FAEM PRACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OP CORN. 



43 



Fig 



plow for four or five horses, exten- 



sively used in the Central West for breaking land. 



4-horse gang plow (fig. 33) or a sulky disk plow (fig. 34) and the 

 land is gone over immediately with a spike-tooth harrow. Then 

 before planting, it is harrowed with the disk and again with the 

 spike-tooth harrow. 



Practically all the planting is done with a 2-horse 2-row planter, 

 and the corn is planted level in checks 3^ feet apart each way, alter- 

 nating the hills with two 

 and three grains. After 

 the corn is up, it is har- 

 rowed once or twice with 

 a spike-tooth harrow and 

 then cultivated three or 

 four times in alternate 

 directions with a 2-horse 

 6-shovel cultivator. 



No cover crops are 

 grown. The stable ma- 

 nure is largely applied to 

 wheat, and no commercial 

 fertilizer is used for corn. 



Both the white and yel- 

 low dent varieties of corn are grown. The most prevalent weeds are 

 foxtail, bindweed, smartweed, and pigweed. 



SURVEYS IN ROCKWALL AND GRAYSON COUNTIES, TEX. 



The tillage records for Texas (Table XXI) were taken in Grayson 

 County around Sherman and in Rockwall County near Fate. The 

 soil in these regions is of the black clay-loam type and very fertile. 



The land is rolling and no tile 

 drains are necessary. Only a few 

 surface ditches are required. 



A few of the roads have been 

 macadamized and others are be- 

 ing improved. The farms have 

 exceptionally good houses and 

 outbuildings, and fair schools are 

 maintained. A considerable por- 

 tion of the land is worked by ten- 

 ants, but usually under the snper- 

 \ Lsion of the owner. The fields are large, and 4 or 5 horse teams are 

 commonly used. A few farmers find the traction engine economical. 

 The seasons are rather uncertain, and crop yields depend largely 

 on the amounl of rainfall. No general rotation is practiced, but 

 usually '"rii and cotton follow small grain. Frequently cotton is 

 grown "II the same land two years in succession and then is followed 



l'i';. 84. — A Hiilky <lisl< plow. 



