VOL. LXVII
INDIANAPOLIS, JUNE 1, 1912
NO. 22
June Work in the Corn Field
Methods   and Objects   of
Cultivation Described.
By W. H. Underwood.
The prosperity of the country will
depend very largely on the work that
is done in the corn field in the month
of June. I will not pretend to state
just how corn should be worked on
•.-very farm nor what tools should be
used, because conditions and circumstances vary greatly in different parts
of the same locality, and even on the
.same farm. I will, however, point
• mt clearly the object we" must have in
view in cultivating our corn, and then
we can each use our best judgment in
the accomplishment  of  that  object.
There are two reasons why we cultivate co; n. First, to put the soil in
the best possible physical condition;
and, second, to kill the weeds. There
are times and seasons when the first
tshbuld be  put  second   and   the   second
first, but we must  always clearly keep
i.iese  two   objects   in   mind.
Cultivation Begins   With Breaking
Ground.
It must be remembered that corn
cannot thrive as it should unless the
soil is in such physical condition that
the roots of the plants can spread
through it and utilize to the greatest
possible extent the fertility that may
be available. It is useless to expect to
grow a good crop of corn unless the
upper six inches of the soil is in such
physical condition that the plants can
develop their roots fully and freely. If
the breaking of the ground has been
roorly done and the seed bed has not
lieen prepared as it should have been,
if it is cloddy or marshy, or if the
weather has been such that weeds
have reached an abnormal development, then the problem of cultivating
the corn is not by any means an easy
°ne. If, on the other hand, the plow-
"tg has been well done, and the fitting and preparation of the seed bed
has been thorough, the work of cultivating the corn is an easy and simple
matter.
There are seasons when, to some
*vho have in their mind the killing of
*veeds as the main object of corn cul-
tivation, it would seem that there ls
"o necessity for cultivating the corn. In
this they are greatly mistaken. Corn
requires from three to half a dozen
fultivations in order to aerate the soil,
orni the dust mulch which is so neces-
Rar"' in checking evaporation, and render plant food available, even if there
was not a weed in sight, nor a weed
seed in the ground. Where land is
";ery flat or moist and the season
a**orable this, important as it is, becomes secondary to the killing of
^eeds, but fortunately the methods of
"ing weeds most effectively are those
at are most effective In maintaining
he Physical  condition  of the  soil.
What Weeds Do.
great   many   people   do   not   seem
Co/631'26 the damase the weeds do the
rn  field.    In  the     first  place,     they
utilize available fertility; in the next
place, they utilize moisture, and in
audition to all that, they seem in some
way to poison tlie land. Our annual
weeds—and these constitute the bulk
of the weeds growing in the corn field
—can be killed with the greatest ease,
provided the work is done in the right
way, with the right tool, and at the
proper time. At the first they have
no well developed root system, only a
long white root; and if the ground ls
stirred,   even   to   an   inch   in   depth   in
the teeth of the weeder and enable It
to pull them out by the roots. For
land infested in this way another tool
must be used, and I know of none better than surface cultivators or attachments for surface cultivation. These
shave off about an inch of the upper
surface, and while they do not destroy
the root system of these weeds, they
keep the leaves from obtaining access
to the air, and if this is contained during the summer there is no perennial
weed that can survive it.
Provides Air and Moisture.
As stated above, the destruction of
weeds is not the only reason for cultivating  corn.      The   roots  of corn   must
SHOWING EFFECTS OF NO FERTILIZER AND COMPLETE FERTILIZER ON CORN.
dry weather in the heat of the day, it
will kill them. Hence the tool which
will cover the largest acreage with the
least expenditure of force, and 1dll
these weeds in the white, is the tool
to be used.
Advantages of a Weeder.
Just here I might mention that
there is no tool that will do such execution as the weeder. It is, however,
useless when the land is wet. It is
not of much use on a cloudy day, but
with the land in first class condition on
a clear, sunshiny day, an active boy
with the weeder will cover from twenty to thirty acres; and if the operation Is repeated in a couple of days
n ore weeds will be killed with the
weeder than could be killed with
other tools during the entire month of
June. This tool is of no use, however,
if the land Is infested with perennial
weeds, such as blnd-weed, milk-weed,
Muhlenberg, smart-weeds, horse nettle and morning-glory. These weeds
have an established root system, and
the weeder will merely cultivate them,
except perhaps in the case of the
morning-glory or blnd-weed. where
the growth is sufficient to wrap around
have air. There is root breathing as
well as leaf breathing; and hence any
condition that will prevent the proper
aeration of the soil, such a hard crust
formed over the surface, will defeat
one's object if he intends to grow a
full crop of corn.
There is another reason underlying
the cultivation of corn, namely, the
conservation of moisture. This is not
an important reason in wet years. In
a large portion of the country there
is more danger from a wet year than
a dry one. Some years we have a surplus of moisture, and while wise cultivation will tend to some extent to
evaporate that surplus moisture, for
the most part the farmer Is helpless
except in the way of providing thorough drainage of the land.
Keep a Dust Mulch on Surface.
There are, however, seasons or
sometime during the season when
without proper cultivation there is a
waste of moisture which inevitably
shortens the corn crop. To a certain
extent this can be obviated by keeping
the corn field covered with a mulch of
loose dirt from an inch to two inches
•"eep.      This  can   be  readily   done   by
proper cultivation and at the same
time keep the weeds down. There are
some seasons when the corn ground
has been thoroughly prepared, when
the matter of killing weeds is really
incidental to the constant maintenance
of a dirt„mulch up to the time when
the corn is laid by. The main object
of this, however, is not to conserve
moisture lor present use, for corn up
to tiie time it begins to tassel uses
comparatively little moisture. It will
grow luxuriantly even without rain
from the time it is planted, provided
there is a store of moisture in the soil
below and the dirt mulch is maintained; but there comes a time when the
available moisture, other things being
equal, determines the magnitude of
the crop. That time is after the corn
tassels and when it is putting forth its
utmost efforts to produce a crop.
I have no doubt that if it were prac-
tlcable the corn crop of almost any
year, and, in fact, of most years, would
be increased by cultivation even after
it is tasseled out. This cultivation,
however, would have to be shallow in
order to prevent root pruning. I believe in cultivating corn just as long
as possible. It is a very great mistake to fix upon any certain definite
number of times to cultivate corn.
Everything depends on conditions and
circumstances. Some seasons threo
times are sufficient; others, four, five,
six or seven  will be needed.
Prefers Shallow Level Cultivation.
It is well to keep the soil In the corn
field stirred every few days as long as
possible, but unless it is absolutely
necessary to destroy deep-rooted weeds
shallow cultivation should be given after the corn is about twelve inches
high. For by that time its roots should
Interfere, and any deep cultivation will
necessarily cut off these small roots
and hinder the development of the
corn. This may not be noticeable in
a wet season, but will certainly be very
noticeable in a dry season.
I always prefer to lay the corn by
level, especially where there is any
possibility of drouth, the reason being
that If it is ridged, the corn is not able
to utilize the full fertility of the land,
and It is also much more liable to suffer in case of drouth under those conditions.
By keeping in mind the objects we
have in cultivating our corn, we will
know much better what tool to use,
how and when to use It, than anyone
else can tell us. We can always do a
th'ng better when we know what conditions we want to produce and why.
— . ■» ■
THE   CULTIVATION   OF   CORN*.
Editors Indiana Farmer:
Contrary to the general belief among
farmer's stirring the soil is not an essential to the development of a corn
plant but cultivation is primarily for
the conservation of moisture and the
killing of weeds. To prove this it is
only necessary to refer to the results
of four years of experiments carried
on under the direction of the Purdue
Experiment Station. A plat of corn
that received no cultivation yielded
20.6 bushels per acre; while a similar
plat on which the weeds were scraped
off and no cultivation given yielded
57.1 bushels. A third plat that was
cultivated four times during the season
Continued on page  4.