138 VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



Corn is quickly improved by judicious selection, and new 

 varieties are frequently originated in this way. 



Cultivation. For early use, the seed should be sown as soon 

 as the ground begins to get warm in the spring. Very early 

 planting is not desirable for the main crop, since in cold, wet 

 weather the seed is liable to rot in the ground, or the plants 

 may be frozen on coming up. It may, however. be desirable to 

 plant some of the earliest kinds as soon as the weather is 

 warm, and, selecting the most favorable location, run the risk 

 of failure, as the profits are correspondingly large if the crop 

 is very early, while the expense of planting is a small matter. 

 The main crop of corn should be planted from the middle to 

 the last of May. The land can hardly be too rich for corn, 

 and it should be in a finely pulverized condition. The seed 

 maybe planted in rows at about nine-inch intervals, with rows 

 three to four feet apart, or in bills three to four feet apart 

 each way, according to the growth of the plants and 

 method of cultivation to be followed. It should be covered 

 about two inches. If grown in hills, three or four plants should 

 be left in a place, which means planting about six seeds to the 

 hill. If planted in hills, they may be cultivated both ways, 

 which is an advantage over planting in rows. In rows, how- 

 ever, the plants develop rather better than in hills, and it is 

 the method preferred by many good growers, though field corn 

 is generally grown in hills. Corn should be cultivated shal- 

 low and never deep enough to cut the roots. For table use, 

 to have a long season of this vegetable in its best condition, 

 planting of the very early and some good second early, kind 

 should be made at the same time; and then plantings of the 

 second early kinds should be made once in two weeks there- 

 after up to about the twentieth of June, after which time it is 

 very doubtful about its getting large enough for table use be- 

 fore the autumn frosts set in. The very early kinds, however, 

 may be planted in this section as late as the fourth of July, 

 with good prospects of their becoming of marketable size; but 

 the very early varieties are small in size and not as sweet and 

 desirable as the larger midsummer kinds; a few varieties re- 

 quire the whole season in which to obtain table size. If 

 properly planted, sweet corn may be had in a young and 



