PLANTING AND CULTIVATING THE CORN CROP 241 



opened and the corn planted without any previous prep- 

 aration of the land. As a rule, this practice cannot be 

 recommended, e^ecially if i the soD is stiff and heavy. 

 The land shpuld be plowed in the fall to conserve moisture. 

 If it is not desirable to flat-break the land the hster may 

 be run in the fall and the land kept harrowed during the 

 winter. In the spring the ridges may be split out with 

 the lister and the corn planted. 



When planted in a deep furrow the corn is better enabled 

 to endure drought, the plants are not so easily blown down, 

 and weeds in the corn rows are more easily covered by 

 cultivation. The chief advantage is that of inducing the 

 plants to root deeply in the soil. Listing corn should not 

 be attempted except in regions of deficient rainfall, and 

 preferably only on the loamy or sandy soils. 



Planting corn in the water furrow is practiced with 

 excellent results on the permeable sandy hill or ridge 

 lands of the South. By back-furrowing, ridges are made 

 about five feet apart. Usually a narrow strip about 

 eight inches wide between the ridges is left unbroken 

 until planting time. This is thrown out with a shovel 

 plow and the seed planted immediately. This method 

 cannot be recommended for heavy soils, or soils well sup- 

 plied with moisture. 



293. Time of planting. — Throughout the cotton- 

 belt it is the general experience that corn planted early 

 yields better than medium or late plantings. While the 

 planting season is much longer in the cotton-belt than in 

 regioi^s farther North, the growing season is so often 

 shortened by the mid-summer and fall drought as' to render 

 the late plantings very uncertain. Late planted corn 

 matures in less time than the early plantings. This tends 

 towards decreased yields. Growing conditions are most 



