GRAIN CROPS. 303 



vation should be commenced. It is easier to prevent the growth 

 , of weeds than to kill them after they are grown. If the corn is 

 planted in " hills " the horse cultivator may be run both ways, and 

 thus reduce the handwork to the lowest point. If in " drills," 

 the hoeing should be done with great care — all grass and weeds 

 being thoroughly cleaned out from the rows. This first hoeing 

 should be finished when the crop is not more than six inches 

 high, and the second cultivation should be given before weeds 

 have time to make any considerable headway. A third hoeing, 

 which is erroneously neglected in many instances, should be com- 

 pleted before the crop is so large as to be injured by the working 

 of the horse, and the whiffletree used at this time should be as 

 short as possible. 



It is now pretty well settled that " hilling " corn is an injurious 

 practice. It undoubtedly had its origin in the custom of the 

 Indians, who had no other means of giving the plant a bed of fine 

 soil to grow in than by scraping it from the surface with their 

 hoes, and piling it up about the stems. Probably it was continued 

 longer than it otherwise would have been, from the belief that the 

 " brace shoots " that are thrown out above the soil are roots^ — 

 which they are not. They are intended to hold the stalk in its 

 position, and they do this much more thoroughly than any system 

 of hilling can possibly do, and by being covered with earth they 

 lose their power to act as braces. 



A little earth should be drawn about the stem of the plant at 

 the first hoeing, — raising the soil, say an inch or so, — as there is 

 danger that a little earth will be drawn away by the cultivator at 

 the second working, and this would leave the true roots too little 

 protected against the drying influence of sun and wind. If the 

 soil is thoroughly loose and clean all about and between the 

 plants when they are about two feet high, the crop should be 

 "laid by" until harvest. The less it is disturbed after this the 

 better it will be. If it is desired to raise turnips on the land, they 

 should be sown broadcast after the last hoeing, before the earth is 

 beaten down by rain. One pound of turnip-seed per acre is an 

 ample allowance, and the best way to sow it is with a " French " 

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