CORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION. 53 



found that this deep plowing, like siibsoiling, makes a good theory and 

 has many theoretical arguments in its favor, but has not been proven 

 practical. 



Depth of Planting — The old theory was that in this country, where 

 corn suffers from drought, it is a good idea to plant the corn deep so the 

 roots will be where the moisture is when drought comes. We made some" 

 experiments along this line some years ago and found that no benefit 

 whatever was secured by planting the grain deep, as far as the depth of 

 the roots was concerned. They occupied the same area they would have 

 anyhow, and we went to all the expense of putting our corn deep down 

 into the soil and ran a very great risk that it would not come up on 

 account of being put in a soil that is cold and wet, especially if cold, wet 

 weather follows planting, only to get the roots in precisely the same 

 soil area that they would have occupied if planted the normal depth. 



Thickness of Planting — This is an old question. Very much will 

 depend on what you are going to do with your corn — more will depend 

 on the soil you have and still more on the season — as to what thickness 

 would give the largest returns. The thinner the land and the drier the 

 season and the larger the corn, the thinner it ought to be planted. The 

 smaller the corn, the richer the land, and the wetter the season, the 

 thicker you should plant. Then the use to which this crop is to be put, i. 

 e., whether to be husked or fed whole, cut up or hogged down, etc., 

 will affect very materially the thickness to plant. There is no question 

 but that one can get a larger number of bushels of corn per acre by 

 planting somewhat thicker than is customary in the average season. 

 By so doing, however, you so reduce the size of the ear, at the same 

 time, of course, increasing the number of ears, that the small increase in 

 yield will be more than oft'set by the increased labor and cost of husking 

 the same, provided that method of harvesting is to be followed. In such 

 case thinner planting, so as to give good-sized ears, will be best. If 

 one is going to feed it as fodder, ear and all, so as to put it in the 

 silo — and we do a lot of unnecessary work in taking the ear from the 

 stalk and putting it in the crib or pen somewhere and then later' uniting 

 stalk and ear again in almost the same proportion — the thick planting 

 will give the larger return. That is, if you are going to feed it as fodder 

 corn you can follow a somewhat thicker planting than you can afford 

 to if you are going to husk it. The proper thickness must be determined 

 by each individual farmer. 



The Effect of Suckers on Yield. — In this connection is the matter 

 of suckers which a great many farmers inquire about. The development 

 of suckers is intimately associated with the thickness or completeness 



