16 The Bulletin. 



DEPTH. 



Early planted corn should not be planted so deep as that planted later 

 in the season, since early in the spring the ground is cold and germina- 

 tion is more sluggish. As the season advances the depth of planting 

 may be increased. 



When the seed bed has been properly prepared, furrows should be run 

 some five to six inches deep, leaving four to five inches of loose, finely 

 pulverized soil between the bottom of this furrow and the unbroken sub- 

 soil beneath. In the bottom of this furrow the corn should be planted, 

 but covered shallow. Corn is generally planted too near the surface, 

 especially in the piedmont section, where the midsummer drought is 

 most prevalent. Here the corn should have its root system develop 

 rather deeply in order to come in contact with better and more lasting 

 moisture condilions. "When a large amount of green vegetation has 

 been cut up and incorporated with the soil it is highly necessary that 

 the crop be planted deep below the surface (but covered shallow) in 

 order to escape the drying effects of the first three to four inches of the 

 surface soil during the first two or three Aveeks of the season. Then, too, 

 the root system gets a thorough hold of the deeper soil and gradually, 

 as the season advances, rises to the upper soil and finally occupies the 

 whole soil stratum, thus utilizing all the available plant food present. 

 Of course, corn must not be planted too deep, but a small amount of 

 careful observation and a little experimentation on a given soil will 

 enable the farmer to judge very closely of the proper depth of planting 

 for best results. The more deeply planted corn does not grow off so 

 rapidly, as a rule, but withstands the midsummer drought better and 

 yields more corn in the fall. 



THICKNESS OF PLANTING. 



The thickness of planting will vary with the variety and the fertility 

 of the soil. It will be borne in mind that the high individual acre yields 

 that have been made in the South during the past two or three years 

 were not made so much by the increased prolificacy of the individual 

 stalks as by the increased number of stalks per acre. 



On account of the irregularity of our fields the checking of corn by 

 moans of the check-row planter is never likely to become general. The 

 crop is now generally planted in the drill and, so far as we know, there 

 is no economic necessity for changing this time-honored method. 



The drilling of the crop gives the opportunity for proper spacing in 

 the row ; the thickness of planting can be regulated to a nicety. Experi- 

 ments seem to indicate that one stalk in a hill Avith hills close together 

 gives better results than the same number of stalks per acre with, say, 

 two stalks in a hill. That is, it is better to have the stalks twelve inches 

 apart and one in a hill than to have the hills three feet apart and three 

 stalks in a hill. 



