TIME OF PLANTING 



161 



draft, but leaves no flat surface to bake in the sun. The double wheel 

 tends to cover the hill more surely. 



Improved methods of culture together virith the increasing preval- 

 ence of weeds have caused the practice of checking corn to grow in 

 popularity. Of 200 representative farmers from different parts of 

 Iowa, 92 per cent check their corn. The reasons given for so doing 

 were the more effective eradication of the weeds, and in some cases in- 

 creased yield. 



On ground which has been well prepared and which is not too 

 hilly, it is possible for one man to plant 12 to 15 acres per day. The 

 objections raised to checked corn are a greater tendency to blow 

 down in heavy summer winds and the fact that the roots are not 

 so equally distributed throughout the soil. There is practically no 

 difference in the yield per acre between drilled and checked corn, 

 providing there are the same number of plants per acre. 



Time of Planting. The best yields and most mature corn are pro- 

 duced by planting corn early. Years of experience has proved this 

 fact conclusively. The length of season in a given locality determines 

 the date of planting. In Iowa, corn must be planted 

 at) soon as the ground is properly prepared and suffi- 

 ciently warm, not colder than 55 degrees Fahrenheit. 

 Very little seed is in the ground before May ist, and 

 the northern counties are even later. On sod land, 

 where the cut worm is quite prevalent, late planting 

 must be practised. As better seed corn is used from 

 ycdr to year, earlier planting will come more into 

 vogue. Corn of strong vitality can be placed in cold 

 ground with less risk than that of weak germinating 

 power. Soil conditions have as much to do in de- 

 termining the date of planting as does the weather. 

 For example, farmers on the Missouri loess soil in 

 northwestern Iowa, can plant as much as 14 days earlier than farmers 

 in the central part of the state in the same latitude, but located on the 

 undrained, low soil of the Wisconsin glacial deposit. 



Hunt, in his "Cereals of America," gives the following summary 

 of the work of all the Experiment Stations. 



TABLE NO. 30 

 TIME OF PLANTING 



ROUND H OLE- 

 DRILL- DROP 



PLANTER PLATE. 



Planter plate show- 

 ing the compara- 

 tive size and num- 

 ber of holes. 



STATE 



SEASONS 



*Iowa 



Illinois 



Indiana 



Kansas 



North Dakota 



Ohio ;... 



Oklahoma . . . . 

 South Dakota 

 ♦Minnesota . . 

 ♦Wisconsin . . 



General 



g 



7 



2 



1 



7 



2 



3 

 General 

 General 



Apr. 25-28 . . 

 April 22-26.. 



May 1-2 



April 18-20.. 

 May 18-25 . . 



April 26 



March 21-28 



May 1 



May 1 



April 28 



May 5-15 June 1 



May 11-18 June 17-22 .. 



May 1-8 May 28-30 . . 



May 1 May 29-30 . . 



June 1-8 June 15-July 



May 14-24 I June 4-12 . . . 



March 28 1 April 25 



May 15-25 June 10 



May 10-22 June 1-10 ... 



May 8-20 |june 1-5 



•Farmer's estimates. 



