The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1909-05-07


snow and rain and should be har-
rowed as soon as possible. This
will conserve the moisture and les
sen the firing of corn in July and
August, so common to fall plowing
Ground that is very rolling and like
ly to wash should not be plowed in
the fall. We should bear in mind
that one of the most serious losses
of the corn crop every year is due
to late planting. Experiments show
that late planted corn seldom yields
as much as that planted earlier and
the quality is inferior. The ground
becomes hard and out of condition,
the weeds have drawn upon the
moisture and available plant food,
the crop comes to the dry spell in a
more critical stage, the proportion
of barren stalks is greater and it
natures more slowly, contains more
water and is much more likely to be
caught by the frost. Every year
thousands of farmers lose heavily
from late planting, many of these
are good farmers and are unexpect-
edly delayed with spring work by a
combination of bad weather, scare
ity of help, etc. Too deep planting
is especially bad when the seed is
weak, or the spring is cold and
backward. There were several cases
reported last spring here the seed
from the same sack in different
fields giving good stands in one and
poor in the other. Investigation
showed that the poor stand was due
to deep planting. Corn is generally
planted deeper than we suppose.
The planter wheels frequently sink
into the earth about two inches and
the corn is covered another two in
ches, the planter tracks become fill
ed in and the corn is about four in
ches deep.
We often watch the planter for
few rounds then pay slight attention
to the depth of planting. The soil
is mellower as we get away from
the headland and consequently the
corn is planted deeper than we sup
posed On the other hand there is
no more serious mistake than shall
low planting in lumpy dry soil. The
moisture is not sufficient for rapid
termination, the seed Soaks up
slowly, comes up unevenly with a
large per cent. of sickly plants.
Cultivation should be level and fire.
may be deep at first but it must be
shallow later. Methods of course
will vary greatly with local condi-
tions, but there are some things of
importance that are often overlook
ed. Many assume that there is no.
thing more to do after the corn is
planted for two weeks or until it
is up and large enough for the first
cultivation. Where ground is left
two weeks or longer it becomes
packed and foul with weeds which
take up the moisture and plant food
and also make it different to work
the corn. 1t is important that the
corn should not become stunted
when young as it never fully recov-
ers, even under the most favorable
conditions.
We should keep a good mellow
lively tilth until the corn shades
the ground. The time to kill weeds
is before they come up and before
they have deprived the corn of mois-
ture and nourishment Where it is
possible to do so, it is a good plan
to work the ground once before it
comes up.
The preparation of the seed. For
planting poor seed means poor
stand with missing hills and missing
stalks; it also means wasted land
and wasted labor. 1t is estimated
that the average yield in the U. S.
is less than twenty-five bushels per
acre, yet there are hundreds and
thousands of farmers who produce
sixty, seventy, eighty, and even
ninety bushels per acre. An instance
is recoroed where one man raised
over seventy bushels per acre when
a neighbor on an adjoining farm
raised less than twenty, yet the
land values were the same and the
labor required to raise the twenty
bushels was as great as to produce
the seventy bushels. If one man can
produce sixty and seventy bushels
also and must do it if we are to
achieve our agricultural possibili-
ties.
In the corn belt it is customary to
plant in hills 3A feet apart each
way, three kernels in each hill, thus
making 1858 hills to the acre or
10,66S stalks, if each kernel grows.
If two stalks in each hill bore moth
ing but the other grows a small ear
weighing only eight ounces (14O
ears in the bushel, we would then
have five bushels per acre or more
than the average of the United
States.
A good stand of corn and every
stalk producing just medium ear
will give yield, it is estimated, of
from SO to 80 bushels per acre.
Then why are we not getting it?
Because there are 50 many missing
hills and one stalk hills, hills that
are producing nothing or only half