110 



VEGETABLE GARDENING. 



Cultivation. — For early use, the seed should be sown as soon 

 as the ground begins to get warm in the spring. Very early 

 planting is not desirable for the main crop, since in cold, wet 

 weather the seed is liable to rot in the ground, or the plants 

 may be frozen on coming up. It may, however, be desirable to 

 plant some of the earliest kinds as soon as the weather is 

 warm, and, selecting the most favorable location, run the risk 

 of failure, as the profits are correspondingly large if the crop 

 is very early, while the expense of planting is a small matter. 

 The main crop of corn should be planted from the middle to 

 the last of May. The land can hardly be too ric" for corn, 

 and it should be in a finely pulverized condition. The seed 

 may be planted in rows at about nine-inch intervals, with rows 

 three to four feet apart, or in hills three to four feet apart 

 each way, according to the growth of the plants and method of 

 cultivation to be followed. It should be covered above two inches. 

 If grown in hills, three or four plants should be left in a place, 

 which means planting about six seeds to the hill. If planted in 

 hills, they may be cultivated both ways, which is an advantage 

 over planting in rows. In rows, however, the plants develop 

 rather better than in hills, and it is the method preferred by 

 many good growers, though field corn is generally planted in 

 hills. Corn should be cultivated shallow and never deep 

 enough to cut the roots; until it is six inches high it may be 

 harrowed with a slant tooth harrow. In order to have a long 

 season of this vegetable in its best condition for table use, plant- 

 ings of the very early and some good second early kind should be 

 made at the same time; and then plantings of the second early 

 kinds should be made once in two weeks, thereafter up to about 

 the twentieth of June. If planted later than this there is much 

 doubt about its getting laige enough for table use before the 

 autumn frosts set in. The very early kinds, however, may be 

 planted in this section as late as the fourth of July, with good 

 prospects of their becoming of marketable size; but the very 

 early varieties are small in size and not as sweet and desirable 

 as the larger second early or late kinds, and a few varieties re- 

 quire the whole season in v/hich to obtain table size. If properly 

 planted, sweet corn may be had in a young and tender condition 

 from the middle of July until the cold weather of autumn. 



