Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1905-03-22
Listing Corn.

Last summer the writer described
in the State Register new method
of cultivating corn that was being
tested on a large scale by Mr.. James
Hammond, one Of Sac county's
large farmers. Mr.. Hammond
planted over 400 acres of corn with
lister. His experiment was in
cultivating it with newly designed
cultivator that enabled one man to
cultivate three rows at time with
two horses.
The writer paid visit to Mr..
Hammond's farm at husking time
and made a careful examination Of
the corn that was listed and the
corn that was put in on the surface
with a. planter in the ordinary way.
The listed corn yielded the most
and was of the best quality. Mr..
Hammond stated that he was well
pleased with the new method and
believed it was worth a thorough
trial by Iowa farmers. If trials for
another year or two with this
method give satisfactory yields it
furnishes method of raising corn
that will greatly increase the yield
per man power and reduce the cost
per bushel.
Mr.. Hammond plants his corn
with a two-row lister. Work with
this machine on Mr.. Hammond's
farm and on Brookmout farm shows
that with it one man and six horses
can average planting eighteen acres
day. The lister cultivator usea
by Mr.. Hammond cultivates three
rows at time and with it one man
and two horses can easily cultivate
thirty acres day. 1t can be used
only for the first two civilizations.
The lister cultivasor properly
handled destroys every weed close
to the row and on the shoulder of
the furrow, but does not stir well
the middle between the rows. With
the land next to the row clean one
man can take a two row riding cul-
tivator and thoroughly pulverize
and clean out the middles between
the rows at the rate of fifteen acres
q day.
This method of listing corn is be-
ing adopted by more farmers in
western Iowa each year as the most
satisfactory way of planting corn on
land where corn follows corn.
Good farmers recommend that corn
on stubble ground or clover sod be
planted on the surface with planter
in the usual way. The next year
the ground should be listed as then
the listed corn will yield more and
stand up better. Mr.. Hammond's
method makes a large saving in the
cost Of raising listed corn.
The farmers who read the State
Register should think over this mat
ter carefully through the winter and
decide whether it's practicable tc
give the method test next spring
on their farms.
Not every farm in Iowa will per
NIT listing. The land must be
either SO rolling that it drains
naturally or else it must be tiled
drained and it must not be so steep
that the burrows wash.
Where listing can be adopted
with profit it will greatly lessen the
hard work for the teams. Where
the clover sod and the stubble
ground are plowed in the fall and
the old corn ground is listed there
is no spring plowing at all. This
allows plenty of time for thorough
preparation Of the ground wher
seeding the spring grain and also o
the fall plowing. For this reason
listing corn will increase the yiele
of the small grain and of the sur
: face planted corn on the fall plow
ing. 1t is method of planting
I that is we'll worth considering
} H. M. Cottrell in State Register.