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THE AMERICAN FARMER. 



cultivation is always beneficial to corn; deep cultivation is always attended with some risk, on 

 account of breaking or disturbing the roots of the plant, which extend to a greater distance than 

 is commonly supposed; therefore we would not recommend the plow for corn-culture ; it goes 



too deep and breaks 

 the roots. Farmers 

 frequently have a 

 mistaken idea with re 

 spect to the character 

 of the roots of the corn- 

 plant. It was a com 

 monly-received opinion 

 many years ago, that 

 the roots of trees and 

 plants extended from 

 the base of the stems, 

 only as far as the bran 

 ches extende d each 

 way from the trunk or 



THE PLANET, JR., HORSE-HOE. gtems aboye&amp;lt; ft ,. 



quires but a little observation to become acquainted with the fact that all trees throw out 

 roots on each side as long as the entire height of the tree, and frequently to a much greater 

 distance; the same is true of many plants. Says a recent authentic writer on this sub 

 ject: 



&quot;&quot;We have made some recent examinations of the roots of beans, potatoes, and of corn. 

 Roots of beans within four weeks of the time of planting the seeds, and when the plants were 

 only five inches high, were found which had extended a foot and a half from the stem; and 

 potatoes planted the first of May, in rows three feet apart, were found to have pushed their 

 fibrous roots by the middle of June so as to occupy the entire space between the rows. Very 

 careful examination was of course required to ascertain these facts, and careless observers 

 would be likely to overlook them entirely. 



The roots of corn do not extend so far as those of beans and potatoes during the early 

 weeks of their growth; but early in summer, before the corn plants were six inches high, 



they were found to have horizontal roots in some 

 instances a foot in length, making a circle of fibers 

 I two feet in diameter, or four times the height of the 

 plants. When the corn had reached twelve or fifteen 

 ; inches, the roots had met between the three-feet rows, 

 I and while yet the plants had not attained more than 

 , one-tenth their final weight or bulk. Long before the 

 I ears form, the entire ground between the rows is 

 occupied with their long and slender fibers. 



Observing farmers have long since discovered that 

 much hilling of the corn crop is injurious to its growth, and lessens its product. But they 

 generally assign wrong reasons. One of our best practical writers lately stated that hilling 

 does harm by throwing the water of falling rains away from the roots of the plant evidently 

 supposing that they are crowded in a little mass a few inches in length at the foot of the 

 stalks, instead of actually spreading far and wide. As heavy rains soak the ground alike 

 over the field, the hilling would make little difference; or if it did, the water would be as 

 freely thrown on the roots between the rows as in them.&quot; 



The writer then refers to other erroneous methods of reasoning and practice sometimes 



THE DEERE SPRING &quot; CULTIVATOR. 



