Rensselaer Union, Volume 7, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 May 1875 — The Cultivation of Corn. [ARTICLE]

The Cultivation of Corn.

In the cultivation of the crops in the great corn region of the West fewer integers have to be taken into consideration than in any other country in the world. The soil is rich beyond cavil and easily worked, the climate admirably adapted to the crop, and the autumns all that could he desired for safely harvesting the product. • ' ■ On fall-plowed land, as a rule, we have not found it necessary to replow in the spring, unless in exceptional cases where the soil has been rendered compact and hard during the' winter and spring. This will seldom he the case on lands suitable to fall-plowing, or upon rolling land. IF left rough so that it may receive the continued action of the air, the rains and the frosts it will usually he in such condition that a good tilth may he harrowed up. Then, by the use of the harrow bulltongues, as heretofore recommended, a deep tilth may be obtained. But if, from any reason, the land becomes impacted, it will he found cheaper to replow the land lightly, say-three or four inches, than to attempt to get the soil in condition with cultivators. The greatest mistake that we have found among many cultivators in the West is that the soil is worked while so wet that it becomes lumpy —thus adding to the cost of cultivation, and also damaging the yield in sure proportion to the roughness of the soil. On all soils liable to this coningency the value of fall-plowing, without spring replowing, will bp. duly appreciated, and upon no soils should the land be plowed until the furrow will cast from the mold-hoard in a perfectly friable stiye. Neither should fall-plowed land be harrowed until the soil is firm enough so that it will harrow even and smooth. It is true that occasionally a spring will he so wet that the land will not come into proper condition for plowing before it is again soaked. Nevertheless, the farmer who touches his land while out of condition surely pays for his temerity. The only compromise allowable, if riot in really good condition, is to harrow,'pud roll smooth, immediately after plowing, or before the land is sufficiently air-dried to break. And here, again, the utility of fallplowing will be apparent, since the top of the soil will be fit for harrowing before it is really fit to plow. Thus we have touched upon the main points up to the time when the soil is plowed, harrowed, and ready for planting.

Straight rows both ways not only show the careful farmer, but, without this, you cannot cultivate evenly or uniformly close to the hill while the corn is yet young, and, if not, no after cultivation will economically destroy the weeds. Fully one-half the of the country, when marked evenly and straight one way, are unevenly checked round the other. 'To drop the corn just right requires that the. machine be in perfect order and also that it be so arranged that the corn is held at the proper poifit, so that it may be deposited when the corn is set free for the next hill. To do this perfectly requires calculation; and the dropper cannot do it unless first instructed. To do this, the lever must be moved so that the corn will reach the ground just as- the heel of the shoe reaches the marked space. A careful examination of this subject will enable the operator to so time the moving of the lever just before the planter reaches the mark as to insure accurate dropping lioth ways. We have seen men utterly fail in this and a girl of thirteen succeed perfect]*. In fact girls, as a rule, are more successful than boys, for the reason that they attend more closely to what they have to do than boys. It is no mean item in the cost of cultivation, since the question of weeds or no weeds will make a difference often of half the product. - , . . \ Deep or shallow planting is a question that has been variously discussed. The fact is that here the individual planter must exercise judgment according to the condition and nature of his soil. On very dry, asd especially loose, soils deeper planting is necessary to secure due moisture than on heavier soils. For ourselves we prefer shallow planting, say not more than two inches.deon; and also confess we like tEose planters which raise a slight

ridge over the planting. They cannot, however, he successfully used on trashy land, or that in had condition. If thus planted, the harrow is pretty sure to kill the weeds effectually in the row; and the next cultivation with the harrow-shares enables you to work elos£ to the corn without danger of covering. Com will germinate and come up healthy at a depth of three* inches. Beyond this depth it is uncertain. If the conditions of moisture are perfect, the proper depth is from one to one and one-lialf inches; hut here again the harrow’must be taken into account; and thus, fin practice, from two to three inches has been found to be pretty nearly right, one year with another. Thick and thin planting is another integer that must be taken into account. As a rule, the richer the land the closer the rows may be, and the thicker the planting. In the Bouth, on -some pi the worn lands, five feet or more is sometimes given. Care must, however, be taken that the land, be not over-cropped with stalks. However rich the soil—and we have worked some heavily-manured ones—we have never succeeded perfectly with fieldcorn at less than three feet eight inches between rows, or with more than three stalks in the hill. If .the corn is drilled the grains may he one foot apart. It is true that about the same yield may be obtained with four stalks in the hill, but the ears will be shorter, and thus loss will ensue in the husking. Three feet ten inches, the usual width of Western machines, -will be found to be about-the right distance apart. When corn is drilled and carefully cultivated the yield will usually be from onefifth to one-sixth greater than if in hills; hut, except on new or very clean land, this is more than counterbalanced by the increased cost of cultivation. It will, indeed, pay to hoe a field of corn rather than have it weedy; but it must be remembered that it will double the cost of cultivation —no mean item when fields are often counted by hundreds of acres. There is, however, no need to touch a hoe to the field, as a rule, if the cultivation has been proper. This may be summed up thus: Have the land improper tilth;.harrow both ways if necessary—and jjist as the corn is germinating, and again just as a blade is here and there passing through the soil; keep the cultivator going, as heretofore directed, until the corn is four feet high, and then continue with a single horse implement if weeds appear that are likely to go to seed. The field should he passed over during the growing season at least once in ten days Even under this system sixty acres may he worked to the team and still allow for ordinary loss from wet weather. —“Farm and Gardenin Chicago Tribune.