Western Carolina Democrat and French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1913-1915, 1913-08-21
The Cultivation of Corn.

Successful corn culture depends as
much upon the know how" as does
success in any other business. Of
course. a deep, humus filled soil is the
first consideration, but much depends
Upon the cultivation given the corn af-
ter it is up. The farmer who under
stands and practices the best princi-
pies of corn growing, who knows the
r~oot-system, the movements of soil
moisture and the uses of soil mulches,
will make a good corn crop in spite of
adverse seasons of rainfall and
drought. The one who does not IN
derstand these things attributes his
failures to the wet weather, the dry
weather, the hot weather; the cold
weather, or something else the effects
Of which he should be able to obviate.
In the farm demonstration work last
season some big crops of corn were
made where no rain fell from the
time the corn was planted till it was
mature. Yet the yield of orn in this
country are more dependent upon rain
fall during the growing easo than
upon any one thing else. This should
Tot be.
But let us see that we understand
what proper cultivation does. Every
good farmer knows that cultivation Is
to save the moisture, to destroy germ
mating weed seeds, to liberate plant
food and to warm and aerate the soil.
If the first two are accomplished the
others are too. The successful farm
or never allows his soil to become
crusted over because he knows it is
then losing moisture. To prevent this
crusting also destroy weed and grass
seed that may be coming up in the
soil. So we see that all that is neces-
sary is to cultivate often enough to
keep the SOL loose on top. One Of the
experiment stations has found that
during very hot weather a single corn
stalk will take from the soil and evap-
crate as much as ten pints Of water in
ono day. 1t requires about 300 pounds
of water to produce one pound Of dry
matter. So we learn that corr is a
crop that requires immense amounts
of moisture. Yet, throughout this sec
t en- We have sufficient rainfall every
year to produce two or three crops on
oil our land. The wise farmer is he
who has learned how TO catch the
rainfall and keep it. in the soil until It
is needed.
AS to depth of cultivation, We must
remember that corn belongs to the
grass family and therefore has a fine,
f1brous, extensive root system. By
the time corn is a foot high the roots
may be tapping between the rows.
The roots grow outward through the
soil from two to foul times as fast as
the staly grow upward. To destroy
these roots in cultivation is to cut off
the feeding powers of the corn. 1t
very often happens that the soil needs
Pa rather deep~stirring while the corn
is small and before the roots get out
far. If this is the case, it should be.
| given, but care must be taken not to
cultivate deeply later. The Indiana
experiment station has shown that
corn cultivated about two inches deep
yielded 1926 bushels; that cultivated
three inches deep yielded 1885 bush
els; while that cultivated four inches
deep yielded only 1892 bushels. An
other station found that shallow Guilt
walton yielded 81.8 bushels per acre,
but deep cultivation gave only 74.1
! bushels.
AS to the number of times to cult
vate corn, this will depend upon con-
ditions. The thing to keep in mind is
to keep a mulch on the surface until
the corn has fully tasseled. In many
asses it will pay to cultivate until some
of the silks begin to turn brown. 1t
is a critical time with corn when it is
maturing the grain. 1t should not be
neglected then.-C. r. Hudson, Ra-
leigh.