The Plymouth tribune. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1901-1911, 1904-11-24
SOWING GRAIN IN STANDING
CORN

q crop of grain sown in standing corn
is never as good as that taken from
fallow ground; if often happens, now
ever, that the farmer is so situated
that he cannot cut up all his corn, Dut
still wishes to seed all the land. Wnat
then is the best way TO proceed WIN
wheat or rye? In the first place 1t is
much cheaper getting in crop on
such ground than the summer ploW-
ing and preparing of fallow; gooo
wheat raisers tell us that land TOT
wheat should be sowed and worked
down several weeks before sowing
time. Now this is exactly the condl-
ton 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
10 or 20-giving us then an ideal SEED
bed encumbered only by the standing
corn. To get the grain in properly
the farmer must have good one
horse drill either five or six hand win
a fertilizer attachment. Have
strcng, steady horse and give him MS
time, put a muzzle on him to save
wasting corn and use a 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
five to six acres per day. The drill
is arranged so it can be widened or
closed to suit the width of rows; IL
corn is down or Gaming, 1t VIII re-
quire an extra hand to go ahead and
turn it. By using care and having
slow horse, the drill can be run very
close to corn thus avoiding vacant
strips of land. Of course farmers
differ in their methods of work; some
say you can never count on good
yield of wheat on corn ground. But l
nave raised % bushels per acre In
standing corn and maintain that II IL
is not the best way to grow wheat IL
is often a very convenient way and
SO much cheaper, that one can AFFORD
to take a little less per acre. IL is
often objected that the corn rows will
make very rough bottom if land is
seeded down to meadow, but | ind by
actual experience that if the corn re-
ceives level cultivation at 1t should,
if the st blowing is shallow, and in
cut M meadow the mower is run
with the old corn rows, you will lind
very lltsie trouble. Again l think the
stalks are a protection to grain III
winter, for after being pastured by
cattle they are broken down, make
covering, hold the SHOWS and hnalAy
decay on the land. / used to know
farmer who had creek bottom fields
planted in corn each year; he always
sOwed rye in his standing corn early
II the fall, by which he kept his fields
covered, got a lot of pasture when
the ground was so he could turn IN,
and mad valuable coat of green man.
ure to turn under in the spring for
the next crop and mellow the enects
CT 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-
fects equally on both sides. II the
corn stands well, so it can be readily
done, a one-horse drag or an old ma
chine wheel drawn through the mid
dies ahead of drill will smooth down
any chance clods, 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.