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The World's Commercial Products 



STACKING THE CORN FOR FEAR OF RAIN 



all. The young plant con- 

 tinues to grow without any 

 check until, with autumn - 

 sown wheat, the frost sets 

 in, and continues again as 

 soon as that is over. If, 

 however, the frost is too 

 severe, the wheat dies and 

 the farmer is obliged to sow 

 summer wheat in March. 

 Again, during winter, the 

 roots may be laid bare. The 

 wheat soon dies if this state 

 of things is not remedied by 

 rolling, which again makes 

 the soil hard and flat. 

 Sometimes, also, the corn 

 comes up bleached or 

 yellow. This is often the case in a cold spring, and very thin liquid manure or nitrate 

 of soda should be added. Very soon its beneficial influence will be seen, and the corn 

 regains its vigour. 



But other plants besides the corn take advantage of the nourishing elements with which 

 the soil has been enriched, and if left alone would soon grow up so luxuriously as to stifle the 

 wheat. To get rid of these the field must be thoroughly weeded ; when the wheat has been 

 sown broadcast this must be done with the hoe, but when it is sown with the drill the weeding 

 is done with a horse machine. 



This rough outline indicates in a general way the methods adopted in sowing and growing 

 corn, but the details vary according to the country and to the extent of the fields, although 

 the object aimed at is always the same. On small farms simple ploughs are used, but on 

 the huge farms of the United States, Australia, Canada, Argentina, ploughs cutting eight or 

 even as many as twenty-four furrows at once are employed. These are either drawn by 

 animals or by steam power. The tilling on these large farms is, of course, done less carefully, 

 but much more quickly. The sowing is carried out with ten or twenty machines, and a 

 whole army of farm-hands work on the fields. Everything is done quickly, and the often 

 still virgin soils are so rich that the harvests are abundant, and all those precautions, which 

 are necessary elsewhere, need not be taken. 



The wheat shoots up under the influence of the alternate rain and sunshine of the spring,, 

 finding in the soil and in the air the elements necessary for its growth. All the nourishment 

 accumulated by the roots or elaborated in the leaves mounts to the ear and is devoted 

 to the development oi the grain. When these have acquired a certain firmness, which the 

 farmer often judges with his finger nail, the corn is ready to reap. 



The farmer does not always wait until the wheat is ripe before he reaps it ; mowed while it is- 

 still green, wheat makes excellent fodder, and in some countries is grown solely for this purpose. 



The importance of the different agricultural processes included in the one word " harvest " 

 varies with the extent of the farms. The tools used are not the same everywhere ; here men 

 and women wield the simplest kind of reaping-hook, while children follow, gather the haulms, 

 and spread them out on the field to dry. This is the harvesting of small farmers, and 

 this same method is. also followed when the wheat has been laid flat by wind or rain. More 

 frequently the reaping is done with the scythe, which works more quickly and neatly. 



If the extent of the fields and the farmer's means allow it, reaping-machines are used, 

 which, drawn by horses, cut down the wheat over a breadth of about five feet every time. The: 



