134: INDIAN CORN. 



is the practice of some farmers, and well worthy of 

 general adoption, to use the subsoil plough in striking 

 out th e furrows. " From the peculiarity of this plough," 

 says Prof. Mapes, " the soil will be left in a much 

 more divided condition than by the simple ploughings 

 alone, besides the fact that this fresh disintegration 

 gives strange germinating power to the soil in which 

 the seed is now to be introduced. This lifting sub- 

 soil plough will affect the soil at the surface for one foot 

 each side of its line of travel, so that the after-culture 

 between the rows need not approach so nearly to the 

 corn." 



It is a good rule in planting maize to put more 

 grain into the ground than is intended to remain. It 

 provides against casualties, and can be thinned out 

 at the second hoeing. It has also this advantage, that 

 it enables the cultivator, at the time of thinning, to 

 make a selection. There is often at that stage of 

 growth a marked difference in the plants ; and it is 

 an important point gained when the stalks are so 

 abundant that all the small and inferior ones can be 

 rejected, and still leave an ample supply of large, 

 healthy, and vigorous plants. This certainly increases 

 the chance for a good crop, and seems entitled to more 

 attention than it has usually received. 



Another point connected with planting, and too 

 important to be overlooked, is the uniform covering 

 of the seed. If this is not properly attended to, there 

 can be no uniformity of depth, nor equality of growth. 

 In planting by hand, it is scarcely possible to accom- 

 plish this object. A variety of planting implements, 



