CORN growers' association. 55 



has a very great tendency in that direction; flint corn has the same 

 tendency, more or less ; dent corn not so much because we have developed 

 it in size by selection. 



There are varieties, however, of dent corn that tend much more 

 to suckers than others, and I should discard varieties that tend in that 

 direction. 



Corn Tillage. — If we had some way to keep the weeds down one of 

 the chief reasons for tilling would be removed. The functions of tillage 

 for growing a crop like corn are two-fold : First, to keep down the 

 weeds; and second, to conserve the moisture in the soil by preventing 

 the evaporation of the moisture from the surface. A third function that 

 was supposed to be performed by tillage was to stir the soil so the roots 

 could penetrate and develop. If the land has been properly prepared 

 before planting, that third use of tillage does not exist since the soil 

 will be porous enough to permit of the fullest development of the roots. 

 There is no necessity for tilling the land during the growing season to 

 the depth that the roots will grow, and by so doing you are doing your 

 corn, your team and yourself an injury. There is nothing better estab- 

 lished in the growing of corn than the fact that root-pruning of corn 

 is a very injurious process to the plant. There is no time in the life of 

 the plant when the roots can be pruned to the benefit of the plant, and 

 there is no time when you can prune those roots without seriously in- 

 juring the plant. The drier the season and soil are and the larger 

 the plants, the more injurious the pruning. Growing corn plants require 

 an enormous amount of water, and at the time from tasseling on to 

 maturity they are growing more rapidly than any other plant we know 

 anything about. This means that it needs a greater root system and 

 greater feeding area than it can possibly have if we are stirring that 

 soil up with a cultivator where the roots are in such a way as to cut these 

 roots and at the same tmie dry out the soil. There is nothing better 

 established in corn growing than the fact that shallow and level tillage 

 will, if you keep the v/eeds down, produce one season with another a 

 larger yield than will deep tilling or ridged culture. The difficulties in 

 the shallow tilling are two-fold : The difficulty of killing the weeds and 

 still keep the ground level. Many times there is no practical way to 

 kill the weeds except by covering them up, and in that case the land 

 must be ridged. You need some piling of the dirt around the stalks or 

 ridging to a limited amount in order to keep the corn from falling 

 down. You will get enough of that under an ordinary system of tillage 

 without trying particularly to do it. In spite of anything you can do, 

 you will have your land somewhat ridged. As I said before, nothing is 



