INDIAN CORN. 363 



level culture, the rootlets are not torn at every plowing, 

 thus arresting for several days the growth of the plant. 



Corn should be plowed every ten days at least, and no 

 one should over-crop himself in such a way as to fail to be 

 able to do it. Many implements are used for plowing corn, 

 the bull-tongue, shovel, mold-board, double-shovel, cultiva- 

 tors of various patterns, and last, but not by any means 

 least, the walking cultivator. Any one who has seen the 

 operation of the last-named, will not hesitate to buy one. 

 The corn can be plowed several days sooner than with any 

 other implement, simply because, with a careful plowman, 

 it is impossible to cover it up. Then it sifts just soil enough 

 around the plant to smother any sprouting weeds, and the 

 amount nan be regulated at every hill, at the discretion of 

 the plowman. This cultivator can be used until the corn 

 is three feet or more in height, and, if corn is in good con- 

 dition at that height, it can be "laid by." One man and 

 two horses, with a walking cultivator, will do the work of 

 four men and four horses, and do it better. It is a difficult 

 matter for one man to attend twenty acres of corn by the 

 old plan; with a walking cultivator, one man, after the corn 

 comes up, will easily cultivate forty or fifty acres. But 

 this does not refer to rocky, grubby, or stumpy land, as in 

 such lands the cultivator will be worthless. Lands of that 

 character will have to be cultivated as best they may. 



Four or five plowings, under ordinary circumstances, are 

 all that are necessary to produce a crop, and it is then 

 turned over to the kindly influences of the heavens. With- 

 out seasons man can do nothing, but he can, by deep and 

 thorough tilth, counteract many unfavorable circumstances. 

 If the land is deeply broken up at the beginning, it will 

 pass the moisture from the surface below to the roots of the 

 corn, and so save it from drowning out. By the same 

 method, much water will be retained in the soil, so, in case 

 of drought, it will rise up as the necessities of the plant 

 may require. 



