CULTURE OUTSIDE CORN BELT I79 



age, to conserve moisture and to kill weeds. Many 

 farmers, here as well as elsewhere, lose sight of the 

 first two objects and cultivate merely to keep down the 

 weeds. Soon after the corn is planted, and before it 

 comes up, the fine steel-tooth weeder, a smoothing or 

 straight-tooth spike harrow, is run over the field to 

 break up the crust which may have formed and to kill 

 the young weeds. This operation is repeated at inter- 

 vals of a week until the corn is six to eight inches high, 

 when the one-horse cultivator is commonly employed. 

 If used frequently and before the weeds have taken 

 strong foothold, the weeder is the cheapest and most 

 thorough implement for cultivation in use at the pres- 

 ent day. 



The hoe is seldom used by progressive farmers, 

 except occasionally in small portions of the field which 

 are very weedy. The one-horse cultivator, and, on 

 some large farms, the two-horse' spreading cultivator, is 

 run through the corn both ways from two to four times 

 until the corn reaches nearly to the horse's back. At 

 the last cultivation, side wings are often put on the 

 cultivator and a slight hilling given to cover up any 

 weeds between the rows which may have escaped the 

 cultivator. 



Some farmers make a practice of seeding grass in 

 standing corn and are quite successful in obtaining a 

 good stand. The last cultivation is level and then tim- 

 othy and redtop are sown by hand or with a seed sower. 

 The seed is raked in either by hand with a broad rake 

 or by the use of a fine-tooth cultivator. The corn is cut 

 low and the stubble rolled in the spring so as to give no 

 interference to the mowing machine. Crimson clover 

 is also usually sown before the last cultivation to plow 

 under the next year as a green manure. The depth to 

 which the cultivator is run should vary with the season 

 and the soil. A good rule is to cultivate deeply in a 



