214 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



moisture till the proper time for planting corn, which will depend 

 a good deal on the wetness or dryness of the season. The earliness 

 of the first planting will depend mainly on the fitness of the land 

 and the situation, but for early use, some early variety of sweet 

 corn should be planted as soon as circumstances are favorable for 

 doing so, to be followed by several successive plantings, say, 

 through May and June, and even into July. 



Growers differ as to the advantages of growing in hills or in 

 rows. Hills give opportunity to cultivate in two directions with the 

 horse. Rows have a tendency to check the draft of dry winds when 

 the rows run at right angles to their anticipated direction. The 

 general course of dry, hot summer winds is from north to south 

 (except where given a different trend by local topography), conse- 

 quently east and west rows oppose them and in some measure shade 

 the soil and the plant better from sun heat. But when prevailing 

 practice shows that the ground in the row usually goes untouched 

 by tools and consequently becomes hard and dry, it is quite a ques- 

 tion whether the separation of the plants into hills for free culti- 

 vation both ways is not on the whole much the better method. But 

 choice may be governed by local conditions. 



Distance in corn planting depends upon the habit of growth of 

 the variety. Small early kinds may be planted in hills three feet 

 apart each way or in rows three feet apart, but larger kinds may 

 need wider spacing, even up to five feet. Seed should always be 

 planted in excess : five or six kernels to the hill, to be thinned to 

 the three or four strongest plants ; four inches apart in the row, to 

 be thinned to eight or ten inches according to size of variety. 



For laying off hills in straight lines after plowing and harrow- 

 ing, a marker should be used both ways and the corn planted at 

 the intersections of the lines either with the hoe or the hand corn 

 planter. For planting in rows the drill attachment or hand dropping 

 in the furrow is used, followed by the harrow. 



Depth of planting depends upon the soil and the situation for 

 the reasons given in the chapter on propagation. On very light 

 soils in a dry region very deep covering is admissible because the 

 few inches at the surface count for nothing, but on heavier soils 

 in good moisture, and especially early in the season, shallow cover- 

 ing is preferable. 



For succession there should be planting done in the garden 

 every two weeks during the local season. 



