DATE AND METHOD OF PLANTING : L7 
than in Illinois, in order to have the crop ready for 
harvest at a time when dry weather is most likely 
to prevail. 
If equipped with special broom-corn plates, the 
ordinary corn planter may be used for planting the 
seed. If the special plates are not available, the 
holes in the plates used for planting corn may be 
run full of melted lead and then bored out to the 
proper size for distributing the broom-corn seed at 
the proper rate. 
For standard broom-corn the rows should be 
about 3% feet apart and the plants in the rows 
approximately 3 inches apart, while for the dwarf 
type the rows should be 3 feet apart and the plants 
in the rows about 2 inches apart. 
Broom-corn is sometimes planted in hills for con- 
venience in hoeing and cultivating. In this case the 
hills are spaced about 16 to 18 inches apart in the 
rows, with five or six stalks of standard or eight 
to ten stalks of the dwarf type to the hill. Three or 
four pounds of good seed is sufficient to plant an 
acre. This rate of planting will apply to fertile 
corn soils. If the land is thin and lacking in fer- 
tility, the plants should be farther apart in the 
drills and a fewer number of stalks should be left 
in the hills. 
Every effort should be made to secure an even 
stand, in order that the crop shall be of uniform 
quality, but the practice of planting a large excess 
of seed is to be condemned, since the grower fre- 
quently neglects to thin his plants to the proper 
stand. In fact, the thinning process is a very labori- 
