UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



4Wfc BULLETIN No. 320 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



j&ir < &j-u 



Washington, D. C. 



January 24, 1916 



FARM PRACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 



By H. R. Cates, Scientific Assistant, Office of Farm Management. 1 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Introduction 1 



General statement 3 



Economic factors influencing tillage 8 



Acreage and crop yields 10 



Subsoiling, drainage, and tillage before 



plowing 11 



Plowing 13 



Page. 

 Tillage implements used after plowing and 



before planting 17 



Methods of planting and kinds of planters 



used. 18 



Planting, replanting, and band cultivation. . 21 



General farm practices and conditions 22 



INTRODUCTION. 



The subject of tillage is one upon which much fundamental in- 

 formation is yet to be supplied. Numerous tillage experiments have 

 been conducted by various agricultural experiment stations, but a 

 compilation of the results of these experiments shows that no gen- 

 eral conclusions can be drawn from them; in fact, the results in dif- 

 ferent States seriously conflict. This is probably due to the fact that 

 the experiments have been conducted upon different types of soil and 

 under other widely varying conditions, as well as to the fact that in 

 many cases experiments have not been repeated a sufficient number 

 of times to justify conclusions, even locally. Further, the experi- 

 ments have usually been designed to find out the most productive 

 practices, whereas the fanner is interested in the most profitable 

 practice. 



Previous studies, reported in Bulletin 257 of the Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, 2 have shown that the principal object of intertillage in 



i The Office ot Farm Management was transferred from the Bureau of Plant industry 

 to the Office of the Secretary on July I, L915. The work upon which this paper is based 

 do,,,, and the nianu ciipt was submitted and its publication arranged before the 

 transfer took place. 



» Gates, .1. s., and Cox, H. B. The weed factor In the cultivation of corn. U. S. Dept. 

 Age., Bur. Planl Indus. Bui. 257, 35 p., L0 flg. L912. 



Note.— This bulletin gives the results of an extensive study of cultural practice with 

 ,...i bould be "f Interei I to farmers In all regions where corn Is grown, 

 8504 Bull. 320 1<; 1 



