LEVEL CULTIVATION GENERALLY BEST 



167 



Shallow Cultivation Gives Best Results.— In humid farming 

 results in general are in favor of shallow cultivation. The only 

 time when it is safe to cultivate deep at all is when the plants are 

 very young, and before they send tlieir feeding roots into the 

 surface soil. Much harm results in deep cultivation (four to five 

 inches), in cutting these feeding roots. The only way to determine 

 whether or not cultivation is too deep is to investigate what the 

 cultivator teeth are actually doing. If the shovels n.ext to the row 



Fig. 111. — Cracks like these are moisture chimneys. 



are going too deep and cutting the roots, they may be raised; and 

 if all the teeth are doing injury they should be set for more 



shallow work. 



Level Cultivation Generally Best. — Hilling corn does not 

 increase the yield, hence level cultivation is more desirable. In 

 some localities hilling the corn is a common practice because it 

 has always been the custom. A farmer gets the hilling habit when 

 he allows the weeds to get ahead of him. It then becomes neces- 

 sary to throw much dirt on the rows in order to cover the weeds. 

 If this must be done, and in some instances it is necessary to cover 

 such weeds as the wild morning-glory later cultivation should be 

 done, if possible, at right angles to the ridges to level them. In 



