The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1913-03-27
Corn Questions From Now I'm
til Planting Time.

corn questions FROM NOW IN
til Planting Time.
By 8. NJ. Jordan, Manager P,ttis o. unity Bu-
reau Of Agriculture.
While there is great deal of seed
corn in the country it is wise to take
a good deal of time and exercise ex-
IRENE care and "shop' early and get
the best. Most of the seed corn is
in good condition and most of it will
grow, but all corn that was notpretty
we'll dried out when the first heavy
frost occurred last fall has been in
jured to such an extent that its vital
ity is poor. A preliminary test should
be made that would give some ade-
quate idea as to how its vitality is
running. A grain with weak germ
is by no means likely to make good
ear of corn. =.
Another question to be considered
at this time is the disposition of the
corn stalks in fields where we are
going to put corn this coming year.
Corn stalks should be broken DOWN
at least by this time, and then when
the ground conditions are right we
should take sharp disk and by 60
ing over each row we cut the stalks
pretty we'll, but the really great value
we get out of that process is the
working of the soil. | know of no
conditions in Pettis county that would
by any means justify burning the
corn stalks. If the land is already
too rich we might then be justified
or if the fields last year were badly
infested with chinch bugs we might
be justified in burning, but under
conditions in PettisIcounty there is no
justification for burning these stalks.
There is no great amount of soil fer
tility in CON stalks, but there is veg
etable matter and most of our farms
are suffering for want of vegetable
matter rather than lack of soil fertil-
ity. 1t would decidedly pay to pillow
them under even though they did not
contain one particle of soil fertility.
This vegetable matter renders the
soil porous and sponge-like, gives
life to the soil and gives it capacity
for holding moisture, and it is this
condition that prevents washing and
makes plant food available to the
young plants. Usually all we can say
about burning corn stalks is that it is
a very serious b]under
All live stock should be kept out of
the fields from now on except at
times when the ground may be frozen.
Cattle and horses tramping across
the fields when the mud may be sew
eral inches deep do an enormous
amount of mischief to the soil, eX-
cept in such places where the soil
may be very sandy.
AS a general rule like to do the
disking just as early as it is possible
and if this is done and we shouldn't
happen to get our blowing done UNI
til little late the ground will then
not break up cloddy. In soil that is
not too heavy like also to pillow the
ground just as early as possible as
the earlier we can pillow the more
deeply we are safe to pillow. The
early blowing also allows the weeds
to start and with one or two plowings
before planting as many crops of
weeds may be destroyed. l like to
do great deal of work on the ground
before planting, and since the corn is
warm weather plant like to wait
until the ground has become fairly
warm. This is usually the first few
days in May, but it is not safe to
plant sod ground so early as this, on
account of the danger from cut
worms. A very safe time for the
sod would be from the Goth to the
25th of May.