CULTURE OUTSIDE CORN BELT 177 



The best soil for corn is a strong, sandy loam or 

 an alluvial soil, but it can be grown successfully on any 

 soil where water does not stand between its particles 

 within eight or ten inches of the surface. 



Most New England soils, especially those of clayey 

 formation, can be handled better in the fall than 

 in the spring. It gives the air and frost a longer time 

 to work on the particles; in other words, there is a 

 longer time for unavailable plant food to be changed 

 into the available form. Gravelly soils and those that 

 leach easily by rains, perhaps can better be plowed in 

 the spring. They dry off readily and planting is never 

 materially delayed. When the soil is dry in spring the 

 disk and spring-tooth harrows should be used, but do 

 not hurry. It will take another freeze to remedy the 

 evil done by plowing or harrowing a wet soil. Soil 

 that has been plowed in the fall is usually compacted 

 and hardened by spring. In this case replowing is 

 advisable. 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATING 



The harrowing should be thorough and should 

 follow the plowing, precede the application of manure 

 and fertilizer and again follow the application of the 

 fertilizer elements. On sod ground, a disk or cutaway 

 harrow does by far the best work. 



Corn is called a gross feeder and responds quickly 

 to heavy feeding if the elements are presented in solu- 

 ble form. Best results are obtained by broadcasting 

 the fertilizer or manure after plowing and harrowing m 

 thoroughly, but probably the majority of farmers still 

 follow the practice of drawing out the manure and 

 spreading it before plowing. On lands which are sub- 

 ject to washing, the manure should be incorporated 

 with the soil as quickly as possible after being put on. 

 The amount used per acre varies greatly with character 



