SWEET CORN 



supplying enough moisture to dissolve the 

 mineral elements in the soil and allow this 

 moisture to serve as a conductor of these 

 elements into the plant. Fertilizer would 

 be of no value to the plant, or any form of 

 plant food, unless the water was there to 

 dissolve the elements and convey them into 

 the plant. 



It may be of some Interest to growers of 

 sweet corn to have a summary of the work 

 of the Federal Department of Agriculture 

 on the weed factor In the cultivation of 

 corn. The subject of weed control is rec- 

 ognized as a fundamental one in tillage 

 philosophy. It was therefore determined 

 to carry on over a wide range of climatic 

 and soil conditions a large number of tests 

 of the relative yields of corn produced by 

 supposedly optimum cultivation, as com- 

 pared with mere weed elimination. The 

 experiments were made by having two plats 

 or sets of plats, one of which received no 

 cultivation after planting, the weeds being 

 kept down by a horizontal stroke of the 

 hand hoe at the surface of the soil, particular 



70 



