Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1897-05-28
CULTURE OF KAFFlR ccRN.

CULTURE Or kAF rJH CCHN.
Recommended In Bulletin Of tlas Ham.
as State Agricultural College station.
Kaffir corn can be grown In regions
TOO dry for corn. It is possible to grow
Il il. semiarid regions where corn rarely
succeeds This tenacity Of life Ia also
manifested by its sprouting again from
the roots and producing second and
even third crop utter it has bcen,cut.
From the Kansas station comes the fol-
lowing directions for cultivating this
uop: 81. :.s1 s l5g.
The seed bed should be prepared in
ill respects as for corn. The finer the
filth, the better. It can be planted either
in hills or in drills. Preference is given
20 the latter method. It can stand thick
or than corn, but there Is limit to the
crowding process which should not be
passed when maximum crop is de-
sired. As to methods Of seeding, we
have adopted the plan Of seeding with a
grain drill with press wheels, aud it
works satisfactorily. It is an eight shoe
drill, with the shoes eight inches apart.
BY leaving the first and the fifth feeds
open and closing all the others in tho
seed box we plant two rows at time
SO inches apart, and by experimenting
with the amount discharged it will soon
be seen how to set the feed bar in order
TO SOW tho right quantity. Six to seven
pounds to the acre is an abundance, and
If the seed il clean and not cracked in
thrashing lees will answer. The riches
the soil, the larger the plants will grow
and the more room they must have.
Rows 80 inches apart allow sufficient
space for cultivation, and the stalks
should stand from to 8 inches apart
in the row according to the richness o.
the SOIL
If listing is practiced at all, it should
be very shallow. The plants are Of slow
growth during the first six weeks, and
deep lister burrows do not admit Of prop
er cultivation for so small plants. Sur.
face planted seed should be narrowed
with smoothing harrow soon after it
ia up, in order to kill the weeds just
terminating. In other respects cultivate
as for corn. Cultivate shallow, especial
ly near the row. We use spring tooth
cultivator i'll preference to the old fash
toned large shovel plows. Cultivate
enough to keep the weeds down and the
surface mellow until it begins to head.
In an average season led Kaffir corn
will mature in about ~ to II Weeks.
Planted in the middle o. latter part Of
May, the seed is ripe by the middle Of
September, and it should be harvested
at once. The fodder will remain green
until frost, but this fact should not be
made an excuse for putting off the har
vesting. The earlier it is cut after the
seed is ripe the more time will there be
for the stalks to cure, which is an essen
tial point, especially if the fodder is
stacked. Any of the many good corn
cutters now on the market will do the
work. &@
When the seed has dried out sufficient
~ so it can be stored, which condition
1t will not reach until the end of No
vember, it should be thrashed. It is true
that many growers feed the crop as it
comes from the shock, seed and all, but
It is a wasteful way Of handling it,
though Of course the cost of thrashing
and grinding must be taken into consid-
Grafton, and doubtless there are condi-
tions under which this cost will exceed
the value of the waste incurred by feed
ing without thrashing or grinding. One
way of proceeding is to gather the heads
in the field, as corn is gathered, before
the crop is cut. A better way is to cut
the heads off in the shock after the seed
Is dry and thrash them at once.