The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1888-04-06
FIG. 2-INIPRoPER DEPTH.

3. If one adds the saving from the three
factors discusscd-truck, cOulters and
width and dcpth-one gets 407 per cent. !;
or a plow with truck on, coulter off, and
pillow good sized furrow, will give this
per cent. of gain when put against pillow
with coulter on, truck off and turning
shallow, narrow furrow: or rather the
latter will draw 40. 7 per cent. harder than
the former, if the professors data are cor
rect.
0. A seven by fourteen inch furrow re-
quires about three horse power to turn it.
Those who use TWO horses, either turn q
small, costly furrOw or overdraw their
horses upon sod Land Of the kind in ques-
tiOn--a clay loan.
10. A furrow turned whose size is not
normal to the pillow is usually, If not al
ways, n jerky or uneven one, poor and
hard on the workman. The accompany
ing cuts, which represent the actual
draft and its fluciu%tions ut varying
depths and widths, Snow this. Attention
is called to the irreguiarity of the lines in
Figs. 1 (proper depth and 2 Improper
depth in comparison. The wrong depth
gives an uneven draft. The same was
found in cuts taken where a too narrow
furrow is compared with furrow Of
proper width. In both cases the more
irregular lines drew the harder of the two.
The Planting and CultiVating OF Corn.
The time for corn planting varies with
the laStude and also depends much upon
the weather. AS soon as the days are
mild and the ground warm is a safe rule,
wherever that may be, in all localities.
Three conditions are essential TO the pro-
duction of paying crop Of corn, namely
good seed, q rich friable soil and thorough
tillagc. Progressive farmers have de-
monstrated the economy of thorough
preparation of the soil for the seed; in
deed not a few of our most successful
growers advocate and practice, as best
and easiest, the cultivation previous to
planting; that is to say, they do not use
pillow after planting, but let all the deep
culture of the soil precede it.
Where manure is required the better
way is to spread it broadcast and plow 1t
in, il coarse, or harrow it in, if well pull
verified and decomposed. When manure
is thoroughly incorporated in the soil, the
roots of the plants are certain to take it
up, and the development of ear and grain
will correspond with that of stalk
and leaves, which Is not the case
when a limited amount of fertilizer
is placed in hill or drill only. To gain
the best results from the employment of
stimulating elements in hill or
drill, available plant food must
he near at hand and in suf-
ficient quantity to carry the plant,
once started, on to the perfection O.
IT'S growth. An early tart is a great
IF
tilizers in the Grill is of decided advantage,
provided, as has hnen already told, the
soil outside contains sufficient food TO
try manure and Peruvian guano have
each rendered valuable service when APP
piled in the drill.
Large areas are nowadays usually
planted in drills, and corn planters and
cultivators are quite generally adopted,
and 1t is commonly conceded that the drill
system induces the greatest yield, other
conditions being equal. Flat culture is
now the general rule for the corn crop, it
having long ago been proven that killing
Is not required for the support of the
plart, rs was formerly supposed, and
there is also n saving Of labor in the fat
culture system. A plan OF drill culture,
favored by some on light and naturally
dry upland, Is what ia known as the fur
row system of plating. The field is
broken up as usual and made level, At
tho time of planting enc thorough harrow
Ing is given and the burrows laid off and
thrown up into five feet beds, the corn
beir g planted in the burrows between the
beds. The object of This plan is to insure
moisture to the crop. The fertilizers
are Gown in the bottom Of the burrows
and mixed with the sell by running along
the burrows sharp single shovel coulter
or dragging chain through them. Then
the seed is dropped and covered,
Tbs after cultivation is done with culti-
vatoIEi, which gradually level down the
surface Of the beds, returning the soil to
the com and leaving the general surface
level when completed
The system of ''checking'' corn, SO that
the cultivation may be in two directions,
direct and across, is much practiced In
the northern and western states. At the
East and in many of the middle states
planting in drills and cultivating shallow
and fiat with cultivator and hoe prevails
among the more progressive farmers.