FARM PRACTICE IN" THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 



41 



with a spike-tooth harrow. When the land is cloddy the roller is 

 sometimes used. 



Most of the corn is planted with a 2-horse 2-row planter. Some 

 farmers plant by hand when labor is plentiful, and a few use a 

 1 -horse planter. Seventy-three per cent of the planting is in checks 

 from 3^- to 4 feet apart each way, with two stalks per hill. Prac- 

 tically all the corn is planted level. After the corn is up it is usually 

 harrowed with the spike-tooth harrow. After this most of the culti- 

 vating is done with a 1-horse spike-tooth cultivator and a 1-horse 

 2-shovel cultivator (fig. 31). 



Often a 1-horse turning plow is used as a cultivator, first to plow 

 the dirt away from the corn, which is known as barring-off, then 

 the middles are plowed out, throwing dirt to the corn. The 2-horse 

 4-shovel (fig. 32) and 8-shovel cultivators are used, but not so much 

 as the 1-horse implements. Principally because of cheap labor, the 



Fig. 31. — A 1-horse 2-shovel culti- 

 vator, a tillage implement in 

 general use in cornfields in the 

 South. 



Fig. 32. — A 2-horse 4-shovel corn cultivator. 



1-horse implements are largely used, and only where more expensive 

 labor is employed is much labor-saving machinery found. 



Practically no cover crops are grown. The white dent varieties 

 of corn are principally grown. The most prevalent weeds are crab- 

 grass, smartweed, ragweed, and. wild onion. 



SURVEYS IN HAMILTON COUNTY, NEBR. 



Hamilton County is in the prairie section of Nebraska and practi- 

 cally all the land is in cultivation. The soil in this region is very 

 fertile, but seasons are often unfavorable and crop production varies 

 largely with the amount of rainfall. The soil is a deep black silt 

 loam with a clay subsoil. It becomes very hard in dry weather and 

 frequently cracks open. In the northern part of the county along 

 the Platte River the soil is more sandy and not so productive as the 

 silt-loam type. 



This is a comparatively level region, just rolling enough to give 

 good natural drainage and not steep enough to cause erosion or to 

 interfere with the use of machinery. (Table XX.) There are no 

 tile drains and practically no surface ditches or terraces. 



