Sweet Corn 



319 



Maize coming up (X 2/3). 



is to secure as many ears as possible, and therefore each 

 stalk should be given adequate room. In field corn, on the 

 contrary, particularly since the advent of the silo, the 

 fodder may be quite as important as the grain. If the sea- 

 son is short and the' a ^)^ 

 soil is hard and back- 

 ward, it is well to add 

 a little commercial 

 fertilizer to each hill 

 to start the plants off 

 quickly. Maize does 

 particularly well fol- 

 lowing sod. 



The excellence of the crop depends to an important de- 

 gree on the parentage of the seed. Seed-breeding plots 

 should be maintained, or else extra discrimination should 

 be exercised in the purchase of seed for planting. 



Seed is planted for the early crop as soon as the ground 

 is thoroughly warm. Since sweet-corn seed is particularly 

 liable to rot in cold and damp ground, it is well to make 

 the first planting rather heavy. It is possible to start in 

 plots and transplant, but in practice it is planted directly 

 in the field. The early plantings are usually made of the 

 extra-early varieties, as Minnesota, Cory, Golden Bantam 

 and others. The main crop is commonly secured from the 

 later or main-season varieties, of which the Stowell Ever- 

 green is^a standard. Successional plantings may be made 

 at intervals of one to two weeks, particularly for the home 

 garden or for a continuous supply for the market-garden. 

 In market-gardening, the value of the green-corn crop is 

 often determined by its earliness. Two or three days in 



