188 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



and early sown corn largely escapes that year, and sometimes the 

 ears come between broods of the moth and, in that case, they are 

 relatively free from injury. With garden corn, in a place with a 

 long frost-free season, the suggestion is to plant corn at intervals 

 in the hope that some of the plantings may shoot ears at wrong 

 times for the moth. Generally the late planted corn escapes, or is 

 more apt to escape than the early planted, but sometimes, in some 

 places, the opposite is true. 



When sweet corn begins to silk, C. E. Trapp, of Los Angeles, 

 irrigates thoroughly and keeps the ground moist till all the corn is 

 picked. This fills out the kernels and rushes the corn so fast that 

 the majority of worms which hatch in the silks, will not have time 

 to work their way far down the ear. He has observed that drier 

 corn in fields near by is badly spoiled by worms. Robert Haenggi 

 encourages the blackbirds which he has observed dilligently seek- 

 ing the worms. They stand on the ear, seeming to listen, and then 

 open the husk directly over the worm. Blackbirds are also to be 

 credited with saving much field corn from the corn worms. 



Some growers choose flint varieties of field corn on the belief 

 that the flint hardens earlier in summer and prevents the worms 

 going down so far on the ear. 



In 1915 M. L. Germain, of Los Angeles, dusted the silk of the 

 ears as soon as it appeared with arsenate of lead powder. The corn 

 which he treated was fully 90 per cent clean and free from worms, 

 while that portion which was not treated was fully 95 per cent 

 wormy. 



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 loam, sufficiently retentive of moist- 

 ure and yet easy to keep in fine tilth. Satisfactory results can, how- 

 ever, be secured on quite a variety of soils if warmth and moisture 

 can be assured. In the heavier soils there is much .advantage 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 plant resents drought 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 culti- 

 vation has especial pertinence in preparation for the corn crop. It 

 is vain to expect to succeed by shallow cultivation except where the 

 land is naturally 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 planted not 

 only after frosts are over, but after the soil has become well warmed 



