260 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



ing conditions are not essential, and for these purposes the 

 plant can be carried nearer to the coast than for a grain 

 crop, and in the warmer regions it can be planted late for 

 a longer succession than for grain if moisture enough is 

 provided. It is not uncommon, therefore, in the interior 

 to have good roasting ears at Thanksgiving or even in De- 

 cember at elevations or in other places where early frosts 

 are seldom known. Thus corn as a vegetable in California 

 is a greater affair than corn as a grain. It would have 

 even a greater value as a garden plant were it not for the 

 ravages of the ear-worm, which so far defies insecticides 

 and which takes its full share of the crop at the times 

 when its appetite is good. It is usually the early corn 

 which suffers most from this pest. 



Soil. The requirements of Indian corn are so widely 

 known that it will hardly be necessary to enter minutely 

 into them. The soil should be preferably a rich, sandy 

 loam, sufficiently retentive of moisture and yet easy to 

 keep in fine tilth. Satisfactory results can, however, be 

 secured on quite a variety of soils if warmth and moisture 

 can be assured. In the heavier soils there is much advant- 

 age in plowing under the disintegrated roots of previous 

 growths of weeds or crop-plants and the best corn often 

 comes here as elsewhere on newly-broken land. 



Preparation for Corn. As the corn plants resent drouth 

 so strenuously it is very important that preparation of 

 the land should include efforts for thorough moistening 

 of the land by rainfall or irrigation, followed by surface 

 treatment to prevent evaporation. All that has been 

 urged in these directions in the chapter on cultivation has 

 especial pertinence in preparation for the corn crop. It 

 is vain to expect to succeed by shallow cultivation except 

 where the land is natirually sub-irrigated, and even on 

 such land there must be deep working enough to place the 

 seed below the dry surface layer. Slack preparation on 

 lands which naturally dry out in the summer assures 

 failure and disappointment. 



Planting. Corn is a very tender plant and must be 



