CHAPTER XX 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATING THE CORN 

 CROP 



Unquestionably the two most important reasons for 

 the low yield of corn in the South are the poor cropping 

 systems of the region and lack of care in the preparation 

 of the seed-bed. Until these two serious defects have been 

 corrected the southern corn-grower cannot expect to re- 

 ceive maximum returns for labor expended in planting 

 and cuFtivating the crop. Likewise the value of a good, 

 soil well prepared may be reduced to a minimum by poor 

 methods of planting or a disregard for correct principles 

 of interculture. 



PLANTING THE SEED 



Poor stands of corn are often due to the planting of 

 seed of low vitaUty. The impression that there is no need 

 of testing seed corn in the South has become somewhat 

 general. As there are a great many ways in which the 

 vitahty of seed corn may be impaired aside from severe 

 freezing, and as the method of testing seed corn is very 

 simple and inexpensive, the planting of untested seed by 

 any farmer, regardless of his locality, cannot be justified. 



291. Testing the seed. — The cdrn must be tested 

 before the seed is shelled. A box or tray approximately 

 three inches deep and of sufiicient size is filled with wet 

 sawdust or sand. This is covered with cloth that has been 

 ruled off in two-inch squares, each square being numbered. 



238 



