74 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



Arithmetic: 



1. A team travels 23^ miles to cultivate an acre of com planted 

 3% ft. apart each way. How far must it travel to cultivate 8 acres? 



2. If a team travels 18 miles with a harrow 12 ft. wide, how much 

 land would it harrow? 



3. How many times can one afford to harrow land to save one 

 cultivation? (See two examples above.) 



METHODS OF CULTIVATING CORN 



Depth to Cultivate. — There seems to be an unsettled 

 question among farmers as to how deep to cultivate corn. 

 Apparently there is no rule that one can safely follow, for 

 the conditions vary with soils and seasons, so that it is 

 largely a matter that must be settled by the individual 

 farmer and depends entirely upon the depth of the corn 

 roots. In a dry loose soil corn roots will grow nearly straight 

 down, while in a heavy or more moist soil they will spread 

 out near the surface of the ground. Roots naturally grow 

 where there is available plant food; and that, we have 

 learned, is where there is heat, air and moisture. In wet 

 years they find this condition near the surface, and in dry 

 years or in dry soil they must go deeper down for the plant 

 food. The accompanying cut shows how corn roots usually 

 grow. (Figure 31.) 



Roots of Com. — A very interesting study of the root 

 system of corn may be made by taking a rather blunt wooden 

 paddle and carefully scraping away the loose soil between 

 two hills of corn, until the roots are exposed. One may 

 then observe the roots, how far they spread out from the 

 hill of corn and how near the surface they grow. As a rule, 

 when the corn is a foot high the roots from the rows will 

 be overlapping and within one to four inches from the sur- 

 face, depending upon how wet the soil is and how recently 

 and how deeply cultivated. 



Results of Deep Cultivation. — From the above facts it 

 is quite evident that, if the cultivator is run too deep, some 

 of the roots will be cut off. The roots are the feeders of 

 the plants; consequently every one that is cut off decreases 

 the amount of moisture and plant food the plant will get. 

 The effects of too deep cultivation may be seen by cutting 

 down in the soil four inches, with a sharp spade, two to 

 four inches from a hill of corn. Then note results. If it 



