THE CULTIVATION OF CORN 81 



then to cultivate as shallow as is consistent with keeping the 

 soil in good condition and free from weeds. 



93. Frequency of Cultivation. If care is exercised not to 

 disturb the roots of the corn plant, cultivating often enough 

 to keep down weeds and to maintain a good surface mulch 

 to retain moisture is desirable. The soil can usually be 

 kept in good condition by cultivating three or four times, 

 though sometimes eight or even more times through the corn 

 will be more profitable. 



The impression used to be quite general that it was not 

 advisable to cultivate corn after it had tasseled. There 

 were two principal reasons for this belief. First, sulky culti- 

 vators can not well be used at that time. Second, corn 

 growers, not realizing the loss that might come from cutting 

 off corn roots, found that cultivating the corn after it had 

 reached that state usually resulted in injury rather than 

 benefit to the crop. It has now been quite definitely shown 

 that this injury was due to the cutting off of roots and to no 

 other reason. Many good corn growers now find it very 

 profitable to go through their corn fields quite late in the 

 season with a one-horse, fine-tooth cultivator and stir the 

 surface soil quite thoroughly, thus retarding evaporation 

 and giving the corn a larger supply of moisture at the time 

 it is most needed; that is, when it is forming ears. If care 

 is exercised not to cut off the roots, it is perfectly safe to 

 cultivate corn at any time during the growing season. 



HARVESTING CORN 



94. Picking. A large percentage of the corn grown in the 

 corn belt is harvested by picking the ears from the standing 

 stalks, leaving the stalks in the field to be pastured off by 

 stock or to be cut up and plowed under. Corn is usually 

 picked by hand. One man uses a team and wagon with high 



