154 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
soil. If the corn is infested with insects or with fungous disease, I 
burn the stalks. 
We harrow down after plowing and if the land becomes hard 
we disc and harrow before planting. This method eliminates clods. 
If we use barnyard manure we spread late in the winter or early in 
the spring and plow it under. 
I strongly advise the rotation of crops as the best method of re- 
turning the fertility and destroying insects and diseases. 
Cultivation: I generally harrow when the corn is up three or four 
days if the ground is in proper condition. I believe corn should be 
cultivated as small as possible and frequently. The first cultivation 
generally is shallow to avoid throwing much dirt on the small corn. 
For biggest yields, corn should be plowed every five to eight days. I 
run inside shovels shallow when laying by, but turn outside ones in, 
thereby throwing dirt strongly to corn. Hither class of cultivation is 
equally good if properly used. Have had better results laying corn 
by with ten-inch diamond plow, but it leaves the land rough. I disc 
clover land before plowing and believe all lands should be disced before 
plowing. We have obtained good results when we cut corn by sowing 
thickly in wheat or rye and pasture during the winter with horses, 
cows and pigs, then in the spring dise and plow. Have grown fine 
crops on small lots treated thus. I sometimes turn hogs in a field in 
August and believe fertility can be longer maintained by this method 
than by any other. B. F. STUART. 
The growing of apples is Mr. Stuart’s specialty. 
Eddyville, Iowa, April 10th, 1913. 
W. T. Ainsworth & Sons, Mason City, Ilinois. 
Gentlemen :—In answer to your letter of recent date I will give you 
my methods of growing corn. These methods, I believe, are the best 
for southern Iowa. 
Our soil is a light, black loam, underlaid with a porous yellow 
clay subsoil. Being a warm, well drained soil, it is adapted to the 
growing of varieties as late in maturing as one hundred and ten days. 
We prefer plowing stalk ground in the spring, in order to get the 
benefit of the stalk pasture, although we consider fall plowing is 
better, since the ground works up better, which, of course, means 
better yields. In the spring we get in the fields as soon as it is fit. 
The ground is disced before plowing. This forms a dust mulch, and 
