134 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



preparation of the seed bed that it should have. This is another of the 

 items where a dollar spent brings two or more in return. 



Another important factor not thoroughly appreciated in many 

 cases is the necessity of a uniform stand of corn secured by using only 

 strong growing seed and distributing it evenly with a properly adjusted 

 planter. And in this connection I wish to call attention to the mistake 

 too frequently made of planting corn too thick for the fertility of the 

 land. When we stop to consider that an average of two stalks per hill 

 3 feet 8 inches each way, each stalk bearing a 12-ounce ear, means a 

 yield of 70 bushels per acre, we gain some idea of the possibilities of an 

 even stand of good stalks planted thin. It takes practically the same 

 amount of moisture and almost as much plant food to produce a stalk 

 bearing a nubbin as it does one bearing a 12-ounce ear, and where the 

 thickness of planting is three or four stalks per hill on land in which 

 the plant food and moisture are both insufficient, the results can readily 

 be foreseen. Of course, on soils where both plant food and moisture 

 are abundant the thicker planting is desirable, but on the bulk of our 

 corn lands today, the thinner planting is best. It is true that this far 

 south the stalks tend to grow large, and this tendency is somewhat in- 

 tensified by the thinner planting, but it will usually be best to secure 

 varieties that are somewhat less rank growing, plant them at only a 

 medium thickness and then give them the cultivation necessary to 

 conserve the moisture required for the production of one good ear per 

 stalk. The tendency is growing throughout the corn belt to plant corn 

 of strong germination at a uniform rate, somewhat thinner in the row 

 and then bring the rows slightly closer together to allow of more thor- 

 ough cultivation. There are few soils in the corn belt where a stand 

 averaging two stalks per hill in rows 3 feet 6 inches apart, properly cul- 

 tivated, wnll not give greater yield of marketable corn than will one 

 averaging 3 or 4 stalks per hill. 



The proper cultivation of corn is a matter which is determined 

 largely by the season and soil, but I wish to call attention to one or 

 two of its most important features. The corn belt farmers are learn- 

 ing that a harrow used once, twice, or even more times, before the 

 corn is large enough to cultivate readily, is the cheapest and most 

 efficient form of earl}^ cultivation. The use of the harrow is, of course, 

 determined largely by the season, but except on seasons of abundant 

 early rainfall it is of great value in breaking the crust, in conserving 

 moisture and in controlling the early growth of weeds. 



Again, the farmers are learning that the old cultivation with two 

 large shovels to the gang which throw a wide furrow and cut deep 

 into the root-bearing layer of the soil is rarely so efficient as the 



