348 



NEW ENGLAND FARaiER. 



JULT 



PBUfCIPLES nsrVOIiVED IN HOEINO 

 CORN. 



HE popular opinion is, that hoeing is 



_ done merely to kill weeds. It will 



E^ not be difficult to show that faithful 



hoeing does much more than this, 



even to warming, moistening, and manuring 



the soil while hoeing up the weeds. 



The air about us is always moist. The 

 hotter the day the more moist it is. It has 

 been ascertained that in a hot day in July, 

 more than thirteen hundred gallons of water 

 have been found to evaporate from a single 

 acre of land. The soil has a strong attraction 

 for water, and it is a part of the duty of the 

 atmosphere to penetrate the soil, and moisten 

 it, as well as to give us the breath of life. 

 But the soil, on its part, must be in a suitable 

 condition to receive it. If the surface is com- 

 pact the air cannot readily enter it. When 

 the weeds are destroyed by the hoe, the sur- 

 face is made loose, the air penetrates it freely, 

 and carries along the moisture it contains, and 

 tlitis waters tliejield. 



It follows, then, that a field often hoed, 

 whether there are weeds or not, will withstand 

 a drought better than one that is not hoed. 



The soil is as active as the air, for the mo- 

 ment the air enters, the soil robs it of its 

 moisture and passes it along to the roots of 

 the plants. Thus a carefully cultivated field 

 may be covered with luxuriant crops during a 

 drought, while those on the hard surface of an- 

 other may be perishing for want of moisture. 



The air also contains other elements besides 

 moisture. One of them is ammonia, which is 

 exceedingly valuable to crops, and it is sifted 

 from the atmosphere by the falling rain. 

 When the surface of the field is fine, showers 

 readily penetrate it, carry the ammonia down 

 into the soil, and thus manure it by every 

 rain that falls. The water passes along, — the 

 ammonia it contains touches minerals that are 

 in the soil, and dissolving portions of them, 

 supplies the, roots of plants with the food they 

 need. 



Were it not for the agency of ammonia, 

 soils might abound in valuable minerals which 

 would remain inactive, and crops upon them 

 would fail to come to perfection. Thus, it 

 seems clear, that keeping soils in a porous 

 condition, results in an actual manuring of 

 them. 



Water thus admitted to the soil contains a 



sensible amount of Jieat, which is arrested by 

 it, and kept there to warm and stimulate the 

 roots of plants. 



Is it not clear, then, attentive reader, that 

 frequently stirring the soil does actually de- 

 stroy weeds, moisten the soil, warm the soil 

 and manure it ? The theory is rational and 

 sustained by often-repeated experiments. 

 Every farmer may satisfy himself by a little 

 care and considerable observation, that the 

 operation of hoeing has an eflacacy entirely 

 beyond that of merely destroying the weeds. 



We are not yet sufficiently systematic and 

 pains- taking in our farm work. We do not 

 generally realize the fact, that thorough tillage 

 is almost as good for the crop as a light appli- 

 cation of manure to lands cultivated in a slov- 

 enly manner. 



We must feel assured of the fact that tillage 

 has the same effect as manure ; that the literal 

 meaning of the word manure is hand labor, as 

 well as of a dressing. To manure the land is 

 to hoe, to stir the soil, to expose it to the at- 

 mosphere, to plow, to harrow, to cultivate, in 

 addition to all we can get from the stalls, or 

 in any other way, as manure. 



The ancient Romans made Sterculius a god 

 because he discovered that the droppings of 

 animals had the same effect upon the soil as to 

 hoe it ! 



Keep these facts in mind, and hoe, hoe, hoe, 

 until harvests are ready to be gathered if a 

 weed is to be found among them. 



QBOWTH OF INDIA.N CORM". 



There are various opinions among farmers, 

 as to the best time for planting Indian corn. 

 Some contend that the seed must be put in 

 the 10th of May, others prefer the 20th, while 

 a third class are governed more by the season 

 and the condition of the soil, than by any dates. 



AVe have before us an old "table of the 

 growth of Indian corn, showing the number of 

 days from planting, for each period of growth. '' 

 From this it appears that the principal circum- 

 stance which caused any difference of growth 

 was in the time of planting. What was 

 planted about the beginning of May, appears 

 to have required from eighty-six to eighty-nine 

 days to be fit for eating. What was planted 

 earlier look a longer time to come forward 

 and did not ripen at so early a date as that at 

 the beginning of May. That planted in July 

 lost in the fall the time it gained in summer, 



