D. K. PEARSON S CORN FARM. 189 



He tells me that in 1879 he had one hundred and fifty acres 

 in corn, and I give his statement of how he did it, and the 

 results. He says : " I believe in Fall-plowed land for corn. 

 I had about fifty acres Fall plowed last Spring that I planted 

 to corn, and one hundred acres Spring-plowed. The Fall -plowed 

 I worked as follows : I fastened two Dixon harrows together 

 with devices, side by side ; these I attached to a light boli 

 sled (the front bob) by two poles, one end to each drag, bring- 

 ing the forward ends of the poles together, and securing them 

 to the bolster of the bob sled ; this enabled me to make short 

 turns, the harrow thus covering about twenty feet in width. 

 To the tongue I hitched six horses, four abreast, and one pair 

 for leaders j then I placed the driver on the bolster, where he 

 could control his team and set them to work. The soil, being 

 the ordinary black prairie loam, was rather wet and sticky at 

 the start, and I had it harrowed over once, and let it be a 

 couple of days, then cross-harrowed it thoroughly. With this 

 rig, I could put about twenty acres per day in very fine condi- 

 tion for planting. This was planted between the fifth and 

 tenth day of May, in rows three feet ten inches apart, dropping 

 about two kernels every two feet in the row. 



" Immediately after planting, before the corn had sprouted, 

 I cultivated the rows, running the shovels four or five inches 

 deep, as close to the rows as possible , then, after five or six 

 days, before the corn showed above the ground, I cross-har- 

 rowed thoroughly, and harrowed again, soon after the corn 

 came up. As soon as the rows could be well followed, I set 

 the cultivators at work ; plowed about once a week, set the 

 teeth of the cultivator so as to draw the earth a little toward 

 the corn, until about the fifteenth of June, when the corn was 

 fifteen inches high. I then took a stirring plow, with short 

 share, so as not to cut the corn roots more than necessary, and 

 plowed to the rows, making good ridges, and so called it 'laid by.' 



" The one hundred acres I plowed in Spring, as soon as 

 the condition of the soil would admit, and planted between the 

 tenth and eighteenth of May. I harrowed it well before plant- 

 ing, and again after; then plowed (cultivated) four times, as 



