CORN CULTURE 25 



On sandy lands and on river bottoms, subject to spring 

 overflows, it is preferable to plow in the spring. Which- 

 ever practice is followed the fall-plowed land should be 

 disked in the spring as soon as it will work well, and the 

 disk followed with a fine-tooth harrow at weekly intervals 

 to sprout weed seeds and to retain soil moisture by stirring 

 the surface to prevent the loss of water from the soil. If 

 this is not done, the ground will dry out rapidly and the 

 surface soil will be cool as long as rapid evaporation is 

 going on. Land becomes mellow if worked early in the 

 spring, and retains that mellowness throughout the season. 



If land is plowed in the spring, it should be dragged the 

 same day except in damp weather, when it can wait until 

 the next day. It is injurious to the ground to let it bake 



Fig. ii. A corn planter. 



in the spring after the furrow is turned, for when it is 

 once baked it cannot be brought into good tilth again that 

 year. When land is plowed in the fall it should lie in the 

 rough during the winter. 



