UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 320 
^r Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry V<l„, 
JT&f < &J't~ WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief .yUV V^/i* 
Washington, D. C. 
January 24, 1916 
FARM PRACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
By H. R. Gates, Scientific Assistant, Office of Farm Management. 1 
CONTENTS. 
Introduction 
General statement 
Economic factors influencing tillage 
Acreage and crop yields 
Subsoiling, drainage, and tillage before 
plowing 
Plowing 
Page. 
1 
3 
Page. 
Tillage implements used after plowing and 
before planting 17 
Methods of planting and kinds of planters 
used 18 
Planting, replanting, and band cultivation. . 21 
General farm practices and conditions 22 
INTRODUCTION. 
The subject of tillage is one upon which much fundamental in- 
formation is yet to be supplied. Numerous tillage experiments have 
been conducted by various agricultural experiment stations, but a 
compilation of the results of these experiments sIioavs that no gen- 
eral conclusions can be drawn from them ; in fact, the results in dif- 
ferent States seriously conflict. This is probably due to the fact that 
the experiments have been conducted upon different types of soil and 
under other widely varying conditions, as well as to the fact that in 
many cases experiments have not been repeated a sufficient number 
of times to justify conclusions, even locally. Further, the experi- 
ments have usually been designed to find out the most productive 
practices, whereas the farmer is interested in the most profitable 
practice. 
Previous studies, reported in Bulletin 257 of the Bureau of Plant 
Industry, 2 have shown that the principal object of intertillage in 
1 The Office of Farm Management was transferred from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
to the Office of the Secretary on July 1, 1915. The work upon which this paper is based 
was done and the manuscript was submitted and its publication arranged before the 
transfer took place. 
2 Cates, J. S., and Cox, H. R. The weed factor in the cultivation of corn. U. S. Dept. 
Agr., Bur. Plant Indus. Bui. 257, 35 p., 10 fig. 1912. 
Note. — This bulletin gives the results of an extensive study of cultural practice with 
corn and should be of interest to farmers in all regions where corn is grown, 
8504°— Bull. 320—16 1 
