194 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



yield. Plants that are crowded to such an extent that they become 

 slender and scarcely more than half their normal height are either 

 barren or produce only nubbins. 



The disadvantage under which the two or more plants of a hill 

 are compelled to grow by the kernels having been bunched together 

 is so plain that it is remarkable farmers have not long ago devised a 

 method of checking corn that gives each plant room to form a 

 normal root system. For a distance of 6 inches in every direction 

 from the base of a normal corn plant the soil is crowded entirely 

 full of roots. When several kernels are bunched together the roots 

 of all the stalks of the hill are so matted together that the pulling 

 of One stalk pulls out the entire hill, and the pressure of wind upon 

 all the stalks is more likely to blow over the entire hill than when 

 the stalks stand several inches apart in the hill, thus forming a 

 broader base of support. 



Increased yield without extra cost is abundant reason to cause 

 a change of methods. A few other advantages of kernel spacing 

 may be mentioned. It is easier to thin kernel-spaced hills, and the 

 thinning can be done without injury to the remaining stalks. When 

 the plants stand separately in the hills, an entire hill is less liable 

 to be pulled out by the harrow, the weeder, or the cultivator. The 

 entire hill is not so likely to be injured by accident, disease, cut- 

 worms, or corn-root insects. The better distribution not only affords 

 each stalk better sunlight, but also shades the soil better, thereby 

 lessening evaporation from the heated soil during the summer 

 months. Increasing population and increasing value of land are 

 sure to stop the long-continued practice of planting corn thinner as 

 the land becomes poorer, making up the supply by planting more 

 acres. Our future increase in corn production must be accomplished 

 mainly by filling the soil with water-absorbing and water-holding 

 humus, accompanied by thicker planting. This practice has pro- 

 duced 239 bushels of shelled corn on an acre in South Carolina, and 

 226 bushels on an acre in North Carolina. 



Soils are not impoverished by producing large crops. On the 

 contrary, the larger the crops and the more frequently they are pro- 

 duced the better the opportunity to enrich the soil by plowing under 

 a sufficient portion of the vegetable matter produced. The soil 

 should be kept busy enriching itself through the decay of vegetation, 

 as forest lands enrich themselves. To most soils one or more mineral 

 elements must eventually be applied to replace those which are re- 

 moved from the farm in the form of grain or animal products. In 

 planting corn in hills practically all corn planters drop all the 

 kernels of the hill in a bunch. A study of the best conditions for 

 growth and production indicates that bunch planting results in un- 

 necessary crowding both above and below the ground, weakening the 

 stalks and reducing the yield. Kernel-spaced checking combines the 

 advantages and overcomes the disadvantages of drilling and check- 

 ing, the two methods by which nearly all corn is now planted. 

 (F. B. 400.) 



