown to it with the turning plow,
and the ''middles" covered up with
two more.
1t is then left standing III this con-
dition until it "Ounches for tassel,
when it is plowed out III three or
four burrows and laid by. If she
weather is dry, the blades skrivel and
the corn will hardly be worth gath
erlng; if a good rain follows, the
corn will recover from the clumsy
butchering and ~4tzalze from ten to
twcnty bushels per acre.
The sugar planter does not pretend
to be corn planter. When a "cut"
is exhausted he plows up The stubble
and plants in corn, and when the corn
is laid by he sowS 1t down thick y in
peas. The ground is plowed deep
and WELL but it is rough. The prob
ability is that the corn will be poor
and borne down to the ground with
pea vines, which will overrun 1t. A
wet fall will rot it badly, and if 1t
proves not worth gathering it will be
turned under with the pea vines.
The next year the ground being en-
riched with the pea vines will proba-
bly, yield, with the ordinary cultiva-
ton, twenty barrels OF corn.
This is picture hard to realize,
but true of many planters in the ale
luvial lands. The corn region proper
OF the United States planted and
worked after the Louisiana fashion
would not make the seed planted.
OF course there aie honorable ex-
ceptions among our valley planters,
who make twenty i've and thirty
bushels of corn, but if there are any
OF the old stock still remaining, we
would be glad to hear from them
how they made ''Iorty or fifty" bush
els of corn to the acre.