The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1884-07-12
Planting Corn.

The co-n: crop has two destructive
enemies; on, is the crow and the other
smut; but botn of them may be avoided
by good management. The crow is
willy bird and very suspicious. but by
taking advantage of its weakness in
this respect we may be able to circum-
vent it. 1t has another weakness. COM
mon to another race of bipeds, which is
love for whisky. and we may also
take advantage of this TO save the corn
from his dangerously kind attentions.
No doubt the crow is to large extent
useful servant, but unfortunately his
services are so clumsily performed that
he does as much damage as he does
good, or perhaps more; for in his search
for and capture of cut-worms be pulls
up the corn, and is thus a worse pest
than the worm, which usually takes but
one plant out of the hill The crow
hunts BY scent, and if we can disguise
the scent he is baffled or alarmed and
his suspicious are aroused. At the same
time the cut-worm finds its way to the
corn by scent, and when we battle the
crow the worm is also avoided. To do
this it is only necessary to cover the
seed with a film of gas tar, which has a
strong and offensive odor. This is done
by mixing small quantity-a table,
spoonful, for instance in sufficient hot
water to saturate peck of seed corn.
The water and tar are well mingled by
stirring, and the corn is then put into
the mixture and the whole is stirred to-
gether and left until the corn has abb
sorbed the water A thin film of the tar
adheres to the corn, which is sprinkled
with dry plaster or wood ashes or arti-
fetal fertilizer, to overcome the adhe-
siveness of the tar. The seed is then
planted.
Smut is perhaps worse pest than
the crow. or its smaller, but equally
troublesome cousin, the crow black
bird. This is no doubt sown with the
seed, as is the case with oats or wheat,
and to rid the crop of it the same pre-
caution should be taken. This is to
steep the seed in q corrosive solution.
which destroys the soft and absorbent
spores of the smut. Sulphate of copper
is the most effective agent for this use.
One ounce dissolved in one quart Of
water is sufficient to saturate four
quarts of seed, and if the tar is added
to this solution, rs above mentioned,
the seed is disinfected of the smut and
coated with the tar. and two birds, so
to speak, are killed by one stone. The
prevalence of smut in corn amounts to
disaster. No one knows, and few try
to realize, how much injury is done TO
live stock by feeding smutty corn and
fodder. 1t is well known that the smut
of corn has the same contractive effect
upon the uterus as ergot Of rye, and
also affects the blood as a poison in the
same way, producing gangrene OF the
extremities just such a disease as has
been prevalent among the cattle in
Kansas, and which produced the recent
foolish scare of foot anu mouth disease
there. How many cases of abortion in
diaries occur from this cause no one can
tell. but we may well suppose a large
proportion; for scarcely field of corn
in the country is exempt from more or
less smut. So that precautions against
it are imperative, and when we try to
avoid the crow we may as well destroy
the germs of the smut A little corn
stepped in whisky and strewn in the
field win upset the gravity of the crow
and make 1t an easy prey to those who
think the only good crow Is dead ona,
M y Times