MAIZE, 



MAIZE. 



which, in the Southern and lower portion of 

 the Middle States, is often used to turn a fur- 

 row from the young corn. This operation is 

 termed bar-ploughing, because the bar of the 

 plough is run next to the plants. A few days 

 after this, the process is reversed, and the 

 mould-board being turned next the corn, the 

 loose earth is thrown back again. Many think 

 that this second ploughing, called moulding, 

 ought not to be left longer than a few hours 

 before the earth should be turned back again. 

 In some places ploughs are still used for this 

 last purpose with wooden mould-boards, as 

 these serve best to push the loose earth before 

 them, crumbling and spreading it about the 

 plants more advantageously than ploughs fur- 

 nished with smooth and polished iron mould- 

 boards. Some use narrow, deep-cutting ploughs, 

 which do this work with comparatively little 

 labour to the horse, and render the soil near 

 the corn much more permeable by the roots, 

 and at the same time, quickly accessible to the 

 rain and atmospheric influences. Whatever 

 tends to favour the extension of the roots 

 downwards, serves to place the crop beyond 

 the vicissitudes of the season. 



There is, perhaps, no plant which withstands 

 the effects of drought so well as Indian corn, 

 whilst young ; but when its top blades begin 

 to be heavy, its demands for moisture increase 

 so as to cause it to suffer greatly from very 

 dry weather. Heat and moisture are the great 

 promoters of its luxuriant growth. 



Mr. Lorain's comments upon the custom of 

 bar-ploughing, as practised by a distinguished 

 Maryland farmer and agricultural writer, are 

 very judicious. Mr. Boardly, he says, plough- 

 ed from each side of the rows of the plants five 

 inches deep, while the plants were young; he 

 then let them rest 10 or 12 days on the narrow 

 ridges formed by this practice; this was done, 

 that the lateral roots should take their direc- 

 tion under the artificial surface of the ground 

 formed by the ploughshare. If the corn-plant, 

 when scarcely three inches high, be pulled up 

 by the roots from an open free soil, the lateral 

 roots will be found about 12 inches long, beside 

 what remains in the ground ; consequently 

 these roots are cutoff on each side of the rows, 

 even by the first cultivation, while the plant is 

 yet very young; they are also cut off by every 

 succeeding cultivation. If the furrows made 

 along each side of the rows, by the first culti- 

 vation, were kept continually open, and the 

 lateral roots of the plants compelled by this 

 means to cross the bottom of them, a little 

 within the ground, this would not cause the 

 roots to grow under the artificial surface of the 

 ground formed by the ploughshare. Nature 

 immediately after they passed the open fur- 

 row, would direct them up into the soil above, 

 to take their natural range through it : espe- 

 cially in that part of it where the most genial 

 heat and nutriment obtained. This is clearly 

 seen when the lateral roots of trees cross 

 ditches, or even deep gullies, at the bottom of 

 them, a little within the ground. They imme- 

 diately mount upward after they have crossed 

 the bottom of the ditch, and take their natural 

 growth at the same distance from the surface 

 750 



I of the soil as would have happened if they 

 had met with no obstacles in getting into it. 



The roots of the corn-plant which proceed 

 downward from the stalk, also those that take 

 their course along the rows, are not injured; 

 neither are all those which grow the deepest 

 within the soil in the intervals cut off. There- 

 fore as the corn-plant is very hardy, it is sup- 

 ported by these roots, until nature repairs the 

 damage done by this truly inconsiderate and 

 barbarian practice. It is of consequence by 

 no means wonderful, that Mr. Bordley, who 

 was in many respects a judicious former, 

 should by his general good management so far 

 counteract the evils arising from this savage 

 practice, as to grow, under all the disadvan- 

 tages resulting from it, crops that were more 

 than equal to the general crops of his neigh- 

 bours. Reason, however, as well as practice, 

 determines that crops obtained in this way 

 must fall very far short of those that may be 

 obtained from a rational system of manage- 

 ment. It is also obvious, that his mode of cul- 

 tivation is well calculated to cause an exten- 

 sive, useless waste of the animal and vegetable 

 matter contained in the soil. Likewise of the 

 farm-yard manure, if that be applied for the 

 growth of the crop. (Lorain's Pract. Hush.) 



The farmers in some of the finest districts in 

 Pennsylvania have of late years made much 

 less use of the plough in cultivating their corn 

 than formerly. They now generally content 

 themselves with moulding, or throwing a single 

 furrow on each side of the young plants, leav- 

 ing a space between the rows of from 3 to 3 

 feet untouched. The space left, is afterwards 

 worked by means of shovel-ploughs, and cul- 

 tivators, which completely destroy the grass, 

 and loosen the ground. This mode of culture 

 is more quickly and economically performed 

 than the old plan of ploughing the whole space 

 between the rows, and leaving the surface com- 

 paratively level. If the land be sufficiently 

 loose and deeply stirred, there is little use in 

 hilling it. It is sometimes said corn requires 

 hilling to support it. Nature disproves this 

 argument, by the stiff, bracing roots thrown out 

 by this plant, at the time they are wanted, and 

 for this very purpose. On wet lands, planting 

 on ridges and hilling may be advisable, but 

 such lands should never be chosen for corn. 

 If wet, drain thoroughly in the first place. 

 Allow no weeds to grow in your corn, says Buel, 

 and do not fear to stir the surface in dry wea- 

 ther. Every weed absorbs nutriment enough 

 to make a good ear of corn, and if any remain 

 after the plough cannot be used, pull them up, 

 or cut them with the hoe. 



Thinning and Succouring. As quickly as pos- 

 sible after it is ascertained that the plants are 

 in a thrifty condition, and no longer in danger 

 of being destroyed by the cut-worm and other 

 enemies, they are thinned out, so as to leave 

 only two or three in a hill. Or, should they 

 stand in rows or drills, the plants are left about 

 one or two feet apart. The operation of suc- 

 couring takes place some time after thinning, 

 and consists in tearing off the side-shoots which 

 often sprout from the bottom of the main stalk. 

 It is beginning to be thought that this practice 



