PLANTING AND CULTIVATING 1 13 



from the fact that it is necessary to go deeper in a dry 

 soil in order to secure the moisture for germination, 

 and because the dry soils warm up more quickly than 

 the moist soils. Seed planted deep in dry soils 

 obtain enough heat for germination. It has recently 

 been discovered that no matter how deep seeds may be 

 planted, the root system develops always at about the 

 same depth. That is, the seed planted deep in the soil 

 sends up a tube to the ordinary point at which the roots 

 develop. At the end of this tube the permanent roots 

 branch out and a stem is sent up into the atmosphere. 

 See Fig 32. 



HILLING OR DRILLING 



The practice of hilling or drilling corn will depend 

 upon the fertility of the soil, the condition of the field, 

 the amount of weeds or weed seeds in the soil, and the 

 variety of corn. As a rule it is not advisable to plant 

 more than four stalks in a hill, because they will inter- 

 fere with each other in plant growth. So then if in a 

 very fertile soil it is desirable to plant more kernels 

 than this per hill, it is the best practice to plant in drills. 



However, if the field is very weedy it is noc 

 desirable to plant in drills, because the drilled corn can- 

 not be cross-cultivated and the field is likely to grow to 

 weeds. If a small variety of corn, more kernels can be 

 grown in a hill than a large variety. This is particu- 

 larly true if the large variety has a correspondingly 

 large amount of foliage. The large plants growing in 

 a hill will naturally shade the other plants and interfere 

 in their development. On soils that have been plowed 

 for the first time, it is sometimes desirable to drill the 

 corn. Such fields are usually comparatively free from 

 the noxious weeds which seem to follow, continued cul- 

 tivation. They are usually very fertile and able to 



