28 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



An example of a field that required a great deal of work 

 was a blue-grass sod that we plowed shallow in the fall. This 

 field was double pulverized twice, harrowed three times and 

 rolled once and then was not in good shape for planting 

 the corn. The winter was dry and the sod did not rot as 

 it usually does. If this field could have been plowed about 

 five or six inches deep it would not have required so much 

 work in the spring. We know of a stalk field where the stock 

 were allowed to run late, that broke up so cloddy that it re- 

 quired six alternate rollings and harrowings to make a seed 

 bed. Although there were some clods left, the field produced 

 eighty-five bushels to the acre and the farmer was well paid 

 for his thorough work. 



Frank Mann sums up this situation when he says : ' ' There 

 is no way to get ground in good condition except to work it, 

 and the worse condition it is in the more work is needed." 



Some soils require more work than others. Additional 

 implements can be purchased on short notice, but men and 

 horses have to be arranged for in advance. One can never 

 tell how much time one will have in which to prepare ground 

 in the spring for corn. In this latitude we do well to get 

 our oats in by the fifth of April. If the weather is favorable 

 and the ground warm, we start planting corn by the fifth 

 of May. If wet weather kept us out of the field a week or 

 ten days in April, we have only three weeks in which to 

 prepare the corn ground. In our own practice we average 

 using one horse for every eight acres that we intend to put 

 in corn. Some of these are brood mares and are used only 

 during the preparation of the seed bed, when every imple- 

 ment requires four horses. We consider this ratio about 

 right for the average season. Sometimes we could get along 

 with fewer horses, but more often it would pay us to have 

 more. 



