CULTIVATION 53 
be cut before we get over the corn the third time, it will have 
to wait or rot down and enrich the land. We have never felt 
that we could afford the price of weedy corn to take care 
of hay that is worth at least eight dollars per ton to let lay 
as a fertilizer. We generally have time to put up enough 
hay for our own use after the third plowing and before 
wheat harvest sets in. 
FourtH CULTIVATION 
We start plowing the fourth time when the corn is be- 
tween three and four feet tall. We prefer to plow it when 
it is five feet tall, since the ground is completely shaded by 
that time. If this plowing is not immediately followed by 
a rain, the corn will be as free from weeds at husking time 
as the day it was plowed. Experience has taught us that 
corn will usually be weedy in the fall if it is laid by early, 
even though it is perfectly clean when it is laid by. This 
fact alone should convince any doubtful reader that there is 
an additional profit to be gained by surface cultivation after 
the ground is shaded. 
To facilitate the plowing of tall corn without breaking 
it down, we have had several cultivators (gopher plows) 
built up so as to have a clearance of four feet. We plow the 
same way with these plows as we do the third time with the 
shovel plows. (See illustrations.) 
These surface cultivators are set so as to plow very shal- 
low. The back of the inside blades are above the surface and 
serve merely to pull the dirt up to the hill. We have arched 
neckyokes on the tongues. They are made out of eveners 
off of old walking cultivators. We have tried crossing the 
corn a second time for the fourth cultivation, but it was not 
as satisfactory, since in pulling through the small ridges 
made by the third plowing, some of the corn roots would be 
eut. Again, in crossing tall corn a careless driver will some- 
times cut off a stalk when they are strung out. 
