10 FOR BETTER CROPS IN THE SOUTH 



crop turned under, adding- organic matter to the soil. In humid 

 regions, soils without a cover crop leach badly, especially those 

 of a sandy nature. Heavy clay soils are not so subject to leach- 

 ing and are very profitably plowed in the fall. 



Corn requires a deep soil, which means deep plowing. The 

 one-horse plow has been too commonly used in preparing land 

 for corn and as a result Southern soils, as a rule, are not deep 

 enough. To deepen these soils will mean that considerable sub- 

 soil will have to be brought up and mixed with the top soil. 

 This should be done in the fall, as subsoil brought to the surface 

 in the spring will prove injurious. 



Preparation of Land after Plowing — A large part of the 

 tillage for corn should be done before the crop is planted. Har- 

 rows are not used enough in the South. The disk harrow, the 

 spring-tooth harrow and the spike-tooth harrow are excellent 

 implements for working the soil into a good seed bed after it is 



A modern corn planter in operation 



plowed. The best time to harrow the land is immediately 

 after plowing, when the clods are moist and easily pulverized. 

 Poor preparation before planting means a large expense in cul- 

 tivating the crop, together with small yields. No amount of 

 labor should be spared until a deep soil is prepared with a well 

 pulverized seed bed on top. 



Methods of Planting— Corn is planted in drills which are 

 from four to five feet apart, depending on the! productiveness of 

 the soil. The richer the soil, the closer the drills can be, and the 

 closer the plants in the row. On medium soil, capable of pro- 

 ducing thirty-five or forty bushels of corn per acre, the rows 

 should be from four to four and one-half feet apart, and the 

 plants from fifteen to twenty inches in the drill. For silage, 

 the plants should be much thicker in the drill. 



The one-horse planter is most commonly used in planting the 

 crop. On level land the two-horse, check-row planter can very 

 profitably be used. Either the one-horse or two-horse planter 

 should be used, as these implements save labor and afford a more 

 even stand than the old method of dropping the corn by hand. 



