170 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



improvement consists in using the rotary or other hand 

 planter (Fig. 84), which, when thrust into the soil, leaves 

 several grains covered at the proper depth. 



The yield from hills that have been replanted is often 

 unsatisfactory, probably because of their being crowded 

 by the older plants and partly, perhaps, because of an in- 

 adequate supply of pollen for the few plants which produce 

 their silks after most corn has ceased to tassel. Hence if 

 the stand of corn is poor, it often pays better to plow up 

 the remnant and plant again, rather than to replant the 

 vacant spaces. 



160. Harrowing before and after planting. In the 

 preparation of land for corn in the South, the harrow is 

 not so generally used as it should be. 



The disk-harrow can be advantageously used to slice 

 large clods left by the plow. Another use to which it is 

 seldom put, but which it serves admirably, consists in 

 running it over crusted land to break the surface crust 

 so that when plowed, large clods do not form. A large 

 part of the tillage should be given to corn land before the 

 seed is planted, and this is readily done by employing some 

 form of harrow after plowing. 



The best time to use any kind of harrow is within a few 

 hours after plowing, so that there may still be enough 

 moisture in the clods to cause them to pulverize readily. 

 Harrowing not only breaks the clods, but also makes the 

 land retain moisture better. 



The spike-tooth harrow (Fig. 85) may often be used 

 advantageously to pull down or flatten ridges or beds 

 which have been thrown up higher than -necessary, as is 

 the custom in the prairie region of the South and on bottom 



