1084 Rural School Leaflet. 



each hill with fine mellow soil so that the kernels lie buried about one 

 and a half inches below the surface. If the soil is rather dry, pat the 

 surface lightly with the back of the hoe blade to bring the soil moisture 

 up around the buried com kernels and make them sprout faster. 



If a hand planter can be found which will drop the five kernels in 

 each hill, it will save time to use it, but one should be careful to see 

 that enough loose soil falls in upon the com to cover it well after the 

 open blades of the planter are withdrawn from the soil. 



If a horse-drawn corn planter can be managed by any young corn 

 grower it will save furrow-making before planting and will leave the 

 rows in better condition for cultivation. 



Cultivation. — To kill the sprouting weeds which lie near the surface 

 of the soil, the plat should be harrowed lightly or stirred with a weeder. 

 About a week after the corn shoots can be plainly seen in the rows it is 

 time to begin using the cultivator. A quiet, steady horse hitched to a 

 single cultivator, or a team and a wheel cultivator with small blades 

 should be used to stir the soil between the rows of corn. Cultivation 

 kills the weeds, airs the soil, and prevents the evaporation of moisture 

 from the deeper soil. Corn is benefited by frequent cultivation, at first 

 moderately deep, then more lightly as the roots spread out through the 

 soil, and when the hot dry days of summer come, and the com is tasseling, 

 a small-toothed cultivator which leaves the surface soil fine and nearly 

 level will be most useful. Unless weather conditions interfere, the 

 corn plat shoiild be cultivated four times or more. The soil between 

 the hills in the row needs to be hoed as often as weeds appear. Never 

 hoe or cultivate the corn plat when the soil is so moist that it feels sticky 

 if squeezed in the hands. 



Enemies. — While the com plant is young one must watch for its 

 enemies. The crows and large blackbirds must be frightened away 

 from the field until the com is too large for them to pull it up. Some- 

 times a cutworm can be found lurking near a corn hill and killed before 

 it has cut off all of the stalks. 



Thinning. — When the corn plants are about six inches high and 

 danger from birds and insects seems to be past, every hill which has 

 more than three stalks should have the extra ones removed by pulling 

 them out, leaving the three most vigorous ones. 



Harvesting. — In September when the lower leaves on the cornstalks 

 begin to die and many of the husks are turning dry, it is time to cut 

 and shock the com crop if one wishes to save the fodder for feed. About 

 sixty hills of corn may be gathered into a shock and the tops bound 

 together to make the shock stand up. Tpo large a shock will not cur^ 



