62 GARDENING FOR YOUJSG AKD OLD. 



he can grow it, and when the crop fails, we naturally 

 blame the person who sells us the seed. One year I had 

 a very choice variety of corn and distributed it freely 

 among my friends, but many wrote me that not a kernel 

 of it grew. I never felt quite sure whether they did not 

 know how to plant the corn, or whether I did not know 

 how to save the seed. The truth is, if you get a very 

 choice variety of tender, sweet and delicious corn to be 

 eaten green, it is a very difficult matter to preserve the 

 seed without weakening its germinative power; and even 

 if the seed is as good as we can hope to get it, sweet 

 corn, if is is really sweet and good, can not safely be 

 planted in as cold and damp a soil as common field corn. 

 We all wish to get sweet corn as early as possible, and 

 it is worth while running the risk of losing our first 

 planting, in order to occasionally secure a few dishes of 

 very early corn. It is simply the loss of a little seed, for 

 if it fails to grow, owing to the soil being too cold and 

 damp, or to the crop being destroyed by an early frost, 

 the soil can afterward be replanted with a later variety of 

 corn, or used for some other crop. But do not wait 

 until your first planting is lost before planting again. 

 Plant a few hills as soon as the ground can be got into 

 good working condition, and a few days later, especially 

 if the weather is warm and dry, plant a few more hills, 

 and a few days later still put in a larger quantity; in this 

 way, three years out of four, you will be pretty certain to 

 secure a good supply of this most delicious and popular 

 American vegetable. 



The land for sweet corn should be prepared in the 

 autumn, and the surface soil, especially, should be heavily 

 manured. In the fall get the soil all ready for planting, 

 and in the spring do not plow or spade the land, but 

 make a few hills by drawing the surface soil together 

 with a hoe. For early corn in the garden, and with 

 dwarfish varieties, like the Early Minnesota, the rows 



