FARM PRACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 63 



On account of the tenant system employed and the rolling condi- 

 tion of the land, most of the cultivating is done with 1-horse imple- 

 ments. In preparing the land for corn, a disk harrow is often run 

 over the field some time during the winter to chop up the old cotton 

 or corn stalks. Most of the breaking is done in the spring, but a few 

 farmers break the land in the fall and then rebreak in the spring. 

 Instead of k ' flat breaking," practically all the land as broken is made 

 into beds or ridges the width apart the corn rows are to be. A good 

 part of this breaking is done with 1-horse plows, but during the last 

 few years 2-horse plows have come into more general use and the 

 land is broken deeper than formerly. After breaking, these ridges 

 are usually harrowed down almost level with a spike-tooth or disk 

 harrow before planting. Often a bull tongue or subsoil plow is used 

 to run off the rows and a very deep furrow plowed out, in which the 

 corn is planted. On the bottom lands the corn is planted on the beds, 

 but on the uplands it is planted 

 between the beds. Practically all 

 the planting is in drills 3^ to 4 

 feet apart, with one stalk every 

 2 feet in the drill. 



After planting, the methods of 

 cultivating corn are not very uni- 

 form. Until recent years, the 1- 

 horse turning plows and the cot- 

 ton sweeps were practically the 

 only cultivators used, but during 



,i * . n ^ Fig. 39. — A spring-tooth 1-horse or "gee whiz" 



the past few years more surface cultivator ; used in parts of Alabama and 

 cultivation has been practiced. Mississippi. 



After the corn is up, a few farmers use a 2-horse harrow for the 

 first cultivation, but more often 1-horse spring-tooth cultivators (fig. 

 39) are used, giving one or two furrows to the middle. The spike- 

 tooth cultivator is used more generally than any other implement in 

 this section. The 1-horse turning plows and the 1-horse 1-shovel 

 plows ;u*e often used to plow down the middles and level up the rows. 

 For the last cultivation a cotton sweep is often used. Very few 

 2-horse cultivators are found. 



Practically no cover crops are grown, and very little commercial 

 fertilizer is used. Very little stable manure is produced because the 

 cati l<- stay in the field during most of the year. 



The white dent varieties of corn are principally grown. 



The most prevalent weeds are crab-grass, bindweed, Bermuda 

 grass, Johnson grass, and cocklebur. 



SURVEYS IN RUSSELL COUNTY, KANS. 



Russell County is Located in the central-western part of Kansas 



and is primarily a wheat-producing section. This is a typical prairie 



