408 



MAIZE 



MAIZE 



kernels are uniform. The ears should always be 

 nubbed, that is, the very small kernels at the tip 

 and the large, thick kernels at the butt should be 

 discarded. It is advisable, even when large quan- 



Fig. 619. ' ' Sweeps ' ' used m oultiTating growing crops— one- 

 horse cultiTators. It is necessary to drive across the field 

 two or more times to cultivate one row. (Hartley.) 



titles of seed are needed, to shell the seed by hand 

 and in a small receptacle where the kernels from 

 each ear can be examined before they are placed 

 with the general supply. If the corn is variable 

 as to width of kernel, it is best to divide the seed 

 into two or more lots and change the adjustment 

 of the planter in changing from one lot of seed to 

 the other. No careful corn-planter will begin 

 planting his crop until he has ascertained that his 

 planter works satisfactorily on the grade of seed 

 that he expects it to plant. 



Culture. 



Choice of land. — A very large part of the land 

 at present planted to corn in the United States is 

 too poor for profitable corn-growing, and should 

 not be planted to corn until improved. The plant- 

 ing of such land to corn keeps both the land and 

 its owner in an impoverished condition. If corn- 

 growing must be practiced in a section having such 

 a poor soil, it is better to withhold the planting of 

 corn until the land can be improved by the appli- 

 cation of humus and the growing and plowing 

 under of green crops, preferably legumes. The 



Fig. 620. steel frame stalk-cutter. 



planting of corn year after year on the same land 

 is a bad practice in any section, even though the 

 ground be very fertile. River bottom that over- 

 flows occasionally, and on which sediment is de- 



posited, is the only kind of land that will stand 

 continuous cropping with corn, and even here it 

 may sometimes be inadvisable. 



Maintaining soil fertility. — For good results, 

 the corn plant requires a fertile soil, a soil of 

 greater fertility than that required by many other 

 farm crops. Good seed, good land and good culture 

 are the essentials of a good corn crop. Unles.3 

 nature has supplied the farmer with a fertile farm, 

 the easiest of these three essentials to obtain is 

 good seed, and unfortunately it is the essential in 

 which most growers make the greatest mistake. 



New lands are usually good corn soils, and they 

 are generally well supplied with humus or vege- 

 table matter. Lands that have been cropped con- 

 tinuously for years, most of the humus having 

 been destroyed, become hard and the soil particles 

 pack together closely. Such a condition indicates 

 that the soil requires humus or vegetable matter, 

 and the conditions of such a soil can be very 

 greatly improved by the application of coarse 

 manures and the plowing under of large quantities 

 of vegetable matter in the form of corn stalks, 

 grain stubble, clover, and the like. The addition of 



Rg. 621. Combined sulky lister and planter. 



such material to soil almost invariably increases 

 the yield of corn. Ten to twenty tons of farm ma- 

 nure per acre each year or two will retain most 

 soils in a condition that will make possible the 

 growing of good corn crops. Excessive applications 

 of farm manure may result in decreased yields the 

 first year after the application, especially if the 

 season is dry. 



Most impoverished soils respond to a greater or 

 less extent to the application of commercial fertil- 

 izers composed of phosphoric acid, nitrogen and 

 potash. The proportion of these elements must be 

 varied to suit the requirements of the particular 

 soil to which they are applied, and the most satis- 

 factory way of determining the requirements of 

 the soil is by actual field tests. Much of the im- 

 poverished soil of the eastern part of the United 

 States responds readily to applications of phosphoric 

 acid. There are peaty swamp soils which, though 

 apparently very fertile, produce two or three times 

 as much corn per acre by the application of potas- 

 sium chlorid. With the exception, however, of par- 



