CHEAP CORN. 24'J 



most congenial soils. It has been most truly said that Indian corn 

 is a "child of the sun." 



Having selected a suitable field of sufficient area, it is essential to 

 cheap cultivation that it shall be reasonably free from trees and 

 rocks, and all obstructions to the free use of all improved machin- 

 er}'. Plowing will be the first and perhaps the most essential part 

 of the work, for we learned the truth of the saying in our boyhood, 

 that "a field well plowed is half wed." We should be satisfied with 

 nothing less than a thorough inverting of the sod, without holes or 

 breaks in the furrows. The woik should be done with a swivel 

 plow, thus avoiding all dead furrows. From six to eight inches, ac- 

 cording to the nature of the soil, will be a sufficient depth. When 

 coarse barn manure is to be applied it should in all cases be plowed 

 in. If asked if this rule should be adhered to in cold and wet land, 

 I should answer such land should nevtr be planted to corn. 



After ploughing, the ground is readv for one of the improved pat- 

 terns of pulverizing harrows. This should be run crosswise and 

 lengthwise of the furrows until the field is like a seed bed. The 

 ground is now ready for such mineral or commercial fertilizers as are 

 to be applied. And here no little amount of skill will be required on 

 the part of the farmer to determine the quantity' and the quality 

 of fertilizers to be applied to his fields in order to secure the 

 desired crop with all the conditions favorable. He must not only 

 know something of the nature and composition of the elements in 

 the fertilizer, but he must have a knowledge of the habits and wants 

 of the crops to be grown ; and, still further, he must possess a knowl- 

 edge of the capacity of the soil. Is the soil wanting in all the essen- 

 tial elements of plant food? In order to grow corn at the cheapest 

 possible rate, we must feed it with just those elements it requires 

 and nothing more. Without doubt this is the most puzzling problem 

 with which the farmer has to contend. But, happily, science has 

 come to our aid and told us there are but three essential elements of 

 plant food wanting in most soils, viz : potash, phosphoric acid and 

 nitrogen. While later developments make it a doubtful policy for 

 the farmer to buy much nitrogen for the production of corn, of all 

 the crops grown upon the farm, none, perhaps, are more greedy or 

 ravenous in their appetites than the corn plants. It occupies the 

 whole season in maturing, and it seems to possess organs for supply- 

 ing itself with the nitrogenous elements that are required from a 

 variety of sources. More especially where a moderate application 



