TILLAGE 



193 



seeds, which was begun before planting, may be continued after 

 each rain until the corn is so high as to be broken by the cross bars 

 of the harrow. Danger may accompany this practice in stony or 

 cloddy fields. The harrowing on a young corn field should be 

 done late enough in the day to allow the surplus moisture to escape 

 from the plants, and they will be bent instead of broken by the 

 harrow. 



After the crop is perhaps eight or ten inches high the use of 



FIG. 134. The root-system of corn plants sixty days after the date of planting. The 

 whole field of soil would be permeated with the feeding roots, which should not be destroyed 

 by deep tillage. 



cultivators may begin (Fig. 133). Cultivators with small teeth 

 or narrow shovels are usually to be preferred, unless the soil has 

 been allowed to stand after heavy rains without tillage and a dense 

 crust has formed. In such cases heavy shovels are necessary. 

 Corn growers are familiar with the extensive shallow root system 

 of the corn plant (Fig. 134) and realize the great danger resulting 

 from the use of heavy shovels which till the soils very deep. There 

 is less actual labor in using the finer machines more frequently. 

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