The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1908-12-17
WORK THAT PAYS.
E. l.. Vincent Tells How He Did Little
investigating That Proved Valuable.


Being of an inquiring turn Of mind.
once upon a time took 1t into my
head to follow the roots of couple
of hills of corn to their source, with
view to determining as well as I could
what kind Of cultivation we ought to
give the plant while II Is In the
process of maturing and | must say
that some things learned were an eye
opener to me.
II was along In August that did
this investigating. BY that time the
stalks were perhaps fully grown: the
plant had, In fact, done almost all IL
could do in the way OF growth. All
that was left was to bring the ears to
perfection.
With a good hoe and pick I care
fully traced the roots of two hills Of
corn, one In one row and one in that
adjoining. directly opposite the first
one. had not gone far when made
my first discovery. And that was that
| had all my life long been hurting my
corn crop by using cultivators that
ripped things up away down into the
earth
That seemed to be the thought In
early times, to dig down as deep as
possible. The first cultivator remem
Der seeing was one with a stif7. rigid
frame. bolted together so firmly that
1t could not be adjusted to the width
of the rows. The teeth OF that cult.
vator were long. scoop-shovel shaped
things. running deep y. nature; and
we used to think w. ough, to shove
| them down half way 20 Gilil.a or we
| were not doing anything worth while
| Now, / discovered that all, or almost
all. such work does Is to tear the fine
roots Of the corn plant loose, really
setting It back, instead Of furthering
its progress.
After that cultivator. came another
still more lily contrived, SO far as Its
use In the cornfield is concerned, than
the first. That we knew as the horse
hoe. good tool In It's place, but that
place Is not, and never was, the corn
field. That had regular shovel plow
running ahead, with two legs follow
ing. and two more that might be put
on III man wanted to do still greater
damage to his corn crop.
The thing that impressed itself on
me was, that only light cultivation ID
needed in the cornfield. What we need
ls a tool that will thoroughly dig up
the soil on the surface and not run
more than two or three inches deep.
Another discovery / made was that
the roots of the corn plant are not all
directly under the stalks. l found
them far out In every direction, lik =
the roots Of big tree. A little thought
will tell us why this should be SO. The
cornstalk is heavy. especially when II
is well laden with ears. When the
wind strikes 1t, there is strong pur
chase and IL not well braced. the whole
hill Is likely to go over.
remember how this worked ono
year when we were troubled terribly
by the gray grub which works at the
root of the cornstalk. Hundreds o
cornstelks went down in our field tha,
year; and always when we dug dowI
at the base of the stalks we found
that the small roots had been cut of
by the grub. Nature Is wise. Sh,
provides the corn plant with wide
) spreading roots. Still another reasoI
for this Is to be found In the fact tina
corn needs great deal Of fertilizer t
bring II to maturity. Here and there
everywhere, the fibrous roots run. IL
search for his food. II they do no
find 1t, small crop is the inevitable
result.
Deep cultivation hinders the plan
from getting this sustenance so neces
sary to its life and growth. Ever
when we send the teeth OF the cult
vator far down out in the middle O
the space between the rows we iir
injuring the growth Of the plant ant
so lessening our chances for harvest
4 ing good crop.--Farmers' Voice.
AGAINST THIS WINTERS COLD.