CORN 



125 



cause crossing between two varieties of dent corn does 

 not always change the character of the grains the first 

 year. The growing of two varieties of corn close together 

 (unless they are planted at such dates as to cause them 

 to tassel at different times) should be avoided. 



Corn is a plant easily improved by the method given 

 in Section VIII. It is also a plant that quickly becomes 

 mixed, and hence inferior, if great care is not taken in the 



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FIG. 78. SHOWING THREE METHODS OF PLANTING CORN 



selection of seed. Learn the best kind of corn for your 

 soil, then keep it pure and improve it. 



Corn roots and the preparation they require. A corn 

 plant may have 20 to 50 roots, many of them as long as 

 the plant itself. These, with their branches and root- 

 hairs, are always busy taking water from the soil. Hence 

 corn yields best on a soil that is always moist (but not 

 wet). It needs land so deeply plowed before planting and 

 so well drained that some of its roots can grow deep down 

 where there is moisture even when the weather is dry. 

 Plow deep in preparing a field, if you can plow early. 



