iNDiAK CORN. 163 



and that while a one-horse machine which will drill 

 corn rapidly enough for eastern requirements can be 

 bought for from $10 to $12, a two- horse corn planter, 

 such as is found economical in the larger and more 

 level fields of Ohio, Mississippi and Missouri valleys, 

 would cost from $30 to $40. The difference in 

 method is one of economical farm management 

 rather thau any difference in the growth of the corn. 



Experiments show that it makes little, if any, dif- 

 ference whether the corn is planted in hills or drills 

 so long as the land is kept equally free of weeds. It 

 is only a question, therefore, by which method the 

 corn can be raised at the least cost, and, at the same 

 time given equally effective cultivation. 



The key-note to the cultivation of corn is to keep 

 the land as free as possible from any growing vegeta- 

 tion, except the corn, and to do it with the least pos- 

 sible disturbance of the roots. Much less stirring of 

 the soil after the corn is planted is necessary or even 

 desirable than has been formerly supposed. 



Cultivation does two things: it stirs the soil and 

 kills the weeds. These are entirely separate things, 

 although doing the former accomplishes the latter. 



In the chapter on weeds the way in which weeds 

 may be injurious is discussed and it is shown that 

 probably the principal damage that ordinary weeds do 

 in a corn field is in exhausting the water from the soil. 



Stirring the soil admits the air more freely, so that 

 more plant food may, perhaps, be made available. It 

 also loosens the earth so that the roots may penetrate 

 it more freely. These things are, doubtless, import- 

 ant, but if we stir the soil to a depth that will benefit 

 the roots in these ways, we mutilate them. It has 



