298 THE CULTURE OF FARM CROPS. 



effect of making the seed which they impregnate, produce 

 plants like themselves; barren male plants; which have no 

 fruit, and are consequently worth nothing except for the 

 stalks and leaves. Hence a most important part of the cul- 

 ture of corn is to remove the flowers from these stalks, and 

 prevent them from exercising their masculine functions and 

 propagating their useless kind. This system should always 

 be pursued when the improvement of corn is attempted. 

 Perseverance in this emasculation of barren plants (by Dr. 

 Sturtevant, above mentioned), has tended to increase the 

 yield of a crop, after a few years, from 40 to 80 bushels of 

 grain per acre; the increase being chiefly due to the entire 

 elimination of barren and earless stalks from the field. 



A fatal mistake in the culture of corn, is the use of the 

 plow after the roots have spread across the rows; and this 

 happens when the plants are about 18 inches tall. After 

 that, only the surface should be stirred, but this should be 

 done frequently. For a large yield, this working of the 

 surface should be done weekly, and it is the more necessary 

 as the weather may be drier; the loosening of the soil as 

 has been explained in a previous chapter very much in- 

 creasing the ability of the porous earth to absorb moisture 

 during the night, as it is condensed by the cooling of the 

 air, and by the circulation of the moist air in the mellow 

 earth as the temperature changes. 



OATS usually follow corn in the prevalent rotation. The 

 popular notion that oats are not exhaustive of the soil is 

 quite a mistaken one. The whole plant is richer in nitrogen 

 and potash, and nearly as rich in phosphoric acid as wheat' 

 the grain of which only surpasses oats in respect of the quan- 

 tity of phosphoric acid contained in it. Besides, oats yield 

 actually a larger weight of produce in an average crop than 

 wheat does; hence it takes more from the soil. 



This should be considered in regard to its effect upon the 

 soil; for when manure is applied to the crop, the yield is 

 very considerably increased. Ten loads of barn yard man- 

 ure per acre have increased the yield of a crop of oats to 78 

 bushels per acre, when with no manure, the yield on another 



