TYPES OF CORN PLANTERS 75 



apart each way with three kernels to the hill, as compared 

 with 53.9 bushels from hills 44 inches apart each way, three 

 kernels to the hill. The increased yield from the closer 

 planting in this case was a little more than sufficient to cover 

 the increased cost of growing corn in hills 39J^ inches apart 

 each way over that in 44-inch hills. With some of the 

 smaller varieties of corn grown in the North, there is little 

 doubt that better results can be obtained by planting from 

 36 to 40 inches apart each way than from following the gen- 

 eral practice of planting 44 inches each way. Throughout 

 the corn belt, however, it is very evident that the common 

 practice of planting corn in checked rows 44 inches apart, 

 and with three to four kernels to the hill, can hardly be 

 improved. On poor land in the South it is not uncommon 

 to plant corn in rows as wide as 5 feet apart. 



83. Types of Planters. Corn is often planted in small 

 patches by hand, using a hoe to open the hills and to cover 

 the kernels after they have been dropped. This method of 

 planting is very slow. Hand planters are sometimes used, 

 but they are very inferior to the two-row horse planter which 

 is the implement always used where any considerable acreage 

 of corn is grown. From 12 to 18 acres may be planted in a 

 day by one man and two horses with a two-row planter. 

 Most of these planters may be used for either checking or 

 drilling corn. There are two types of horse planters. In 

 the round-hole type, the desired number of kernels to the 

 hill is regulated by the size of the holes in the disks or planter 

 plates used; in the other, the edge-drop planter, the number 

 of kernels to the hill is regulated by the number of places in 

 the edge of the disk, each of which will permit one kernel to 

 enter edgewise. The edge-drop planter is more accurate 

 than the round-hole planter if the seed corn used is all graded 



