156 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



right distance between the rows. If the two-horse lever planter 

 is used, you drive across these marks, but if the drill, you 

 run the wheel of the drill in the mark. On farms where there 

 are large fields clear of stumps, the two-horse planter, with a 

 check-rower, can be used without marking out at all, and will 

 drop the corn so that it can be cultivated both ways. 



Both hill and drill culture have advantages. It is easier to 

 keep a field clean in a wet season when you can plow both 

 ways, but there is little question that more corn can be grown 

 by the more equal distribution of stalk which the drill gives. 

 I think we can get closer to the corn at the first plowing when 

 drilled than when in hills, for the grains in the hill are, or 

 should be, scattered a little. With suitable implements for culti- 

 vating, such as are now easily obtained, there is little difficulty in 

 keeping drilled corn clean, but if the land is foul, or the farmer 

 has not the right implements, I would advise hilling. I think 

 that under ordinary circumstances about one and a half inches 

 is the best depth to cover corn. It is a fact, perhaps not gen- 

 erally known to farmers, that the young plant can receive no 

 nutriment from the soil till the leaves reach the surface, and ex- 

 pand in the light and air, but is nourished by the plant food 

 stored in the grain, and if planted too deeply this will be ex- 

 hausted, and the plant enfeebled before it comes up. We usu- 

 ally begin the cultivation of corn before it is up, and the condi- 

 tion of the soil and the weather will determine what we shall do. 

 If the land is in good condition, not packed by heavy rains, and 

 warm, so that the corn will come up quickly, and start at once 

 into a thrifty growth, the plank drag run over it a few days 

 after planting will put it in excellent condition for the plow. 

 This must be used before the plumule is near the surface, or 

 some of the stalks will be broken. If a rain falls, and you are 

 not able to get on to the field until too late to use the drag, the 

 harrow should be used, and for this I prefer a sloping tooth har- 

 row, as the teeth may be run directly through the rows or hills 

 without damage. If, however, the soil has been made very com- 

 pact by heavy rains, a heavy straight tooth harrow will be needed. 



For the first plowing, after careful experiment and observa- 



