76 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



any particular sort is essential to successful corn-growings 

 In some localities, as in portions of the rich land of Ohio,, 

 corn has been grown annually for upwards of a hundred 

 years. In many systems of rotation corn may follow best 

 after grass ; that is, on a turned soil ; but it is not essential, 

 and with the above conditions of a rich, warm, deep and mel- 

 low soil a good crop may always be expected. The impor- 

 tance of each of these four conditions cannot be over-esti- 

 mated. With no other crop is it more important to have the 

 soil properly prepared before the seed is sown. If the soil 

 is not already rich it must l)e made so with barn-3'ard 

 manure, either alone or supplemented with commercial fertili- 

 zers. The depth and mellowness will depend mnch upon 

 the native character of the soil, but if this is at fault it can and 

 should be overcome as much as possible by tillage. The 

 temperature of the ground will be determined largely by the 

 season, Init much may be done to fit it for good corn-land by 

 thorough underdraining. 



The proper time to put the seed in the ground varies 

 greatly with the seasons. The difference in the time be- 

 tween the extreme northern and southern corn-growing sec- 

 tions is three or four months. For New England the time 

 averages not far from the middle of May for the field sorts,, 

 though the season may vary two weeks either way from this 

 date. The farmer is necessarily left without any fixed rule, 

 and must act, as in many other farm operations, upon his own 

 judgment. Some one has humorously remarked that it i& 

 far better to plant in well-prepared soil than in any phase of 

 the moon, thus ignoring all of those influences that lunar 

 observers have supposed our satellite has upon the growth 

 of the earth's vegetation. The best guide in corn-iilanting 

 is, periiaps, the old Indian one of the white-oak tree. 

 When its leaves are as large as a squirrel's foot it is time 

 for the squaws to make the holes in the warm earth and 

 drop the golden grain. The same conditions obtain when 

 the apple-tree is bursting its flower-buds and is beginning to 

 clothe itself in that snowy covering of which poets write. 

 " About corn-planting time" is when settled weather comes 

 and the soil begins to warm up Avith the heat of long days 

 and a hi<'-h sun, and there is no l)etter index of its arrival 



