50 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



extends over the entire cultivating season, are that it has a 

 tendency to pack the soil, and is not as effective as deep 

 culture in destroying weeds. The objection to deep culture, 

 when it extends over the entire season, is that it cuts the 

 corn roots, thereby decreasing the yield. Both of these 

 objections are undoubtedly well made. "We have tried sur- 

 face cultivation (with gopher blades) throughout the three 

 or four cultivations, and have compared it with deeper cul- 

 ture over a like period. "With the deeper culture the corn 

 was cleaner and the seed bed was not so packed. Notwith- 

 standing this, some roots were cut by the deeper cultivating 

 which made the surface cultivated fields show about the 

 same yield. 



We are thoroughly convinced that any method of culti- 

 vation that destroys a portion of the corn roots is disastrous 

 to the corn plant and reduces the yield in proportion to the 

 amount of roots destroyed. Deep culture that prunes the 

 roots after the corn is three feet high may decrease the yield 

 from three to twenty bushels per acre, depending on the 

 amount of rainfall following. If a heavy rainfall comes 

 just after the cutting of the roots, the injury will be slight, 

 but if the pruning process is followed by several weeks of 

 hot, dry weather the injury will be severe. In our efforts 

 to maintain clean culture without pruning the roots, we use 

 shovel plows during the first three cultivations and finish 

 with a fourth plowing, using a high arch surface cultivator. 

 This plan, of course, is varied somewhat, depending on the 

 season and the foulness of the field. 



FIRST CULTIVATION 



We start plowing the first field as soon as we finish plant- 

 ing. If the corn is four or five inches high, six-shovel riding 

 cultivators are used; but if it is smaller than this we prefer 



