Wichita eagle., 1889-05-30
PERTAINING TO THE FARM.
PLANTING and Cultivation of Corn.

Planting and Cultivation Of Corn
American Agriculturst for June.
The general introduction of improved
implements has completely revolution
lied the methods of corn culture. In the
early years of our older readers the hoe
was almost constantly in hand from the
beginning of planting until the crop was
''laid BY" The corn farmer of those
days was quite ready to echo Dudley
| Warmers wish for "a cast iron back with
hinge in it," Now the farmer may
''lay down the shovel and the hoe" and
| raise a much larger and better crop
without them. After the land is plowed
which on large prairie farms may be
done with double wheel plow-the pull
| verifying disk, or cutaway harrow re-
duces the soil to fine filth, leaving il
ready for the seed. Theoretically drills
are far more productive than check
rows. Drills three-and-a-ha feet apart,
with the stalks SIX inches apart in the
drill, have ratio as seven tC
four with hills the same distance
apart each way. That is, an acre
in drills contains three fourths more
plants than an acre in check rows, with
equal space between. Furthermore,
W 1tIl pIdulS SloiluliiSo Ola AAChCo ePt~i
each one has better chance for full de-
velopment than when crowded into hills.
The only practical difficulty in drilling
corn arises from the want of an nipple
ment which will drop two drills at once,
with uniform distance between the ker-
nels in the drills. With good smooth
ing harrow it is quite as easy to give
clean cultivation IN drills as IN rows.
This should begin before the young corn
shows itself above ground. In case of
sudden showers followed by sunshine,
soon after seeding, a hard crust results,
which the smoothing harrow breaks up.
This implement may be run lengthwise
of the drills or rows at intervals OF a
week or less, without injury to the
corn, until the stalk begins to shoot
up through the center. AS to manure,
it is too late to consider it in q general
way after the corn is planted. Stable
manure should have been applied to the
surface and plowed under, and CONNER
cial fertilizers are best narrowed into the
soil before planting But top dressing
Of ashes applied to the hills or drills
either before or Immediately after the
corn is up, will benefit the crop under all
conditions.
The subsequent cultivation of the crop
from the time when 1t is too large for the
smoothing harrow is best performed by
means of two horse cultivator. There
are many excellent patterns in the mar
ket and it is a waste of time and labor
to scratch back and forth be-
tween the rows with a little
one horse cultivator, when a
good two-horse implement would do the
work better in one-fourth the time. The
ground should never be stirred 50 deeply
as to cut the scots. Careful experiments
have proved the theory Of ''root-prun-
ing" to be gross fallacy. The plant is
a rank feeder, and needs all of its root
growth unimpaired. But the surface
must be kept stirred and free from
weeds until the crop is ready to be laid
BY" In hot droughty days a layer of
loose porous soil on the surface acts as a
mulch. On the other hand, neglected
growth of weeds will draw the water
out of the soil, besides robbing the corn
of its plant food.