The Big Sandy news., 1913-05-02
PREPARATION, PLANTING AND
CULTIVATION OF THE
CORN FIELD.

K
| The wet spring and the holding
on of cold weather Is causing farm
ere much uneasiness about corn
planting. and, as a result. may lead
to much corn being put into the
ground before the soil is thorough
ly prepared to receive the seed. This
practice would prove to be mis-
.taks. Ordinarily, with proper care
and cultivation, no serious concern
over results need be had II corn is
planted in Kentucky any time be-
tween April 25th and May 25th.
in preparing clay soils for corn.
! especial care should be taken not
to work the land when so wet that
pudding will take place or that bak-
ins will follow. The disk harrow is
generally the best tool to follow the
pillow and after this some form OF
smoothing harrow should be used.
repeating the narrowing until q
smooth and very finely pulverized
seed bed is obtained. II clods form
during the narrowing they should
be pulverized with roller. or some
times good drag may do this work
well. 1t should be added that each
days plowing should be sufficiently
worked and smooshed on the same
day to prevent the evaporation OF
soil moisture which will be much
needed later by the corn crop. The
extra work of unhitching from the
plow and kitching to the harrow
will bemore than compensated by
beneficial results to the crop and
the greater case of getting the
ground In good condition.
The best time to plant corn-the
seed bed being well prepared--is
whenever the soil 10 warm enough
and moist enough to insure quick
termination OF the seed. According
to Hunt in"The Cereals In America"
the temperature at which maize will
germinate most rapidly 10 from 81
degree TO SO degree F. Probably In
practice field corn is nearly always
planted before the soil has reach
ed this temperature. but the time
OF planting should be sufficiently
late at least TO escape all danger
from freezing and frost. The old
time notion that the changes OF the
moon have some bearing upon suc-
cessful corn growing Is now entirely
discredited. Neither science nor
practice longer support this theory.
Corn should be planted from one
and one-half to three inches In depta
varying with type of soil and mois-
ture conditions. Shallow planting
is preferable where the moisture con
tent of the surface soil inslres good
germinatioh. Under normal condition
it Is best to plant the rows Of corn
three and half feet apart. to row
both ways. and to plant from three
to four kernals to the hill. depend
ing upon the fertility of the soil.
Corn Is plant which requires
much water for its growth. Hence.
to produce the best crop possible Il
Is necessary to keep down all weeds
and to prevent the evaporation OF
moisture from the surface OF the
soil. These two things may be ac-
complished by good methods OF cul-
tivation. When the soil Ia not too
wet. It is a good practice to run a
spike tooth smoothing harrow, or
some form of weeder. over the corn !
field three or four days after plant /
ing. This will destroy most OF the
early weeds, besides breaking any
crust which may have formed over
the terminating seeds. This work
would often endanger the young
plants II done later than four days
after planting. The first regular
should be given five or
six days after the corn is up. and
thereafter cultivation should be re-,
peated after each rain, and besides,
often enough to keep down all
weeds. Shallow cultivation forming !,
a surface soil mulch is the best for
a dry season, while even during wet
times the cultivation should be In
no case deep enough to break the
roots Of the corn plant. During the
first part of the growing season the
Of the corn crop should
be so thorough that 1t will not be
necessary to continue cultivation
longer than the time when this
work begins to break down the corn
HI B. Hendrick, Asst Agronomist,
Extension Division. Kentucky Ex-
pertinent Station.
I.u .|.|