TALKS WITH PRACTICAL IRRIGATORS. 



EGYPTIAN CORN. 



BY CHAS. W. GREENE. 



THERE are many inquiries in reference to Egypt- 

 ian corn, and its cultivation is so important 

 that I am inclined to write more at length than has 

 been previously done, as to its cultivation and hand- 

 ling after the crop has been grown. 



Its value as a feeding grain has been proven be- 

 yond any question during the past year. It is a much 

 softer grain than Indian corn. It is more easily and 

 fully digested by the animals feeding on it, and con- 

 tains the constituents necessary not only for the de- 

 velopment of bone and muscle, but also for fattening 

 the animal in due proportion. It is as heavy as wheat, 

 averaging last year sixty-two pounds to the bushel. 



TIME TO PLANT. 



As to its cultivation, it may be planted any time 

 from the early spring to the 5th of August, and even 

 later than that it will make a most excellent fodder. 

 It has the advantage of being a sure crop. It sends 

 its roots deep and makes a thick mass of them, and 

 in that respect will be of very great value to the soil, 

 which only needs humus, or vegetable matter, to make 

 it highly productive. At the same time, it is not so 

 troublesome a crop to cultivate as the Indian corn ; 

 the stubble is not so strong. The roots, although a thick 

 mass, are easily plowed out and decay quickly. The 

 stalks, if left to dry on the field, are brittle and break 

 easily either under the disc harrow or before the 

 ordinary turning plow; in fact, they give but very 

 little trouble in cultivating. 



The ground should be well watered, preferably in 

 ridges, and the better it is worked, the better will be 

 the results and the easier the crop can be cultivated. 

 My method is to plow the ground into ridges three or 

 four feet apart, run the water through the deep fur- 

 rows, then level the ridges down and with the disc 

 harrow stir the soil perfectly and cut it fine. Then, 

 when it is completely level, plant with the double-row 

 corn planter. A single one will answer, of course, 

 but the best is the double-row planter with the check- 

 row attachment, letting a boy work the handles as 

 fast as he can conveniently, so as to drop four or five 

 seeds in a place, and not more than eighteen or 

 twenty inches apart in the rows. The planters make 

 the rows about three feet eight inches apart, which is 

 convenient for cultivating. The disc harrow, which 

 we use for ridging and cultivating, is perhaps one of 



the best cultivators, although any cultivator which can 

 be used for corn will serve the purpose. 



WHEN TO CULTIVATE. 



The ground, being well watered before it is planted, 

 should germinate the seed and make a growth of at 

 least eight or ten inches before any cultivation is 

 needed. Then throw up a slight ridge, or with the 

 disc set to leave a good center furrow, throw a ridge 

 on either side of the corn, not letting it bury the corn 

 any. Leave it with that cultivation until it is eighteen 

 inches high without further watering. Then, in the 

 furrows which have been made by the cultivation, 

 give the ground a thorough soaking, and as soon as 

 possible afterward go through with the cultivators. 

 Then there is no objection to hilling the plant some- 

 what. This will be the only cultivation necessary to 

 complete the growth of the crop. 



If planted before the 1st of May, it ought to be 

 ready for harvesting in August. Then, if cut before 

 the seed has fully ripened and the leaves have turned 

 while the stalk is yet green, both the grain and the 

 fodder of the first crop may be made available. In 

 the harvest of last year I had the tops cut off and 

 threshed. I am disposed to think it can be done bet- 

 ter this year by tying the cut corn in bundles of a size 

 convenient to handle, haul them to the thresher, 

 simply threshing out the heads without letting the 

 stalks go through the machine, then send the stalks 

 immediately to the stack from the thresher. 



After the corn has been removed, another thorough 

 watering between the rows will put the ground in ex- 

 cellent shape for cultivation, and that will insure a 

 rapid growth of suckers from the root of the plant, 

 which in this habit resembles the sorghum. It will 

 throw up a mass of new growth, which should mature 

 some grain, but which, at any rate, will make from 

 two to four tons to the acre of as fine forage as was 

 ever fed to an animal a feed which is relished by 

 them and which they eat greedily and cleanly. 



It requires about fifteen pounds of seed to plant an 

 acre. The holes in the seed discs of the ordinary 

 corn planter are all too large for this seed. They can 

 be stopped with Babbit metal and a hole three-eighths 

 of an inch in diameter drilled through them will put 

 them in shape to drop the four or five seeds which 

 are necessary in each place. If planted too thick it 

 will not make so much grain, and the result will not 

 be so satisfactory. If planted too thinly, it will not 

 yield as much as it ought. There is a happy medium 

 in this, as in most other things. 



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