CORN LETTERS FROM THIRTY FARMERS 145 
grains to the hill, and three by six each way. As soon as I finish 
planting, I harrow the field crosswise, and as soon as the corn begins 
to come up, I harrow it the other way. I do not wait for the corn 
to get a given height, but put in my eight-shovel eagle claw cultivator 
and walk, as I don’t believe a man can do as good a job riding. I 
believe if you do not get up to the corn the first and second times 
and get the weeds out of the hills, you will have weeds in the fall. 
In this section of the Corn Belt, the use of all surface plows, from the 
first, I think is a mistake, since the rains beat the ground down, and 
it requires the shovel plow to loosen it. The small cultivator gives 
you plenty of mulch so that when you use your gophers you can do a 
good job. I use Tower Surface Plows the last three times. I always 
run them deep enough, so that there will be loose dirt falling over 
the shovels at all times. If you don’t do this you are bound to have 
weeds between the rows. The last plowing the corn ought to be about 
four feet high and I run my shovels just deep enough to get the dirt 
up to the corn, and I figure on getting it layed by about the 4th of 
July. HENRY DUTTENHAVER, 
R. F. D. No. 1, Kentland, Indiana. 
Wheatland, Indiana, April 14th, 1913. 
W. T. Ainsworth & Sons, Mason City, Illinois. 
Gentlemen:—I will give you my experience as a farmer on corn 
culture, 
PREPARATION OF SEED Bep FoR CoRN 
Soil: My soil is what is known as white oak ridge soil, a mixture 
between clay and loam, which will produce most any kind of grain 
and hay. It is somewhat rolling, which forms a natural drainage. 
I think the best time to plow stalk ground is in the spring, because 
freezing and thawing injure fall plowed soils in our locality. We 
always strive to build up our soil in every way possible for the production 
of a bountiful harvest. I have always had better success growing crops 
on spring plowed stalk ground than on fall plowed. 
I plow six or seven inches deep for corn, and would prefer twelve 
inches if I had the power to do the work. By plowing deep, you have 
a deep soil which is necessary for a good corp of corn. The old 
adage, ‘‘Plow deep while sluggards sleep and you will have corn to 
sell and to keep,’’ is certainly true. 
