126 AGRICULTURE 



Corn is planted either in elevated ridges or beds, in de- 

 pressions or water furrows, or in level ground (Fig. 78 ), 

 according to the soil and the farmer's judgment. Plant 

 corn just deep enough to make sure that it will continually 

 be in moist soil until germinated. Usually a depth be- 

 tween one and three inches is best. 



Distance between plants. The poorer and drier the 

 land, the greater must be the distance between plants. 

 But land on which corn requires more than three feet 

 between plants, in rows five feet apart, is probably too poor 

 and dry for corn. The richer and moister the land, the more 

 the plants can be crowded ; the rows on some bottom 

 lands are only three and a half feet apart. In the South, 

 corn is usually planted from the first of March to the 

 middle of June. 



Cultivation. Corn roots are long and near the surface ; 

 this shows that cultivation ought to be shallow. Heavy 

 rains after planting make some clay lands very compact. 

 This causes some farmers to give one deep cultivation 

 while the plants are very small. Avoid this unless sure 

 that it is necessary, and then make this deep cultivation 

 only when the plants are very young. A corn plant six 

 inches high may have roots twelve to eighteen inches long. 

 Many of them would be cut by deep cultivation. 



It is possible and wise to cultivate corn before it comes 

 up. This is done by running a spike-tooth harrow or a 

 weeder over the field, either across or along the rows. In 

 this way millions of tiny weeds and grass plants are killed 

 just after they have come up. This early cultivation also 

 forms a loose layer of earth all over the field, which holds 



