180 Practical Farming 



and produce maximum crops tried by the scale of any 

 section. 



But whatever the method used in planting, the after cul- 

 tivation should always be level and shallow, except in low 

 flat lands that need drainage, where it may be necessary 

 to plant on ridges and to keep the middles clear to assist 

 in the drainage. But these lands are exceptional. The 

 first cultivation of the corn crop should be made before 

 the grain germinates, and the best implement is the smooth- 

 ing harrow to merely break the crust and allow the grain 

 to germinate easily and uniformly. Then follow with the 

 weeder, going both ways. A plant here and there may be 

 damaged by the weeder, but there is nothing that will help 

 the young com plants to start off ahead of the weeds so 

 well. After the corn gets six or eight inches high the two- 

 horse riding cultivator, which enables the operator to 

 cultivate both sides of a row at once, is the implement to 

 use. The final cultivation, after the corn gets tall and 

 shows signs of tasselHng, is the small tooth one-horse cul- 

 tivator or the spring tooth single harrow. Cultivated in 

 this way there will be no furrows to catch a head of v/ater 

 to start a wash down hill, and the shallow cultivation will 

 retain the moisture in the soil, especially if the cultivation 

 is kept up in dry weather and a loose blanket of soil is 

 kept on the surface. Worked in this way the roots are 

 unharmed and the moisture kept right where they seek it. 



The common practice, especially in the Middle and 

 Southern States, is to throw a furrow to the rows with a 

 turning plow as the '4aying-by" cultivation. This tears 

 the feeding roots off and gives a serious check to the corn, 

 and at the same time turns up the soil to dry out and thus 



