MAIZE 



MAIZE 



411 



Fig. 627. Coni-haivesting scene near BelleviUe, Kansas. 



Weeders are most advantageous on light lands 

 between the planting and the time the com comes 

 up. When the corn reaches a height that will not 

 permit of the use of weeders or harrows and it be- 

 comes necessary to use cultivators, fenders should 

 be attached to the cultivators so that the young 

 plants will not be cov- 

 ered by clods or in- 

 jured. In many sec- 

 tions, surface cultiva- 

 tors are used very 

 successfully. These 

 cultivators have hori- 

 zontal knives that 

 scrape only about an 

 inch under the surface 

 of the ground and cut 

 off any weeds that have 

 started. In some in- 

 stances, when the corn 

 is young and the 

 ground has become 

 water -soaked by ex- 

 cessive rains, it is ad- 

 visable to give deep 

 cultivation to facili- 

 tate the aeration of the soil. As nearly as pos- 

 sible a thorough shallow cultivation should fol- 

 low every heavy rain. If the ground is left in a 

 crusted condition the moisture passes rapidly into 

 the air, while the formation of a dust-blanket will 

 retain the moisture for the use of the plants. The 

 mistake is often- made of delaying the cultivation 

 until a large part of the moisture has escaped. 

 If the ground has become hard, and crusted and 

 dry, it is usually better to defer cultivation until 

 a rain occurs, as a cultivation when the ground is 

 dry and hard will cause it to break up in large 

 hard clods and will hasten evaporation rather than 

 prevent it. The writer has seen many fields of com 

 ruined by being cultivated at the wrong time that 

 would have produced good crops if the cultiva- 

 tion had been given at the proper moment. Even 

 after the corn has become too large for the use 

 of the double cultivator, it is often advisable to 

 restore the dust mulch by means of one-horse 

 cultivators. 



Harvesting. — In the northern and north-central 

 parts of the United States, where corn is grown 

 extensively, a large part of it is harvested by 



Fig. 628. 



means of corn-binders or corn-shockers. In the 

 extreme northern part, where the stalks make but 

 a very short growth, wheat-harvesters are some- 

 times used for harvesting the corn, but such a 

 practice is not to be advised, because the binder is 

 not made for such heavy work. On very rich soil 

 in . the southern states the stalks grow too tall 

 to admit of a satisfactory use of corn-binders, and 

 such corn is usually cut by hand or the ears jerked 

 from the stalks. For many years it has been the 

 custom in the southern United States to obtain 

 forage by stripping the blades by hand from the 

 standing stalks (Fig. 629), but the scarcity of 

 manual labor makes this practice unprofitable. 



In the leading corn-growing states, the great 

 bulk of the com is husked by hand in November 

 and December. Large quantities are husked from 

 the shocks in the field, while a greater quantity is 

 husked from the standing stalks and thrown into 

 wagons that precede the buskers in the field. A 

 high sideboard or throw-board is placed on one 

 side of the wagon-bed 

 to catch the ears and 

 cause them to fall into 

 the wagon. 



Implements. 



There has been a 

 gradual evolution in 

 regard to the machin- 

 ery used, both in cul- 

 tivating and in har- 

 vesting corn, and the 

 tendency is to advance 

 to larger and more 

 effective machinery 

 that takes the place 

 of manual labor. From 

 one - horse cultivators 

 that require that the 

 field be crossed at least 

 twice for the cultivation of a single row (Fig. 

 619), an advance was made to the double cul- 

 tivator or two-horse cultivator, which completes a 

 row each time the field is crossed (Fig. 622). At 

 the present time two-row cultivators are used very 

 satisfactorily in connection with corn planted by 



Cutting com with the haryester with bundle- 

 cairier attachment. Louisiana. 



Fig. 629. Com topped and stripped of blades. Cowpeas aown 

 at last cnltivation. (Hartley.) 



