110 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[April, 
On the Cultivation of Indian Corn. 
Corn succeeds in all varieties of soil possessed of 
requisite fertility — excepting' some -winch for want 
of draining are wet and cold for too long a time in 
the Spring. The only limit to its cultivation. ap¬ 
pears to he climate, as it requires hot sunshine and 
a sufficient length of time between hard frosts to 
allow it to grow and ripen; this for the different va¬ 
rieties will take from four to six months, but if cut 
before frost it will ripen considerably in the shock. 
PREPARATION OP GROUND. 
Corn is much planted on a fresh break of sod, 
and made the first crop in a five years rotation. It 
will, however, succeed for many years on the same 
ground, if the strength is kept up by a proper ap¬ 
plication of manure. Sometimes (in Pennsylvania) 
wheat or rye is sown at the last working of the 
corn and pastured through the winter by sheep or 
cows ; and sometimes the corn is removed when 
cut and the ground sown with winter grain. The 
first preparation of the ground should be thorough 
drainage, where it is needed, for no cr6p is more 
affected by water standing in the soil than this. If 
surface draining must be resorted to, the best plan 
is to plow the land in ridges and plant on the top. 
This will also give more nourishment to the corn in 
very thin soils; but, except in extreme cases, it is 
not advisable, as it leaves the ground rough or 
uneven, and interferes with good cultivation. 
Some farmers object to putting fresh manure on 
corn land, because it makes weeds grow; but, with 
me, this would be a reason for applying it to this in 
preference to any other crop, for there is no’ other 
in which the weeds ■ are so easily kept down, while 
destroying them keeps the ground loose. I gener¬ 
ally put the manure on the sod the fall before; 
when put on immediately before planting, if it is 
coarse and not very well rotted, it will have to be 
plowed in; but, if it is fine enough to admit, 
it is best applied after plowing, and harrowed 
in. The quantity of manure need only be limit¬ 
ed by tire available supply ; I never knew corn 
to suffer from too much manure. At the same 
time excellent crops may be raised on new land, or 
on old sod without any manure. I apply the bulk 
of the manure to the corn crop, but give a light 
coat to the wheat. Manuring in the hill, either be¬ 
fore planting, or after the corn is up, is sometimes 
practiced; but manuring the whole surface is bet¬ 
ter, if it can be done.' Though the manure next the 
seed helps to start the com, it is of very little con¬ 
sequence. after the roots begin to spread over the 
ground, and there will.be little difficulty in starting 
the corn provided the soil is properly prepared. 
This may be done any time that the gvound will 
admit of it, from the middle of Autumn until plant¬ 
ing time. For stiff, clayey soils, Fall plowing is 
best; it also destroys the cut worm and the seeds 
of a great many weeds. Sometimes it is consider¬ 
ed an object to have the sod for early pasture in the 
Spring, as it furnishes a good bite for milch cows, 
etc., before it is necessary to plow it, and while the 
permanent pasture is too young. In this latitude, 
if sheep are fed on it in mild weather through the 
Whiter, they will give it an excellent coat of ma¬ 
nure. In plowing, leave as few dead furrows in the 
field as possible. If the ground is nearly level and 
the shape of the field will permit, the best plan is 
to begin in the middle and throw the furrow in¬ 
wardly, leaving a furrow all around the outside, 
[that is, “back-furrow” the whole field.] This, 
however, will depend on the number of times the 
field is to be plowed in the rotation; as, the next 
time, the furrow will have to be thrown towards 
the fence and the last plowing before seeding down 
should always be towards the middle. Do not lay 
the furrow flat, but.'edge' it so as just to cover all 
the grass. The depth of plowing wilt depend on. the 
depth of the soil. If your soil is not . as deep as 
you can run the plow, turn up a little of the subsoil 
each time,, thus gradually deepening it. Subsoil 
plowing will be of advantage, especially where the 
top soil is thin. Remove all the stones to the depth 
that you plow. Give the ground a thorough har¬ 
rowing, going first the way it was plowed, then 
crossing until the surface is perfectly mellow. 
MARKING OUT AND PLANTING. 
If you are.going to plant in hills, the next thing 
in order will be .marking put. This is generally 
done with the plow, running to a pole set up at 
each end, and others along the row as you can see 
them, if you can not see through, marking double 
width as you go towards the poles, and returning 
through the middle space. I have used for several 
years a simple and very effective implement for 
this purpose, which can be made by any person who 
can handle tools, (fig. 1). Make a cheap axletree of 
such a length that the wheels tracks will be just 
twice as far apart as you wish to make your rows. 
Fit on a pair of light wagon wheels, and fasten' a 
tongue firmly to the middle of the axletree: Half 
way between the middle and the track of each 
-wheel, fit two pieces of scantling, four inches thick 
(extending to the ground and rising a little above 
the axle) so as to slide freely up and down, but not 
Fig. 1. 
to move sideways; on the lower ends of thesefasten 
shovels from a common shovel plow, so as to lean 
a little forward when the tongue is up. Fasten 
chains just above the shovels and attach them to a 
piece fastened across the tongue just behind the 
eveuer; shortening or lengthening these chains will 
make the shovels run shallow or deep as wanted. 
The uprights should be connected at the top by a 
piece bolted to them, leaving the bolts very loose 
in the holes, so that each slide can work independ¬ 
ently, and a lever should be arranged to lift the 
plows out of the ground in turning. This machine 
will mark two rows at once, and by keeping one 
wheel in the old track, a good driver can, after a lit¬ 
tle practice, keep very straight without poles. 
Rows straight and uniform look better, and add 
much to the couvenience of cultivation. The fur¬ 
rows should be just deep enough not to disturb the 
sod. The most common distance apart in Penn¬ 
sylvania is four feet each way. The distance how¬ 
ever, depends on the kind of com, some of the 
small growing kinds being planted much closer. 
The following rule will, I believe, apiply to all cases. 
Estimate how many bushels you will attempt to 
raise to the acre. Put it at one hundred ; not that 
it is often reached, but because it may be reached. 
There are well authenticated instances of much 
greater crops, but this wiu do to begin with. Find 
the weight of corn on a good, full sized ear of the 
variety you intend to plant; and dividing the 
weight of 100 bushels by it you will know the 
number of ears you want to raise on an acre, sup¬ 
posing them all equal to your standard. If the corn 
is of a kind that generally bears one ear to the 
stalk, the number of stalks will, of course, be the 
same. Do not calculate to raise more t han one 
good ear to a stalk, and having the number of 
stalks in an acre, divide this by the number in a 
hill (say three). This will give you the number of 
hills to the acre. The number of square feet in an 
acre-is 43,5(30, which divided by the number of hills 
gives the number of square feet required by each 
hill, and the square root of this number is the dis¬ 
tance the hills should be apart. In no case, how¬ 
ever, should the rows be less thau three and a half 
feet apart for convenience in working. If this will 
not make it thick enough it will be better to plant 
in drills, making it close enough in the rows to 
give the required number of stalks. The advan¬ 
tage of a plan like this is, that it is founded on, first 
raising good ears, and then as many of them as pos¬ 
sible. Drilling is a very good way of putting in 
corn if you are certain of having help enough at the 
right time for thinning and keeping clean. As it 
can only be worked one way by horse, more has to 
be done by hand labor. 
PLANTING 
may commence as soon as the ground is warm and 
all danger of hard frost is over. In this latitude 
(40° N.), this will be from the first to the middle of 
May ; but I have seen very good crops that were 
planted as late as the first of June. The greatest 
danger in late planting is the liability of injury by 
frosts in the Fall. In selecting seed, more atten¬ 
tion should be paid to the appearance than the 
name. There is scarcely any end to the varieties 
raised, and the same kinds have different names in 
different sections of the country. You will have 
to be governed in yoitr selec¬ 
tion very much by climate- 
some kinds requiring a much 
longer season than others. At 
the North, Dutton, little Can¬ 
ada, King Philip, and many of 
the eight and twelve rowed 
yellow and white flint varie¬ 
ties are favorites. The large 
gourd seed, a strong grow¬ 
ing and not very heavy va¬ 
riety, is much raised in the 
middle States, and 1 requires 
a long season. Southern 
white is,, much raised at the 
South, and some persons here 
prefer it for cooking. Stow- 
ell’s evergreen is one of the 
best for boiling. For seed choose good sized ears with • 
long heavy grain and small cob, well filled over the 
ends ; the small end of the cob should be entirely 
covered. Preparing the seed with gas or common 
tar will prevent birds taking it. To do this, soak 
the seed about twelve hours in cold water, then 
pour off the cold, and pour on warm water just be¬ 
low the boiling point, enough to barely cover the 
corn. Dip a paddle in the tar or pour a little on the 
corn and stir till it is all coated with the tar. A 
very little of the tar will go a great way. When 
, you have it completely coated, draiu the water off 
and sprinkle on plaster, stirring it up with the corn 
until it becomes thoroughly dried and the grains 
separated. If you are not sure of all your corn 
growing, drop enough in each hill to be certain of 
having enough, and thin down to the right number 
of stalks after it gets well started. If the seed was 
properly saved, there will be very few grains that 
will not grow. Thinning corn, though apparently 
a very simple operation, is very hard to do well. 
Some of the stalks will break off in the ground, 
leaving the roots to grow again; and I have found 
very few men or boys who would always leave just 
the right number. When birds and other depreda¬ 
tors commence on a hill, they generally take it all. 
My experience is, that three stalks to a hill will 
bring more corn than any other number, and I 
make the hills three feet ten inches apart each way. 
Cover the seed with a hoe about two inches deep, 
taking care not to put on lumps or stones. 
PUMPKINS AMONG THE CORN. 
It is a common practice to plant pumpkins among 
corn, and about it there is a variety of opinion. Some 
assert that they take no nourishment from the corn, 
and others, that they deprive it of more than 
their value. The truth probably lies between'the 
two extremes. They most likely take some nour¬ 
ishment that would otherwise go to the corn, and a 
great deal that would not. If your only object is 
to raise a large crop of corn, leave pumpkins out. If 
you want to get the greatest possible return from 
