160 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



The corn is harrowed once or twice before it comes up. I plow 

 my corn at least four times with four and six-shovel plows. The last 

 cultivating is given the corn when it begins to tassel. About silking 

 time I plow between the rows with a five shovel, one-horse cultivator. 

 When it is necessary to plow in the spring, where corn follows corn, I 

 prefer to plow as early as possible, since early plowing is not affected 

 so much by a dry spell in July and August. I never, under any cir- 

 cumstances, burn any stalks. This is a ruinous practice with us, and 

 I believe will do more harm than good in any country. 



Yours truly, JOHN L. NOVAK. 



Mr. Novak is a breeder of Poland China Hogs. 



Senath, Missouri, April 25th, 1913. 

 Mr. W. T. Ainsworth, Mason City, Illinois. 



Dear Sir: In reply to your letter of the 8th, I will say that 

 I just haven't had time to spare to write you in regard to my method 

 of preparing the seed bed and growing corn. 



To begin with, the soil here is a light level soil. We plow our stalk 

 ground mostly in the spring, as we sow peas in the cornfield at laying 

 by time. I think it best for the land and also for the following crop 

 to plow in the fall, but because of the fact that I depend on stalk 

 fields for pasture until winter or early spring, it is impossible for me 

 to plow in the fall. I plow my land from seven to eight inches deep 

 and I think that is deep enough for this land. I cut my stalks and 

 plow them under because that and the cowpeas are all that we have 

 to keep our land up. The first thing I do in the spring is to cut the 

 stalks and disc the rows down; then I turn and cross disc again before 

 plowing. If I plant at once I run a three-horse section harrow and 

 plant, but if the ground is not planted at once I don't harrow, since 

 the winds will blow it so bad. If the ground is allowed to lay for 

 some time before planting, I double disc to kill the weeds and harrow 

 with a drag harrow before planting. I plant with a two-row drill, 

 three and one-half feet apart, and set to drill the two rows from 

 twenty to thirty inches apart, owing to the richness of the soil. 1 

 used to plant thick, and later thin out every other stalk, but I have 

 quit this because I can't do all the work myself, and if one plants 

 too thick he generally does not thin enough. Of late years I have 

 planted for a stand, and I usually get plenty of corn, in fact, if you 

 get your land in good condition for the seed, there's no likelihood of 



