208 NORTHEAST EXPERIMENT FARM. 
corn, to make good fodder, should be ripe enough for the 
lower leaves to turn yellow. This result cannot be attained 
with the very late southern dents, and the fodder will be 
watery, sour and hard tocure. Dents from southern Min- 
nesota will easily mature to this extent if planted at the 
right time. The date of planting on the farm has varied 
from May 31st to June 10th. The length of the season will 
depend on the frost in the fall. Should the corn freeze before 
itis cut, it is greatly damaged, and its flavor and feeding 
value reduced one-half. This freeze in seven years, has never 
come before Sept 7th, and the average date has been Sept. 
14th. It is not safe then to delaystarting to cut much after 
Sept. 5th. The earlier the corn is planted the sooner it will 
reach the desired state of maturity, and the more time there 
will be to take care of it before frost. While June 1(th is not 
too late, it can be profitably sown as early as May 25th. If 
emergencies arise demanding the planting of late corn, as oc- 
curred in 1900, a crop may be secured as late as July 1st. It 
stands to reason that in planting at this date, better matured 
corn, and possibly just as much of it, can be raised from the 
seed of earlier flints or dents. . 
The method of planting has much to do withthe size and 
quality of the crop. Planting in hills for fodder should beab- 
solutely abandored. Thestalks are largeand tough and yield 
low. Broadcast planting is often adopted, on the ground 
that it doesaway with cultivation and saves work. But the 
increased labor of cutting must beconsidered, and the results 
from broadcasting are very unsatisfactory. Weeds grow un- 
less the stand is thick, and whenit is,so many stalks are pro- 
duced, that very often the moisture gives out before thecrop 
is more than well started, and short sickly stalks result, 
difficult to handle, and with a total yield not equalling that 
obtained by planting in drills and cultivating. In proof of 
these facts, the plot planted in 1902, in hills, gave 2.4 tons, 
that sown broadcast produced 3.7 tons, while the drilled 
and cultivated plot yielded 5.4 tons per acre, or nearly one- 
third more than broadcast. Cultivation kills the weeds and 
prevents evaporation, so that all the moisture and fertility 
in the soil go to developing the crop. On a weedy piece this 
is especially important. In 1900, the plot sown broadcast, 
