THE GRAINS 145 



rolling that terracing or circling the rows (planting 

 on contour lines) is necessary to avoid serious loss 

 from washing. This, of course, also makes cross cul- 

 tivation and the use of the check-row planter impos- 

 sible. On these light hill lands it is also found best 

 to space the rows about five feet apart, but to drill in 

 the cowpeas in a single row in the middles. This 

 makes it possible to cultivate once or twice after the 

 peas are planted, which is a great advantage, since 

 maintaining a dust mulch as late in the season as 

 possible is of the utmost importance on these lands, 

 which otherwise suffer so quickly from short periods 

 of drought. 



A Lister Corn Planter. 



In the drier regions west of the Mississippi River 

 the system of listing corn, that is, of planting it in 

 the bottom of deep water furrows, has come to be 

 widely adopted. This is exactly the reverse of the 

 Louisiana system, where it is planted on top of the 

 beds. The land is either first broken flat with a 

 common plow and then planting furrows opened with 

 the double moldboard plow or, if the soil is of friable 

 texture, the planting furrows are opened between the 

 old rows without previous plowing. Lister .planters 



