3 88 



MAIZE 



CHAP, to be unsatisfactory (IT 350) unless the surplus plants can be 

 pulled or hoed out ; this means extra labour and loss of 

 time, and where maize is grown on a large scale it is doubt- 

 ful whether the extra work would pay. If check-rowing is 

 practised, care should be taken not to leave too many maize 

 plants together ; probably two will be found sufficient for any 

 one " hill ". 



347. Distance of Planting. — Distance of planting affects 



Fig. 144. — Maize planter, " Moline Champion ". 



the crop in several ways. Too close planting is injurious, be- 

 cause, in the first place, it reduces the amount of plant-food 

 available for each plant, maize being a surface-feeder ; in dry 

 times it injuriously reduces the amount of moisture available 

 to each plant ; it also retards photosynthesis since less light is 

 available to the leaves (II 69) ; finally it prevents proper weed- 

 ing. On the other hand the plant does not require an indefi- 

 nite amount of space, and if more than a certain optimum of 



