The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1915-05-12
THE CULTIVATION OF CORN.
Conserving the Moisture an Impor-
tant Item-Deep Cultivation Dam
Progressive Farmer.)

as much upon the "know how" as
does success in any other business.
Of course, a deep, humus-flled soil
is the first consideration, but much
depends upon the cultivation given
the corn after it is up. The farmer
who understands and practices the
best principles of corn growing, who
knows the rot-system, the move
ments of soil moisture and the uses
of soil mulches, will make a good
corn crop in spite of adverse seasons
of rainfall and drouth. The one
who does not understand these
things attributes his failures to the
wet weather, the dry weather, the
hot weather, or something else the
effects of which he should be able
to avoid. In the Farm Demonstra-
ton 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 corr in this country is more
dependent upon rainfall during the
growing season than upon any one
thing else. This should not 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
terminating weed seeds, to liberate
plant food and to warm and aerate
the soil. If the first two r accom-
plished the others are too. The sue
cessful farmer never allows his soil
to become crusted over because he
knows that it is then losing moisture.
So all that is necessary is to cult
vate often enough to keep the soil
loose on top. One of the Experiment
Stations has found that during very
hot dry weather a single corn stalk
will take from the soil and eyaporate
as much as 10 pints of water in one
day. 1t requires about 800 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, through
out this section, we have sufficient
rainfall every year to produce two
or three corn crops on all our land.
The wise farmer is he who has learn
ed 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 HIS
a fine, fbrous, extensive root sys-
tenn. By the time corn is a foot high
the roots must be tapping between
the rows. The roots grow outward
through the soil from two to four
times as fast as the stalks grow up
ward. To destroy these roots in
cultivating is to cut off the feeding
powers of the corn. It very often
happens that the soil needs a 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 are must be taken not to culti-
vate deeply later. The Indiana I%-
pertinent Station has shown that
corn cultivated about two inches
deep yielded 1926 bushels; that
cultivated three inches deep yielded
42.56 bushels; while that cultivated
four inches deep yielded only 1892
bushels. Another station found that
shallow cultivation yielded 81.8
bushels per acre, but deep cultiva-
ton gave only TAI bushels.
AS to the number of times to cul-
tivate corn, this will depend upon
conditions. The thing to keep in
mind is to keep a mulch on the SUI
face until the corn has fully tassel-
ed. In many cases it will pay to
cultivate until some of the "silks"
begin to turn brown. 1t is a criti-
cal time with corn when it is matur-
ing the grain. 1t should not be neg
lected then. C. R. Hudson,
Raleigh, N. C.