Dakota farmers' leader. (Canton, S.D.) 1890-19??, 1903-04-10
10 SECURE A GOOD CORN CROP.
The Advice Of Corn Growing
Experts is Worth Consid-
ering This Year.
Farmers Should Read and Con.
slider. the Following Article
Very Carefully.

slider the Following Article
Very Carefully.
From present prospects it is likely
that the country will be quite bare o.
corn before the crop of 1908 is har
vested not 80 bare as last year, but
there will be no great surplus to bt
carried over another year The corr
crop is the greatest of all crops grown
in the upper Mississippi valley and the
permanence of our present good times
depends quite largely on the characte,
Of the crop grown this year. A short
corn crop, such as that of 1901, disturbs
and almost aemoralizes the business OF
the country, SO close is the connection
between the general prosperity and the
prosperity of the farmer which is large.
ly measured by the magnitude of the
corn crop of the country. Therefore,
private interest, as we'll as public wei.
fare, demands a frst.class crop of corn
in 1908.
The first essential of good corn crop
on any particular farm is good land
land naturally rich, that is, having an
of the essential elements of
fertility. Farmers waste their time in
growing large acreage of corn on
land naturally poor or land that has
been so worn out that it is in bad
physical condition, and they will make
more money by so shaping their farm
ing operations that they will have each
year forty acres of corn on good land,
we'll titled, than on eighty acres titled
as much of it has been in times past.
1t is not merely necessary that the
land be good naturally, but it must be
ia good physical condition; that is, in
such condition that the corn plant
can avail itself of the natural fertility
of the soil.
1t is not desirable to put coarse ma
nure on corn land and plow it under,
for while it works admirably in wet
seasons, it is almost certain in dry sea,
sons to interfere with the capillary
action of the soil, or, as the farmers,
say dry the land out, especially during
the dry period from about the 18th of
July to the middle of September.
Hence, if manure is applied at all it
should be we'll decomposed, then spread
Is thinly as possible, and just here is
where the value of the manure spreader
comes in that it enables the farmer to
cover twice as many acres as he could
possibly do otherwise and do it a great
leal better. %
1t is scarcely necessary to say that
10 produce a good crop of corn the land
must be we'll drained, either naturally
or artificially. Corn does not like wet
:eet If the land has to get rid of lot
If water by evaporation in the early
,pring, it is naturally cold land, the
process of evaporation cooling the soil.
:or the same reason that sprinkling
water on the porch on a hot summer
,ools the porch, or that the evaporation
If water from jug keeps the water in.
tide of it cool. 1t is a waste of time in
many years to try to grow corn on land
hat needs drainage.
It is scarcely necessary this year to
the necessity of good seed.
By this we mean not merely seed that
will grow and grow vigorously, but
iced of some particular variety or breed
If corn adapted to the latitude; var
ETY. that will certainly mature in that
attitude and longitude and at the same
lime will come as near filling out the
,eason as possible, for it is waste of
line and money to grow 90-day corn in
! 12o.day climate, and it is inviting
disaster to attempt to grow 12O.day
:orn in a 80 or To-day climate.
To secure firstclass crop of corn,
should be timely, and by time.
y we mean planted at such time as to
utilize as fast as possible the entire
,eason for corn in that locality. 1t will
lot do 10 say that because the earliest
planted corn did best last year We will,
plant as early as possible this
year, even as it did not do last year to
olant corn late because the late planted
,orn gave the best results in 1901. In
corn it is we'll to take the ad.
7ice of Solomon.
"In the morning SOW thy seed, and in
he evening withhold not thine hand;
for thou. knowest not whether shall
prosper. either this or that, or whether
hey both shall be alike good"
There is an element of chance which
,very man must take and not knowing
whether early or late planting is the
,est, and not being able to measure the
,ext year by the last one, the best thing
% do is to thoroughly prepare the land
ls soon as You can and then plant as
oon as the temperature of the soil will
quite vigorous termination.
The old Indian sign: when the oak
caves are big as squirrels ear" is
bout as good as any.
The next condition of success is thor
,ugh cultivation. No man can say be.
orehand how many times he must
blow his corn; that is a matter to be de-
ermined by circumstances as they oc.
,ur at the time. Ordinarily there is