Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1913-05-24
DAILY HINTS ON
FARM TOPICS
BY X. A. Kirkpatrick
Planting Corn.

Planting Corn. ..
There Is no fixed time for planting
corn other than the time during
which 1t Is generally planted, from
the fifth to the 20th OF May. Under
no conditions should corn be planted
until the seedbed has undergone
proper preparation. 1t ID much bet
ter to keep the seed in the sack than
TO put 1t into the ground while the
soil Is still heavy and cold. Early
working with the disk and harro "
are essential to success In getting the
ground into the best shape. These
operations assist in warming up the
soil. because they work the air into
It. In preparing, ,disking before
blowing is worth while, and in many
instances thoroughly disking and
narrowing the spring blowing would
undoubtedly put 1t into better shape
for receiving the seed. There IL
scarcely farmer who does not make
some attempt to prepare the ground
after some fashion before putting the
seed into 1t, but the aim In prepare.
ton should be the thorough pulveri1-
alton and repacking Of the soil which
has been turned over In the furrow
slices.
In some localities the question OF
drilling, In comparison to the check
system of, planting, will come up.
Many growers advocate drilling corn,
believing that they got q larger yield
in such cases. The following 10 prob
ably the truth in the matter. On
clean, rich soil high yield and bet
to~ ,o~,,1%- .~ox No c0ttnvn
from the drilled corn. On thin or
foul land, poorer results Will proba-
bly, be gotten. @
It is not wise to plant corn more
than two inches deep. II the soil has
been properly prepared, two inches
Is sufficient to place 1t down where
the moisture can act upon 1t. On any
land, II the soil has been properly
prepared, one inch should be enough.
1t should always be remembered that
corn will start more quickly near the
surface and the resulting plants will
be stronger, because not SO much OF
the plant energy will have been ex-
hausted in forcing the shoot up
through the soil. In case that heavy
rains or cold, damp weather come,
deep planting is fatal to a good
stand. The shallow planting Is per-
fectly safe, even In dry weather, II
the ground has been managed ac-
cording to the best practice before
planting.
It Is important that the seed corn
should be graded before planting II
one wishes to secure a uniform stand.
There Is no planter made that will
drop uniformly when big kernels and
little kernels. uniformlS-shaped and
oddly-shaped kernels are all placed
together In the planter boxes. It 10
not an excessive task to run the
shelled seed corn through q good
grader, and grade It into two OF
three grades. These grades should
be tried out in the planter on rainy
day before planting time. The proper
dropping arrangement should be
placed with each grade so that when
one comes to the field and starts to
plant corn, he may know that his
planter Is adjusted properly to give
Just the crop he wants, all the time.
The number of kernels per hill to
secure best results will vary with the
type of soil, soil preparation and
many other local conditions. Some
men believe that two kernels are SUI
ficient to secure q good yield. Others
would want three and four on some
soils in this district. For the most
mark etable ears probably three kerr
nels per hill Should be used on soils
of average quality On light soils,
possibly two kernels per hill would
give better results. Some like to
adjust the planter SO that one hill
will contain two kernels and the next
three. This gives hills with an aver
age of IN stalks each.
A Seed Corn Plat.
The best farmers and corn grow
ers are finding that 1t pays to plant
some Of their very best ears Of test
I'd seed corn In separate plat
through the center OF their best corn
fields. This plat should be at least
two or three acres in extent. The ears
that are to be used for planting this
should have been tested individually
and nothing but the strongest seed
should 20 into It. The ears should
be typical Of the variety, or they
should represent the very best the
farmer has In his stock of seed. The
tips and butts should be removed and
the kernels graded. Empty the plan
ter boxes and plant this special seed
through the center OF the field. Dur
ing the summer, one may learn many
things about corn production by stu
dying this special section OF the
crop. For instance, 1t will be inter-
esting to note the difference in stand
by making counts in this part OF the
field, compared with the counts In
other parts. II will also be interest
ing to note the number OF bearing
stalks from this best seed corn, COM
pared with the number from the or
binary corn. There is no doubt
whatever but that breeding and Sc
lecting pays in farm crops, az we'll al
with farm animals. II the grower
will select his seed corn early from
this special plat next fall, and will
each year repeat this operation, his
seed should be better at the end OF a
series Of years instead of having