Mountain advocate., 1913-04-25
AGRICULTURAL
EXTENSION
Preparation, Planting and
Cultivation of the Corn
Field.

The wet spring and the holding
on OF cold weather is causing farm.
ers much uneasiness about corn
planting, and, as a result, may
lead to much corn being put into
the ground before the soil is thor
oughly prepared to receive the seed.
This pra:tice would prove to be a
mistake. Originally, with proper
care and cultivation, no serious con.
cern over results need be had il 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
baking will follow. The disk har-
row is generally the best tool to
follow the plow and after this some
form OF smoothing harrow should
be used, repeating the narrowing
until a smooth and very finely pull
verized seed bed is obtained. If clods
form during the narrowing they
should be pulverized with a roller,
or sometimes a good drag may do
this work well. 1t should be added
that each days blowing should be
sufficiently worked and smoothed
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 un-
hitching from the plow and hitching
to the harrow will be more than
compensated by beneficial results to
the crop and the greater ease OF
getting the ground in good condi-
tion.
The best time to plant corn-the
seed bed being well prepared-is
whenever the soil is warm enough
to insure quick termination of the
seed. According to Hunt in "The
Cereals in America" the tempera-
tnre at which maize will germinate
most rapidly is 90 to 930 F. Prob.
ably in practice field corn is near
ly always planted before the soil
has reached this temperature, but
the time Of planting should be
sufficiently late at least to escape
all danger Of freezing and frost.
The old time notion that the chang
es OF the moon have some bearing
upon successful corn growing is
now entirely discredlted. Neither |
science nor practice longer support
this theory. Corn should be plant.
ed from one and one-half to three
inches in depth, varying with type |
of soil and moisture conditions.
Shallow planting is preferable where
the moisture content of the surface
soil insures good termination. Un-
der normal conditions it is best to
plant the rows of corn three.and-a
half feet apart, TO row both ways,
and to plant from three TO four
kernels to the hill. depending upon
the fertility OF the soil.
Corn is a plant which requires
much water for its growth. Hence.
TO produce the best crop possible it
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
cultivation. When the soil is not
too wet, 1t is a good practise to
run a spike tooth smoothing har-
row. or some form OF weeder. over
the corn field three or tour days at.
ter planting. This will DESTROY
most of the weeds, besides breaking
any crust which may have formed
over the terminating seeds. This
work would often eudauger the
young plants Il done later than four
days after planting. The first regu.
lar cultivation should be given five
or six days after the corn is up. and