14 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
Work ON GROUND BEFORE PLOWING 
The stalk cutter should be the first implement in the field 
when corn follows corn. Unless the fields are very small, a 
two-row cutter should be used in place of a single row. In 
the first place, it gets over the ground twice as fast as a 
single row cutter, and owing to its greater weight and better 
balance does a much better job. The two-row cutters have 
two tongues and are drawn by three horses. With this imple- 
ment a good fast team will cut twenty acres in one day. All 
the stalk cutters we have ever tried have been satisfactory ; 
but the farmer who has never used a stalk cutter must not 
expect it to cut every stalk if the stalk growth is rank and 
heavy. 
If the stalks are heavy it will be necessary to follow with 
a disc harrow—either single or double diseing. Where a stalk 
cutter is followed by a sharp disc, lapping half each time, the 
heaviest growth of stalks will be cut and the ground left 
level ready for the plow. If the ground is single disced 
after the cutter it is advisable to have the horses walk on 
the ridges. This cuts down the ridges and leaves the ground 
fairly level. 
For several years we dispensed with the use of the stalk 
cutter in preference to double discing; but the objection to 
this method was that the standing stalks continually worried 
the team and the time lost would almost amount to the time 
required to cut the stalks. 
When practicable, it is a good plan to run the stalk cutter 
on afternoons only, since the stalks are dryer and the cutter 
does a much better job. The dise will do nearly as good a 
job in the forenoon as it will in the afternoon. 
We have tried breaking the stalks before discing, but the 
results were very disappointing, since the stalks became so 
