The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1904-11-25
SOWING GRAIN IN STANDING
CORN

II is conceded by most farmers, that
O crop of grain sown in standing corn
a never as good as that taken from
fallow ground; If often happens, now
ever, that the farmer is 80 sltuatea
that he cannot cut up all his corn, Dut
still wishes to seed all the land. what
then is the best way to proceed Win
wheat or rye? In the first place II Is
much cheaper getting in crop on
such ground than the summer piow-
ing and preparing of fallow; gooo
wheat raisers tell us that land ror
wheat should be sowed and worked
down several weeks before sowing
time. Now this is exactly the conoi-
tion of corn land, broken in the
spring, cultivated during the season.
and then left in plenty OF time 10
settle and become fine by September
is or 20-giving us then an ideal seeo
bed encunbered only by the standlns
corn. To get the grain in properly
the farmer must have a good one
horse drill either five or six hand Win
n fertilizer attachment. Have
strong, steady horse and give him MS
time. put q muzzle on him to save
wasting corn and use short single
tree; it will help in turning, II the
outside row Of corn is cut at ends Oh
fields. With a good horse, a careful
man will do good work and SOW from
ave to six acres per day. The drlii
IL arranged SO it can be widened or
closed to suit the width of rows; II
corn is down or leaning, 1t will re-
auire an extra hand to go ahead anu
turn it. BY using care and having a
slow horse, the drill can be run very
close to corn thus avoiding vacant
xtrips of land. OF course farmers
differ in their methods of work; some
say you can never count on q COCO
yield Of wheat on corn ground. But !
nave raised % bushels per acre In
standing corn and maintain that II IL
Il not the best way to grow wheat II
Is often a very convenient way and
% much cheaper, that one can anord
to take little less per acre. IL Is
often objected that the corn rows will
make very rough bottom II land IS
seeded down to meadow, but find by
actual experience that if the corn re-
ceiyes level cultivation at it should,
II the last blowing is shallow, and IN
cutting meadow the mower is run
with the old corn rows, you will hnd
very little trouble. Again I think the
stalks are a protection to grain IN
winter. for after being pastured by
cattle they are broken down. make a
covering, hold the SHOWS and finally
decay on the land. used to know
farmer who had creek bottom fields
planted in corn each year; he always
Sawed rye In his standing corn early
in the fall, by which he kept his helds
covered, got a lct of pasture when
the ground was SO he could turn H.
and had a valuable coat of green man
ure to turn under in the spring Tor
the next crop and mellow the effects
of the rye roots. In sowing. grain IN
standing corn, would prefer that the
corn be planted north and south so
that the drill rows of grain may stand
fairly to the sun and receive Its ef-
1ects equally on both sides. II the
corn stands well, so it can be readily
done. q one-horse drag or an old ma
.chine wheel drawn through the mid
dies ahead of drill will smooth down
any chance Gods, level up the ground
and insure the drill covering the seed
to a uniform depth. AS to amount OF
clean seed, kind and quantity OF FER
tilizer per acre, leave that to the
Intelligent decision of each farmer
A. B. Milligan, in the Epitomist.