FAEM PEACTICE IN THE CULTIVATION OF CORN. 
41 
with a spike-tooth harrow. When the land is cloddy the roller is 
sometimes used. 
Most of the corn is planted with a 2-horse 2-row planter. Some 
farmers plant by hand when labor is plentiful, and a few use a 
1 -horse planter. Seventy-three per cent of the planting is in checks 
from 3J to 4 feet apart each way, with two stalks per hill. Prac- 
tically all the corn is planted level. After the corn is up it is usually 
harrowed with the spike-tooth harrow. After this most of the culti- 
vating is done with a 1-horse spike-tooth cultivator and a 1-horse 
2-shovel cultivator (fig. 31). 
Often a 1-horse turning plow is used as a cultivator, first to plow 
the dirt away from the corn, which is known as barring-off, then 
the middles are plowed out, throwing dirt to the corn. The 2-horse 
4-shovel (fig. 32) and 8-shovel cultivators are used, but not so much 
as the 1-horse implements. Principally because of cheap labor, the 
Fig. 31. — A 1-horse 2-shovel culti- 
vator, a tillage implement in 
general use in cornfields in the 
South. 
Fig. 32. — A 2-horse 4-shovel corn cultivator. 
1-horse implements are largely used, and only where more expensive 
labor is employed is much labor-saving machinery found. 
Practically no cover crops are grown. The white dent varieties 
of corn are principally grown. The most prevalent weeds are crab- 
grass, smartweed, ragweed, and wild onion. 
SURVEYS IN HAMILTON COUNTY, NEBR. 
Hamilton County is in the prairie section of Nebraska and practi- 
cally all the land is in cultivation. The soil in this region is very 
fertile, but seasons are often unfavorable and crop production varies 
largely with the amount of rainfall. The soil is a deep black silt 
loam with a clay subsoil. It becomes very hard in dry weather and 
frequently cracks open. In the northern part of the county along 
the Platte River the soil is more sandy and not so productive as the 
silt-loam type. 
This is a comparatively level region, just rolling enough to give 
good natural drainage and not steep enough to cause erosion or to 
interfere with the use of machinery. (Table XX.) There are no 
tile drains and practically no surface ditches or terraces. 
