132 THE CHIEF SOUTPIERN AGRICULTURAL CROPS 



This is best done with a two-horse fertilizer drill. A 

 small cultivator shovel attached at the rear of the drill 

 will serve to mix the fertilizer in the bottom of the 

 furrow. Now drop a continuous row of seed cane in 

 the bottom of the furrow. It is best to select plant 

 cane or vigorous-growing stubble for seed. Using 

 that from old, worn-out stubble fields is unadvisable, 

 as it will make a weaker, less satisfactory growth. 

 Cover with the disk cultivator, setting the gangs to 

 throw more or less dirt according to the condition of 

 moisture. If the ground is moist, germination will 

 be prompter if the cane is not covered more than two 

 or three inches. If it is dry, it is necessary to cover 

 six or eight inches deep to prevent the drying of the 

 seed canes. In from one to two weeks, or just as 

 the first shoots are peeping through the ground, 

 harrow the field thoroughly with the smoothing 

 harrow, running lengthwise of the rows. This will 

 kill any small weeds that may be starting and will 

 freshen the surface of the soil and greatly aid 

 germination. When the young plants are well 

 up so that they show from one end of the row to the 

 other, begin cultivating with the ordinar}^ two-horse 

 riding corn cultivator, of course straddling the row 

 so as to cultivate both sides at once. The seven-foot 

 rows are so wide that there will be a strip in the 

 middle not reached by the cultivator. This can be 

 finished with an ordinary walking cultivator of the 

 Planet Jr. type, or the narrow cultivator blades may be 

 removed from the regular cultivator and eight-inch 

 cutaway sweeps be bolted on instead. These will have 

 a wide enough cut to meet in the center and as thus 



