14 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



tioned to a board or other article that will hold it smooth, and glancing 

 at each hill tally "1" opposite the proper number on the margin. Thus, 

 if there are three stalks in the hill tally "1" on the same line as the 

 word three, and if a hill is missing tally "1" on the same line as the 

 word blank appears, and in like manner with all the other numbers. 



If all the work has been done as indicated in this paper, the great 

 bulk of the tallys will be after the word "Three" and it will be necessary 

 to leave a sufficient number of lines for "Threes" that there may be no 

 crowding of the strokes representing each hill as it is passed. After 

 the inventory has been taken, add together all the tally marks and with 

 a little calculation it is readily determined what per cent, of the field 

 has three stalks to a hill, what per cent, is lost by blanks, the number of 

 ones or twos, fours or more. Having practiced this method of taking an 

 inventory each year of my corn fields, I found it proved a great incentive 

 to still greater effort in securing the ideal condition of three stalks to 

 each and every hill, and without a blank in the field. 



The cultivators should be started as soon as possible after plant- 

 ing and whether it shall be shallow or deep cultivation must be deter- 

 mined by the condition of the soil and the weather. 



With a mellow soil and favorable weather, shallow cultivation will be 

 indicated, but on foul land and in wet, cold weather, more benefit will 

 be derived from the large shovels run at a good depth. Deep culti- 

 vating not only destroys the weeds better than shallow cultivation in wet 

 weather, but it opens up the soil to the rays of the sun and allows the air 

 to penetrate to the roots of the corn, which insures a much better growth 

 than to allow a cold sodden mass of wet soil to lie undisturbed which 

 would be the result of shallow cultivation in wet, cold weather. 



In times of extreme drouth, no fears need be entertained in regard to 

 cultivation for the more the surface of the ground is stirred ,the more 

 moist and mellow it will become. In some seasons there is much loss 

 from cut worms, especially on spring plowed sod ground, and in the 

 locality of old straw stacks, that have been allowed to remain in the field. 



I have found that fall plowing of sod ground destroys the eggs deposi- 

 ted the previous summer, and from which the cut worms are hatched, 

 the breaking up of the nests and exposure to the frosts of winter, after 

 the ground is plowed, proving an efficient preventive from damage by 

 this pest. 



Old straw stacks should not be allowed to occupy valuable ground in 

 the field, but the straw should be used for food or bedding for stock, and 

 when this is not necessary the straw should be used for a top dressing for 

 grass land, where it will decay rapidly, and add to the fertility of the 

 soil, as shown by the increased growth of the grass. 



The ground where the straw stack stood should be plowed in the fall 

 to destroy the nests where the eggs containing the embryo cut worms 

 are deposited, for these eggs cannot resist cold and snow, alternate freez- 

 ing and thawing, when the nests are broken up, and the protection afford- 

 ed by the covering provided for them when the eggs were deposited is 

 destroyed. 



