CORN 



125 



growth is not seriously injured by comparatively 

 deep cultivation the first time. At subsequent cul- 

 tivations it is desirable to cultivate more shallow 

 and keep the shovels 7 or 8 inches from the plant. 

 The deep cultivation should come early, so that the 

 upper surface of the seed bed will be loose and 

 mellow, thus preventing rapid evaporation of mois- 

 ture. Later this deep stirring is not so necessary. 

 Cultivate Corn Thoroughly. — The corn plant will 

 not thrive among weeds, nor in a hard packed, dry 

 soil. The object of cultivation is to keep the soil 

 in proper con- 

 dition for the 

 growth of the 

 corn. The weeds 

 will all be rooted 

 up in properly 

 cultivating the 

 corn. It is not 

 essential as to 

 how deep or how 

 shallow or how 

 often the corn 

 is cultivated, as 

 it is that it is 

 cultivated when corn cultivator 



. . _, A necessary implement for the corn- 

 it needs it. JiS- fleld. The many fine cultivating teeth 

 ... r , are quite a contrast to the old methods 

 pecially alter of com culture of many decades ago. 

 otTOi-tr InooTrir i-nJr, Then it usod to be that farmers plowed 

 every neavy rain corn; now they cultivate it to keep the 

 tViP crM'l i'q nnr-lrprf weeds out, to mellow the earth, and to 

 Liie sou lb pdCKCU conserve the moisture. 



and should be 



Stirred as soon as dry enough. Cultivation must 



continue during the whole growing season — and not 



stop with the third or fourth time over. The larget 



varieties, especially, must be cultivated with one- 



