3IO MAINE) AGRICUIvTURAI, EXP^RIMEINT STATION. I9IO. 



2. Use plenty of manure and high grade commercial fer- 

 tilizer. Too many farmers try to grow sweet corn without any 

 or with too little commercial fertilizer. This is a suicidal policy 

 under Maine conditions. 800 to 1000 pounds of fertilizer to 

 the acre is not too much for most land on which sweet corn is 

 grown in the State. 



3. Keep the corn clean from zvceds and zveil cidtivated. 

 The corn should be cultivated at least once a week until it is 

 too tall to allow the horse to get through without breaking the 

 leaves. It should be hoed by hand at least twice, and preferably 

 three times. All cultivation must be shallow or the roots will 

 be injured. 



4. Do not plant too thick. Here is where a mistaken policy 

 is most often followed. Experience shows clearly that when 

 sweet corn is planted in rows three feet apart and with the hills 

 18 inches apart in the row, it is very unprofitable both as con- 

 cerns the amount and quality of the ears, to allow more than 3, 

 or at the very outside, 4 stalks to stand in the hill. 3 stalks to 

 the hill is better than 4. 



5. Use seed well adjusted to the locality in zvhich it is to he 

 grozmt. Extensive experiments and observation shows most 

 clearly that the best results cannot be expected from seed pro- 

 duced in another locality and in a different environment from 

 that in which it is to be planted. It is to the common interest 

 of both the farmers and the packers to use ,not merely Maine 

 grown but locally grown sweet corn seed. This seed should be 

 selected for local adjustment (see below). The farmer, in his 

 own interest, should avoid new kinds of seed which he has not 

 found to give satisfactory results on his own or his neighbor's 

 farm. 



B. Growing Sweet Corn for Seed. 



I. Use home grozvn- seed. Experiment and observation indi- 

 cate that it is to the best interest of the packer and the farmer 

 that an arrangement be made whereby in connection with prac- 

 tically every factory enough seed shall be locally produced each 

 year to supply the growers contributing to that factory. This 

 will necessitate that, according to the .size of the factory, from 

 2 to say 6 farmers shall, under the supervision of the packer 



