260 



Caltixafion of Corn. 



Vol II 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Cultivation of Corn. 



The best method to ensure a tuli crop of 

 corn, according to the quality or ine land, in 

 my opinion, is simply this; plough your 

 ground well, completely turned six or eight 

 inches deep, early in the spring, and about 

 the twentieth of the fourth month harrow 

 twice lengthwise ; great care should be taken 

 not to displace the sods or the farrows. Then, 

 if the ground be dry, as it frequently is about 

 this time, pass the roller over the field ; then 

 harrow once or twice more according to the 

 tilth of the land; mark the field three feet 

 apart as near east and west as possible, and 

 cross it five feet apart as near north and south 

 as convenient, butdo not mark with the plough 

 as that will turn up more or less of the sod, 

 or leave openings, but do it with a log with 

 handles like those of the plough ; this makes 

 a neat mark, and the earth so moved is finely 

 pulverized, and no sods will appear on the 

 field. This should be done by the twenty- 

 fifth of the fourth month, for tliis reason, tiie 

 ground is in better order for planting about 

 this time, eight times out of ten, than imme- 

 diately before or after, and for the farmers of 

 the middle states, it is decidedly the best 

 time to plant. Sufficient care is but seldom 

 observed in planting. What I call liaving 

 it well done is, to drop in each hill tour good 

 grains, and cover them over with mould one 

 and a half inches deep ; care should be taken 

 that the hoe is not drawn under the grams, 

 as that otlen raises them too near the sur- 

 face, where there is not sufficient moisture 

 for them to vegetate. The hills should be 

 broad, so that all the grains may have an 

 equal chance to vegetate and come up 

 straight, not springing from the side of tlie 

 hill in a horizontal direction. Towards even- 

 ing of each day you plant, let tlie part planted 

 be rolled, or, if several hands are planting, 

 the roller may follow, and if the ground 

 should become wet, wait till it is dry; you 

 had better be idle than to plant when the 

 ground is too v»et. The first rolling may 

 frequently be omitted, but sometimes, and 

 on some land, it is highly necessary. Harrow 

 y«ir ground with the furrows and quartering, 

 but never at riglit angles, as this would turn 

 up sods; my reason for being t'lus nice about 

 displacing the sod is this; the eg^, from 

 which the cut worm proceeds, being deposit- 

 ed in the grass the fall previous (I say in the 

 grass, for this reason, they are not found upon 

 lands that have been tilled two years in suc- 

 cession) and being well turned six or eight 

 inches deep, places the e^^r so deep and cold 

 as to greatly retard the worm from coming 

 forth, and by harrowing well, but not deep, 

 fills up the openings, and rolling after plant- 

 ing, presses and pulverizes the ground, pre- 



vents washings, causes the ground to become 

 warmer at the surface, the grain to vegetate 

 quicker, and all at the same time, and the 

 worm, when it does come forth is very feeble, 

 and being buried at the depth of eight inches 

 and the openings all closed and rolled, they 

 cannot get at the corn in time to injure it, 

 if planted when and as already mentioned. 

 The worms are about half the length of a 

 common pin, and about the same in thick- 

 ness as a pin when they are first discovered 

 at the corn; attached to them is a small web 

 resembling that of the spider, with which 

 they immediately cover themselves when 

 disturbed. When land is ploughed dee-p J 

 in autumn or early spring, tlie openings 

 closed and rolled and the corn tilled with ' 

 the cultivator, or sod not broken, I have 

 some doubts about the eggs hatching till 

 they are brought nearer the surface. 1 

 ploughed a field between six and eight in- 

 ches deep for corn early in t'le spring, treat- 

 ed as above described, farmed with Xhe cul- 

 tivator, the corn was not injured by the worm 

 and made sixty bushels per acre. The spring 

 follov/ing the field was ploughed and sown 

 \Tith oats, when they were about half grown 

 or more they were blown and beaten down ; 

 a second crop sprung up immediately, and I 

 scarcely knew whether to cut the first crop 

 or wait for the second, however I cut the first 

 and owing to the vast quantity of green oats, 

 the crop was compelled to remain in tlie 

 swarth four days, by this time all the cut 

 worms of that field and of some others, for 

 what I know, had collected under the swarth 

 to feed on the green oats ; in every horse 

 track or small hollow that was under the 

 swarth there were dozens ; I counted fifty- 

 three on four inches square; they had cut 

 the green oats so as to cover themselves with 

 the chati", and they were generally found un- 

 der each swarth, and I think vvould make 

 about one bushel per acre — they were fuU 

 grown. Now the eggs from which this anuv 

 proceeded must either have lain in the earth 

 at the depth the plough placed tiiem or Ihey 

 were deposited in the ground while, in with 

 corn, or on the field after the oats were sown, 

 or perha])s several years ago. I presume 

 they are no great travelers, or I should have 

 supposed some of them were from a distance. 

 I have done looking after the worms. The 

 corn once up, attention must be paid to it. I 

 go over and replant all that have not two 

 good stalks to the hill. Corn planted in this 

 way, the furrow being shallow and the sup- 

 tace smooth by rolling, will not admit of the 

 fallow harrow ; therefore I use the cultivator, 

 and prefer one that is much worn while the 

 corn is small, as it does not cover the corn or 

 disturb the sods ; when the corn is out of the 

 power of the worms, if there be any, thin to 



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