152 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
permit, which is very seldom. It is not advisable to plow our hilly 
ground in the fall, since it would wash too badly during the winter and 
early spring. I think corn land should be plowed from six to nine 
inches deep, since it holds the moisture better than shallow plowed 
land. I usually cut the corn up and feed the fodder, but if I have 
any stalks left I cut them up and turn them under. 
My corn ground is usually a sod clover or pasture land. After 
breaking I drag, then disc, drag again and harrow. The early plowed 
fields are not usually worked down until nearly planting time, but the, 
late plowed fields should be worked down as soon as they. are plowed 
to keep the ground from becoming cloddy and to retain the moisture. 
I like to plant corn between the first and tenth of May, but of late 
years spring rains have delayed planting until later. I plant with a 
two-row corn planter, using commercial fertilizer at the rate of one 
hundred pounds to the acre. Cultivation should begin as soon as 
possible after the corn is up, and I like to harrow before the corn is 
up, but if it rains after it is planted it is generally up before the 
ground is dry enough to justify getting on with the harrow. As soon 
as the corn is up I go over it with the harrow once and sometimes 
twice. When the corn is about three inches high I commence cultivat- 
ing with a two-horse cultivator. I plow deep the first and second times 
over; setting the cultivator so that it will not throw much dirt to the 
corn. The later cultivations are shallow. I always follow the cultivator 
with a one-horse harrow which runs between the rows, here we use the 
shovels since the disc leaves too uneven a surface. I always try to 
leave the surface level after each cultivation. I cultivate from four to 
six times, or as often as the weather will permit. T. B. LYONS. 
Buckley, Illinois, April 9th, 1913. 
W. T. Ainsworth & Sons, Mason City, Illinois. 
Gentlemen:—In answer to your letter of the 8th inst., I will give 
you my method of preparing ground for corn. For several years past 
I have been sowing from forty to eighty acres with clover in oats. I 
let the clover stand until the second year to enable it to make the 
necessary root growth from which a large part of the benefit to the 
soil is obtained. If there is not much seed in the second crop of clover, 
I plow it under to enrich the land. I prefer fall plowing of clover 
sod in preference to waiting until after oats sowing is over. In the 
spring I go over the fall plowed ground with a disc, cutting full depth. 
