The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-05-24
Corn Raislng-HiIIs or Drills.

It is well to consider the matter as to
which is best way to plant corn, in hills or
drills. says J. s. w. in Practical Farm
er. only a few years ago it was al
most universal to plant in hills. This
was largely from habit, for GRANDPA theirs
planted in this way among the stumps
and roots, when the only implements
of cultivation were the "bull-pow' and
shovel and by having corn in rows both
ways they could root up the ground and
reduce hand labor to a minimum, and
we followed along with the notion that
when so planted We could save hand
labor by the two-way cultivation. l was
brought up to plant in this way, but
since the advent of the smoothing har-
row and modern tools for cultivation l
have gradually changed until now all
our corn is in the drill system. My OBJ
jections to hill planting are, mainly
Less corn is grown upon the samt
ground. 1t is more costly In hand work
to so grow it and the ground cannot be
kept so clean. The experiments made
at Cornell and other stations have DEM
onstrated very clearly that when the
same number of stalks are put on an
acre, more grain and more slower will be
produced when planted in drills By
Cornells experiments the difference was
over 10 per cent, in favor of drills, both
in yield and feeding value. When corn
is in hills we cannot use the smoothing
harrow so quickly nor so constantly. L
have never gotten ground in so good
order but the harrow would now and
then find a sod, lump or stone that
would shove along little way and occa-
sionally when corn was in hills, take out
a hill Now, if three and a half or~four
feet apart each way, this would leave
too large a vacant place, but when in
drills a stalk taken here and there makes
no difference in the yield as the others
fill right in, so l was forced to abandon
the constant use of smoothing harrow
or hill planting, and as the harrow is the
most efficient tool / ever used for weed
killing I could not afford to dispense with
it and so l abandoned hills.
/ now start the harrow before corn is
up and keep it going so often that all
weeds are killed in infancy" when the
least stirring of the soil is "sure death"
to them. And the harrow kills weeds
among the cornstalxs as, well as between
the rows. Now when in hills, if we
run the cultivator both ways and as often
as we please, unless we cultivate too
deeply for the good of the corn, SO as 20
throw too much dirt into the hill many
weeds will be found in the hill
that must be taken out with
the hand or hoe if we would
keep the field clean. There is one
very important point in the use of the
harrow on corn that no one should ignore.
1t must be narrowed as least once before
ii comes up, so as to fill up and level all
the depressions made by the planter,
otherwise when the harrow fills these
places 1T will cover up and smother much
corn. But when narrowed before up, and
the harrow is kept going so often after
ward that If a spur happens to be COW
cred when going one way 1t will be I'M
covered when crossing before smothered.
/ have never found any way in which a
corn field can be kept clean with so lit
tie labor and produce so good corn as
by this The only valid objection to drill
planting is that II is more labor to cut
and shock an acre when so planted. No
one denies this. But since the
advent Of successful corn har-
vesters this Is no longer valid, for all Of
these work better on corn In drills ana
no one now thinks Of cutting corn by
hand.