CORN CULTURE. 275 



and thus allow his corn to be robbed of the nutriment in- 

 tended for it, and to be overshadowed and choked out by 

 the noxious growth. 



As soon as the corn is well up so you can see the rows 

 plainly across the" field, put the horse before the cultivator 

 and drive in ; go through both ways, and repeat the opera- 

 tion as often as needful to keep the ground light and the 

 weeds down, until the corn is large enough to shade the en- 

 tire ground, and after that the weeds will not be likely to 

 eive much trouble. In cultivatinof a field of corn I make 

 but little use of the hoe except at the first cultivating. 

 My object is not to hoe the soil up around the corn, but to 

 entirely clean it from weeds and leave the whole surface as 

 level as possible. The roots of corn reach out long dis- 

 tances during the season of growth, and they keep compara- 

 tively near the surface, so that deep plowing or hoeing is 

 liable to destroy them and sensibly injure the crop. 



This flat cultivation is not the method of our fathers, 

 exactly. AVhen 1 was a boy, and rode the old marc to plow 

 out the corn, there was no such implement on the farm as a 

 cultivator. The plow was allowed to run to a good depth, 

 generally turning the furrows towards the rows. Then the 

 men with their hoes hauled tho soil up around the corn to 

 cover the weeds and make a " hill " There are some farm- 

 ers who still adhere to this custom, perhaps not wliolhj 

 because their fathers did so, but they think this way the 

 best, not having tried any other method. 



There is a difference of opinion among intelligent farmers 

 in regard to the best method of harvestinsr corn. There is 

 probably some saving in labor in the harvesting by cutting 

 the crop at the ground instead of topping the stalks, and it is 

 claimed that the fodder is better. But I do not think the 

 process of husking is so pleasant when the corn is cut up 

 near the roots and shocked, as when the stalks have been 

 topped and the corn harvested in the good old way of our 

 fathers. Neither do I think the grain is as good and as 

 heavy as when ripened in the old-fashioned way. I am 

 aware that this is disputed ground, and I shall not be sur- 

 prised if somebody claims that the grain is even heavier and 

 better if cut before the kernel has become hardened than 



