262 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES. 



reason, on moist or irrigated land, corn is planted after 

 winter-growing crops are cleared away, and large yields 

 are secured. Near the coast where the corn plant is con- 

 stantly refreshed by ocean moisture in the air, it will 

 make good green growth with what remains from winter 

 rainfall on land from which a crop of beets or carrots, 

 sown the previous season, has been cleared away. In such 

 rotation the land should be plowed as early as possible 

 after the roots have been taken off, to keep down the 

 growth of grass and weeds and retain moisture till the 

 proper time for planting corn, which will depend a good 

 deal on the wetness or dryness of the season. The earli- 

 ness 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 circum- 

 stances are favorable for doing so, to be followed by sev- 

 eral successive planting, 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), consequently 

 east and west rows oppose them ancl 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 question whether the separa- 

 tion of the plants into hills for free cultivation 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; 



