14 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



WORK ON GROUND BEFORE PLOWING 



The stalk cutter should be the first implement in the field 

 when corn follows corn. Unless the fields are very small, a 

 two-row cutter should be used in place of a single row. In 

 the first place, it gets over the ground twice as fast as a 

 single row cutter, and owing to its greater weight and better 

 balance does a much better job. The two-row cutters have 

 two tongues and are drawn by three horses. With this imple- 

 ment a good fast team will cut twenty acres in one day. All 

 the stalk cutters we have ever tried have been satisfactory; 

 but the farmer who has never used a stalk cutter must not 

 expect it to cut every stalk if the stalk growth is rank and 

 heavy. 



If the stalks are heavy it will be necessary to follow with 

 a disc harrow either single or double discing. Where a stalk 

 cutter is followed by a sharp disc, lapping half each time, the 

 heaviest growth of stalks will be cut and the ground left 

 level ready for the plow. If the ground is single disced 

 after the cutter it is advisable to have the horses walk on 

 the ridges. This cuts down the ridges and leaves the ground 

 fairly level. 



For several years we dispensed with the use of the stalk 

 cutter in preference to double discing; but the objection to 

 this method was that the standing stalks continually worried 

 the team and the time lost would almost amount to the time 

 required to cut the stalks. 



When practicable, it is a good plan to run the stalk cutter 

 on afternoons only, since the stalks are dryer and the cutter 

 does a much better job. The disc will do nearly as good a 

 job in the forenoon as it will in the afternoon. 



We have tried breaking the stalks before discing, but the 

 results were very disappointing, since the stalks became so 



