26 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



As we have stated, each day's plowing is harrowed the 

 next morning. If a hard rain comes, all the ground pre- 

 viously plowed is again harrowed before proceeding with the 

 plowing. If the rainfall is very heavy and many weeds have 

 started, the ground is single pulverized in place of being 

 harrowed. 



This year we had no rain on over two hundred acres 

 from the time the ground was plowed until after the corn 

 was planted. This was a period of four weeks without even 

 a shower. No amount of work could make an ideal seed 

 bed under such conditions. We did what we could to 

 pulverize the soil and conserve what moisture we had. After 

 the ground had been plowed and harrowed twice, it was rolled 

 with a corrugated roller. This was followed immediately with 

 the disc harrows lapping half. 



When the discing was finished, the ground was harrowed 

 cross-wise of the discing. This harrowing pulled most of 

 the clods to the top. For this reason we followed the harrow 

 with a second rolling. The fields were then harrowed twice 

 by lapping half and followed immediately by the planter 

 equipped with furrow openers. 



Double discing is a slow operation. At the same time, it 

 is the best implement we know with which to preserve mois- 

 ture, facilitate seed bed preparation, and hasten decay of 

 organic matter. A sharp, bright disc with the levers set well 

 forward will work in and through the furrow slice; while 

 smoothing harrows and corrugated rollers work only the sur- 

 face. Four good horses and an eight-foot disc harrow will 

 double disc (lapping half each time and leaving the ground 

 level) forty acres in five days. Repeated discings, by keep- 

 ing down all vegetable growth, will destroy, by starvation and 

 exposure, all such insects as the corn-root louse, cutworms 

 and grubworms. 



