The Opelousas courier., 1891-08-15
RATIONAL CORN CULTURE.

RATIONAL CORN CULTURE.
The necessity Tor frequent stirring of
E6e soil in d cornield IS paramount for
ITSELF alone. If no weed ever appeared
there would still be need for frequent
cultivation. Al few years ago I left ten
o " through q cornfeld unworked,
while the rest Of the field was cultivated
every week until the tsssels appeared.
The weeds in those ten rows were pulled
BIZ hand, and there were very few, for
the grounl was Q sod deeply plowed, and
narrowed thoroughly up to the time the
corn was planted. The stalks in the ten
rows were more than three feet shorter
than those In the rest of the field, and
there was scarcely a single ear that was
filed out to the end. The rest Of the
field, which vas q few square yards over
two acres, yielded one hundred and nine.
ty-eight bushels OF shelled corn, esti-
mating tWo bushels Of ears for n Of
! grain. The corn was husked by the
busheI and measured twice, SO that no
mistake was made in the measure. The
fen rows fade up exactly one-ffth of an
acre thirty-two rodsl, and gave only
eleven and b half bushels Of corn. Every
thing else being equal, the difference,
being over forty bushels to the acre. was
clearly due to the absence of cultivation,
the ground being baked and dry tbs
greater part of the time. Since then !
left one strip on the side of a field,
measuring exactly an acre, without either
cultivation or wedding, and il yielded
fourteen bushels OF poor corn, the rest
III The field yielding forty-two bushels Of
grain To the acre. In 1889 / had an
eighs-acre field that yielded enough to
completely fill a ACCOMPLISHMENTS
crib, equal to over thirty bushels Of
shelIed corn per acre. on a very poor old
field that was newly broken up, and
without manure but was cultivated eight
times, while my half of a rented four
acre field, worked only twice, amounted
ID one wagon load of ears, equal to
twenty bushels of grain, and this small
field was much better soil than the old
field
Ny practice for many years has been
I'd work the corn once d week, beginning
0n Monday when the weather was sulta-
Sic, and continue the working as long as
d horse can get through the row without
breaking the stalks-and this is usually
until the ears begin 10 hang out in the
roas-and the cultivation has ALWAYS
been on the surface. Some years ago 3
heavy rain washed B slope on 2 OF my
fields very badly, and exposed 9 fine net
work Of roots for several square rocs,
which completely filed the soil. Several
Of the plants we're washed loose, and
coul1 be taken up with the roots. The
roots Of many plants were eight feet long,
spreading over nearly three rows each
way, aud they lay very near the surface.
In nlaCeg roots were abundant at q depth
III two inches, and very few were as deep
down an the land had been plowed.
More recent examinations, made pur,
posely, have convinced me that this y
the habit of the corr plant to send ctut
its roots near the surface. It may be
that surface manuang with fertilizers
tends 70 such d habit Of root growth, but
soluble fertilizers quickly difuse them
selves through the soil, and il may be
that the desire for the suns heat, which
corn 80 much needs, brings these roots g
the surface.
10 il clear that d plant having such 9
superficial root growth should not b.
plowed, but requires only surface cult
gatipn for the breaking of the roots
must necessarily check the growth of the
plants. i had once d plain deEnonstra-
ZION Of this fact. a field Of Evergreen
sweet corn was partly pIoWsd contrary
% ny Instructions BY Y wilsful nifee
mau, who laughed at my shallow etiltiva.
ton of the rest of the field. he plower
~ deeply and ridged up the rows until
discovered and stopped him Tb'
westher was hot. TIE corn wilted 4
0nGe and never grew aftarward, ~
pns ear was gathered from the plowes
rows, while The rest Of THE field averages
over eleven thousand ears per acre
eunfed Tor the market. TO break To
5eeding roots Of d plant In clearly g stoI
its feeding, and 70 turn all the power Q
growth to repair the damage and uaak'
new roots; at j Eime, too, when all 81
etfengtA of the plants IS required to lori
the blossom or the grain. sonethinl
has bsen said Of The usefulness Ct root
pruning corn. It Is equivalent to draw
kng a cow teeth when she Is busy tAFnin'
good grass into milk mud butter, an
equally prevents The gathering Of nttri
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