152 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



permit, which is very seldom. It is not advisable to plow our hilly 

 ground in the fall, since it would wash too badly during the winter and 

 early spring. I think corn land should be plowed from six to nine 

 inches deep, since it holds the moisture better than shallow plowed 

 land. I usually cut the corn up and feed the fodder, but if I have 

 any stalks left I cut them up and turn them under. 



My corn ground is usually a sod clover or pasture land. After 

 breaking I drag, then disc, drag again and harrow. The early plowed 

 fields are not usually worked down until nearly planting time, but the. 

 late plowed fields should be worked down as soon as they are plowed 

 to keep the ground from becoming cloddy and to retain the moisture. 



I like to plant corn between the first and tenth of May, but of late 

 years spring rains have delayed planting until later. I plant with a 

 two-row corn planter, using commercial fertilizer at the rate of one 

 hundred pounds to the acre. Cultivation should begin as soon as 

 possible after the corn is up, and I like to harrow before the corn is 

 up, but if it rains after it is planted it is generally up before the 

 ground is dry enough to justify getting on with the harrow. As soon 

 as the corn is up I go over it with the harrow once and sometimes 

 twice. When the corn is about three inches high I commence cultivat- 

 ing with a two-horse cultivator. I plow deep the first and second times 

 over; setting the cultivator so that it will not throw much dirt to the 

 corn. The later cultivations are shallow. I always follow the cultivator 

 with a one-horse harrow which runs between the rows, here we use the 

 shovels since the disc leaves too uneven a surface. I always try to 

 leave the surface level after each cultivation. I cultivate from four to 

 six times, or as often as the weather will permit. T. B. LYONS. 



Buckley, Illinois, April 9th, 1913. 

 W. T. Ainsworth & Sons, Mason City, Illinois. 



Gentlemen: In answer to your letter of the 8th inst., I will give 

 you my method of preparing ground for corn. For several years past 

 I have been sowing from forty to eighty acres with clover in oats. I 

 let the clover stand until the second year to enable it to make the 

 necessary root growth from which a large part of the benefit to the 

 soil is obtained. If there is not much seed in the second crop of clover, 

 I plow it under to enrich the land. I prefer fall plowing of clover 

 sod in preference to waiting until after oats sowing is over. In the 

 spring I go over the fall plowed ground with a disc, cutting full depth. 



