22 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



knows that it is impossible to hire extra men and teams on 

 short notice. When "rainy days off" are taken into con- 

 sideration, we think that a ten-hour day is not too much 

 to ask of either man or team. Most of our own farm help 

 come from Kentucky, where they are accustomed to plow 

 from "sun to sun," and consider ten hours in the field a 

 short day's work. 



DEPTH OF PLOWING 



The depth to which ground should be plowed in order to 

 give the best results must, of necessity, vary with conditions. 

 There is, perhaps, no subject on which farmers and writers 

 differ so widely as on the matter of the depth of plowing. 

 One writer says ' ' deep plowing of sandy land is not advisable, 

 particularly in the spring. On clay land deeper plowing 

 should be the rule." On the other hand, a corn lecturer of 

 national fame says: "What is known as deep plowing is 

 generally not advisable in the corn belt, although the loose 

 soils and bottom-lands may be plowed much deeper than the 

 black prairie soils with less danger of bad results." While 

 these two statements are not altogether contradictory, they 

 have, at least, a tendency to leave the reader in doubt. 



In order to make ourselves more clearly understood, we 

 shall state that we consider six inches and over deep plowing, 

 and four inches and under shallow plowing. Plowing from 

 four to six inches deep may be considered as medium deep 

 plowing. 



DEEP PLOWING 



The advocates of deep plowing claim that since a loose, 

 porous soil has a greater moisture holding capacity than a 

 more compact soil, the deeper the plowing the more moisture 

 will be retained. Deep plowing allows plant food to get 



