VOL. LIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, APRIL 16, 1904.
NO 16.
HOW TO PLANT AND ACULTIVATE CORN.
Good Soil is a Prime Necessity.
lst Premium.—The important tiling for
a good corn crop is good soil in good condition. We may not all have ideal corn
land, but, if we have not, then we should
form au ideal in our mind, and bring the
land we have as near to that ideal as possible. Many farmers have not stopped
long enough to realize what am important
factor he himself is in obtaining ideal
corn soil. In an early day, in Central
Indiana, we sometimes found a piece of
land that had too much humus in it to
produce the best corn; but it is seldom
so at this day, for now the most of our
soil is lacking in humus from long cultivation. You may restore this humus by
plowing under coarse manure, or clover
or other leguminous crops. If your land
is stiff clay, humus or potashi will break
it up to a lively, mellow soil, if you give
it thorough cultivation, and will make fair
corn land of it.
Some land will yield to treatment more
readily than others, but perseverance in
this line will add many bushels of corn to
your crop and leave your land in good
condition for other crops.
I like to break my corn land early
enough so that I can barrow and drag it
not less then three times, at intervals of
a few days, before planting and let the
planter follow the harrow. Then I consider that I have my corn half tended at
least. The last 18 crops of corn I raised
were drilled in. I experimented in hill
and drilled corn until I was satisfied that
I could raise more corn by drilling, could
plant it cheaper and cultivate it easier,
keep it cleaner and leave it in better, condition- to sow to wheat, than I could hill
corn. How to plant: Open up a furrow
at least two inches deep; that is, have a
sprea"der or shovel in front of your drill
to open the furrow, and plant in the bot-
tor of it, covering the grain one and a
half inches for early planting, and a shade
deeper for the latter planting. If you
cover too deep, you exhaust tho strength
of the plant in getting to the surface. My
experience showed that _0 inches apart
gave the best crop.
Well, my com is up, and is ahead of
the weeds, for those three or four harrow-
iugs and draggings destroyed all the weed
seed near the surface, and there are few
more ready to come until they are raised
to the surface with the cultivator, and I
am careful that I do not run deep enough
to raise many of them to the surface You
need not be in such a hurry to get into
your field, if you have done tliis harrowing before you plant. Drilled corn- does
not want to be harrowed before you plow
or cultivate it. Now get in with your
double riding cultivator, your feet in
the stirrups and your lines well in hand,
and the fenders of your cultivator dropped
down on each side of the row, inside of
the furrow that you planted in, and just
watch that mellow dirt roll in against
those fenders, and as they glide by the
corn the dirt closes in on either side, not
leaving a weed uncovered. Nature covers
all seed very shallow. Even a nut fall on
the surface and is covered by the leaves
only. The weeds of tho field aro covered
by the freezing and thawing. So you may
turn down a heavy crop of weed seed
some five or six inches, and if you will only
kill what seed is near the surface you will
not bo bothered with those that are five
inches below, until you bring them to the
surface.
If you get your corn planted by the
twentieth of May, you can usually plow
it enough by harvest. I am not an advocate of late plowing. Brother farmers,
let's stop and think a little. We used to
plant our corn on the surface, and then
ridge or hill it, so that it could form
roots. What are we doing now? Wo
are still planting on the surface, but cultivating level, and if you will examine the
roots of surface planted corn, you will
find them rather small compared with the
roots of a stalk that has been planted
down in a furrow. Corn must have good
roots  for good  crops.
You ask, what do you think of commercial fertilizer for corn? I would say
use commercial fertilizer to produce
clover, and turn the clover under for corn.
There are hundreds of acres of corn culti-
bors, but we should do everything in season. The time referred to above was not
favorable to early planting, and many
of the farmers who laughed at us had to
plant a second time.
The ground should not only be worked
when in proper working condition, but
should be put in suitable condition to
plant  before  it  is   seeded. This   will
depend upon many circumstances. If
the ground has been plowed time and again
when too wet, or tramped by live stock
when wet, or exposed to the sun's rays
for considerable time each year without a
cover crop, the chances are that it will be
difficult to put in proper condition for
planting. We might say that planting
en such ground is an experiment each
year. If dry weather follows the planting, the ground should bo well pulverized,
iug, aud the writer has used the disc on
planted coin, harrowing it crossiwise.
The cultivation should be shallow, after
Ih? corn roots begin to grow to sufficient
length to be disturbed by deep cultivation.
Tho ground should be left practically
level, and the cultivation should take place
every 7 or 8 days whether weedy or not.
Commercial fertilizers are sometimes al-
mjjst a necessity to secure a stand of
clover, and thus improve the soil fertility.
Soil that requires commercial fertilizers
to grow coin, should not be planted K.
com, undor ordinary conditions, but should
be planted to _„_all gaiu, then to clover.
Hancock Co. O. C.
ELECTKIO PLOWING.
vated in Indiana each year that do not
yield enough to pay for the cultivation.
Why put such land in corn until it is
brought up? Let us not be fearful of getting out of the old ruts, but be careful that
we do not get into deeper ones. Study
plants. Study nature. Study your
soil. We do not waste labor on soil that
will not produce corn enough to pay for
the labor. Therefore, get your soil in
proper condition, then put your seed in
the soil in such a position that it can produce tho best roots. Do not mutilate the
roots of corn; it is better to stop trying
to raise corn. Keep tho cultivator going until you stop for good.
Marion Co. I. N. C.
Th» Weeder Comes in Handy.
2d Premium.—The planting and cultivation of the corn crop is an important item
for those living in central or northern Indiana, because it is the king of crops. On
account of the spring plowing being delayed, thero will be a great tendency to
plow the ground before it is in proper
condition. This should not be done.
Better wait a day or two, until the ground
is in proper condition, as ground plowed
too wet will not produco so well as if
plowed in proper condition.
A young man that I had employed a
few years ago said to me, one Monday,
lhat the people in his neighborhood were
nil laughing at us, because we were behind with our crop, (the season was not
favorable to early planting), and I made
this reply:. "I have but one ambition in
the planting of a com crop, and that is
to have full cribs at husking time."
Our ambition should not get the better of our judgment, just because we want
to get our corn planted before our neigh-
but if excessive rains follow planting, and
such ground has been- well pulverized, the
chances are that when it is ready to cultivate, it will be almost as hard and compact in places as it was before it was
broken. Therefore I would say that
the proper way to plant corn is, first, to
properly drain, clover, fetilizo (with barnyard manure), and otherwise give the
ground the right treatment for several
years, before you expect it to yield abundantly. Then put it in proper condition,
at the right time, working it down so
that there will be no large air spaces below, but all spaces nicely filled with comparatively fine dirt, so that all corn roots
may find their way easily through the
good   feeding  earth. Plant   with   well
tested corn, so»that you are confident that
00 or 05 per cent of it will grow, and se-
lest such corn as will plant regularly with
the planter used, to the end that you
may have a good stand which is necessary
to a good crop. If it were in order at
this time, we would say something about
how to select the seed, but that subject is
not now under consideration.
The matter of hills or drills depends upon many conditions, and is best determined
by each individual, as good results can
be attained by either method.
After the corn is planted, one of the
best tools, in the opinion of the writer, is
some good weeder, especially if heavy
rains have followed planting. Just as
soon as the ground will do to work, put
the weeder to work, and you will prevent
the ground crusting. The weeder is so
speedy that with one horse jou may get
over 15 acres or more eacli day, and with
the two horse weeder 25 acres or more
may be worked each day. The spike
toothed harrow is very useful after plant-
First Cultivation is the Most Important.
3d Premium.—To secure a good corn
crop, always plant your corn on the
strongest ground you have. The first important step is to break the ground right,
tf you have stalks, work them under but
do not burn them. Plow deep for corn.
It will cover your stalks or trash so that
they will not bother in cultivation. It
will also make your ground hold moisture
i ntime of drouth. In breaking, it is
best to plow a haw-land to keep the team
from tramping the broken land at th*
corners.
The second step is the preparation of the
ground for the planter. Some farmers
drag or harrow the land right after the
plow. This may seem necessary when
the ground breaks cloddy, and no sign
of rain, but it gives the weeds a chance
to sprout before the corn is planted. Better
let your ground lay after breaking, and
get it in order just before plan-ting. Work
your ground till free from clods. Go
over it no more than necessary to prevent
packing it, but be sure that it is thorough-
lie pulverized. It will then hold through
a drouth much better.
Plant your corn as soon after the first
of May as you can. Early corn general-
y makes the best com. Plant in furrowed rows from three feet four inches to
three feet six inches apart, and, if drilled,
from eighteen to twenty inches apart in
the row.
AVhen the corn is real small run over
it with the harrow. It will kill the little
weeds that aro just beginning to sprout.
Now then you are ready to cultivate. Plow
your corn just as small as you can work
it, and remember that the first plowing
is by far the most important. Put on
the fenders and go after the weeds, for if
you don't get them this time you never
will. You should have a plow with small
shovels, and should plow close up to the
corn. After the first plowing you should
just keep going over the corn as often as
you can, until it is too tall to bend uuder
the arch. But in tho later plowing do
not plow very deep, for it injures the
loots. Now then you think you have your
corn laid b.v, but you haven't. Run through
il with a one-horse, spring-tooth cultivator,
for it seems that the oftener ond longer
ihe surface of the ground is scratched the
better the corn. If you tend your corn
this way, and tho season is favorable, you
will have corn to husk in the fall.
Commercial fertilizer for corn is some-
think that I have never thought very
much about. It may be algl right, but
it cannot beat crop rotation. A good
clover sod, upon which stock has been pastured and fed, and sprinkled around the
edges with stable manure, is good enough
for anybody.
Daviess Co. L. C. S.
Premiums of $1, 75 cents «nd 50 cents
CONTINUED   ON   PAGE   16,   1ST   COLUMN.