Duncan Arizonian., 1911-12-13
CORN ON DRY FARMS
Land for This Crop Should Be
PI0Wed Very Deeply.
Fall Flowing viii Accumulate More
Moisture Than Disking and Har-
rowing-Listing Is Consid-
cred Dangerous.


Many Of our states have awakened
to the fact that their yields of corn
average far below what they consider
fair crops, and to encourage deeper
plowing and better work generally
have been offering prizes for heavier
production.
In Georgia, the prize for the best
acre of corn was won by a boy of
eleven, Joseph Stone of Chester, on
eight-year-old land He plowed ten
inches deep, then cross-plowed IA
inches deep, then subsoiled where the
rows were to be planted, % inches
deep; used about ten dollars worth
fertilizer to the acre; cultivated so as
to leave three cultivator burrows,
then again leaving only two burrows.
after that with Other implements, and
raised 1925 bushels per acre.
| quote the above to show the
necessity Of deep blowing for corn
All the other records for corn this
last year yere made by deep plowing
methods writes E. R. Parson in the
Dry Farming Bulletin The land for
this crop should be plowed as 6aep-
ly as possible, but not packed, for the
reason that packing favors top growth,
and if We have a wet sp-ing, followed
by dry weather the corn is liable to
overgrow itself and produce a crop
Of baggy ears-all husk and no corn
On the other hand, loose ground fa-
vors root growth. The top does not
grow too rank, and as soon as the
dry weather comes, the corn, having
plenty Of root and not weakened by
top of heavy foliage, goes to making
ears, and we get much better crop
than if the plant is allowed to over
grow at the start
Fall plowing will accumulate, .as
rule, more moisture than disking and
narrowing, but to secure good results,
the land must be plowed again in the
spring, before planting.
Where the precipitation does not
fall below IA inches, corn can be
raised every year by blowing ten
inches or more and planting one
grain in a hill from "a to SO inches
apart according to the corn; but the
land should be kept rough cultivated
or plowed during the winter months,
or as soon as the cattle are taken off.
Many farmers list in their corn in
hard land without any plowing at all,
and consider it hard luck when their
crops fail in dry years. In many of
these regions, 60-bushel crops have
been raised by good plowing. Listing
is dangerous for another reason; we
sometimes get an extra heavy storm
which will fill the lister fHrrows and
completely bury the corn.
The wheels of the corn planter will
usually pack the land sufficiently for
seed termination in the row. The cul-
tivation should be deep and rough,
and always across the slope when
there is any. We are fully aware
that level cultivation prevents evap-
oration, but in the "cloud-burst"
states it also favors run off, and ex-
perience shows that we gain more
than we lose by saving the run-off
at the expense of some evaporation.
The ground should be cultivated as
late in the season as possible in or
der to put it in a receptive condition
for the heavy summer rains which
often make the crop. 1t is a mistake
to continually cultivate corn during a
drought; it creates too fine a mulch.
makes mud, and stops penetration
when finally the rain comes. All that
is necessary is to break the crust and
maintain a good three-inch mulch.
In times of severe drought, crust
may form under the mulch; but if the
mulch is intact, there is no more
evaporation than before, and the
deep plowing and she moisture in the
subsoil will bring the crop through.