LEADING VEGETABLE CROPS I49 



even for commercial purposes, corn may be started 

 in paper pots in greenhouses or hotbeds and trans- 

 planted to field conditions. If the plants have been 

 reasonably well hardened off before removal to the 

 field much earlier crops can be secured in this way 

 either for home or market purposes. The necessary 

 cultivation for corn is generally pretty well under- 

 stood. Frequent shallow stirrings should be the rule 

 throughout the growing season, continuing up until 

 the time of harvesting. Some varieties have a tend- 

 ency to throw out large numbers of suckers, and 

 these should be removed while still small, together 

 with any surplus stalks. 



Both the quantity and quality of sweet corn will 

 be greatly increased with more liberal fertilizing 

 than is common with field corn. From lo to 15 tons 

 of manure, supplemented by 500 to 800 pounds of 

 high-grade fertilizer, usually proves a profitable 

 investment. 



The application of small quantities of nitrate of 

 soda after the plants have become well established 

 frequently results in a gain of several days in earli- 

 ness. 



It is important that the crop be harvested at 

 exactly the right time in order to secure the maxi- 

 mum quality and highest prices in a commercial 

 way. A point little appreciated is that sweet corn? 

 loses from 40 per cent to 60 per cent of its sugars 

 content in from six to twelve hours after it is pulled 

 from the stalk. This accounts for the very low 

 quality of corn usually found in hotels and restaur- 

 ants, and as a matter of fact in all corn bought upon 

 the markets in the usual way, except where delivery 

 is direct from the garden. The grains should be 

 well filled, but yet in the milk or dough stage when 



