Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1883-03-31
The Cultivation of Field Corn.

B. F. johnson, of Champaign coun-
ty, Illinois, in Sibley's Grain and Farm
Seeds Manual: The general principles
which govern the making of the crop
in the great corn sections Of the West
will be the burden of this essay, and
we can do little more than refer to the
special treatment which the crop re.
quires far east, west, north and south
Of the great corn crop center. In
western sections, the crop so dominates
the country and succeeds so well under
such wide differences of soil and eli
mate, that it is scarcely worth the while
to say much about the choice of soil,
since all soils, in all situations nearly,
produce from moderate to large yields,
according as they are more or less skill.
fully handled. PerhapsT IN rur uDSvrEvv
of virgin prairie, the best crops are pro-
duced on timothy or bluegrass sod,
which should, in every case, be plowed
the previous autumn, in order to give
time for the complete rotting of the
sward. Next best is a wheat or oat
stubble, fall plowed in September;
wheat stubble being preferable to oats
on the black soils. and oat stubble to
corn on the white, yellow and red clays.
These rotations, for greater part OF
the soils of the west, having been found
the best ones by all odds, for while
there is no unusual stalk growth, the
yield of grain is out Of all proportion
to it. When corn follows corn (and
this is necessarily the rule in vast sec
tions of comparatively new country,
the crop is not generally taken off the
land until after it is too late to plOw in
the fall. Nevertheless there are 81
many advantages in the practice, i
will pay to make extra exertions to sc
the land clear in season. To be sure
when the land is foul with weed ant
grass seeds, if the work is deferred 81
late they do not germinate in season t
be killed by frost, mass of weeds ar
pear at or before planting, which re
quires a.very thorough second stirring
But even under these circumstances
the benefits of fail blowing more tha
compensate for the extra work. lndee
the deep fall plowing Of many rich
but considerably worn lands, often rt
suits in something like a restoration {
original fertility, and should never b
neglected in tho program of making
corn crop; except on some pecullf
soils, which have the quick-sand hab
of running together in compact mas
and yield neither to drainage nor to an
amendments except large amounts
. vegetable matter. But no matter no
rich the soil may be, or whether sprir
Or fall plowed, there is no surety of o
tanning a crop, one year with anothe
- except on the conditions of compile
open or tile drainage.
SPRING PREPARATION,
Assuming that the land has be-
4 plowed in the fall, and if not then,
7 early in the spring as may be (for co
, trary to the general opinion there is
positive advantage in the lapse of o
- or two weeks between plowing a
, seeding), the field should be enter
y upon and fined two or three inches
depth Just previous to planting. As
,s ss the time for planting, every section a
-' latitude has its own; but eXperieI
IT. teaches that this date may be enticil
ted from one to two weeks, with VI
II. satisfactory results. Thus for Cent
IL Illinois the consensus of agricultu
sic opinion makes the first half of NJ