374 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
June 1 
A TALK ABOUT CORN PLANTING. 
HOW TO IRKIGATK WITH TOOLS. 
Mistakes in Preparing the Soil. 
I was surprised in a recent trip among farmers, to 
see many fields plowed loose and cloddy, or even har¬ 
rowed and left rough. One difference between a good 
farmer and a bad one, is that the one adapts his work 
to present conditions, while the other cuts straight 
through the season, and excuses his poor success by 
saying that it was too dry or too wet to grow much corn 
this year. The experiment stations teach that exposed 
soil, unplowed in the spring, may evaporate more than 
16 tons of water per day per acre ; while in the same 
field simply plowed, the evaporation was decreased 
over 10 tons per acre. 
The report of another experiment says : 
One piece of ground was plowed April 28, 1891, sown to oats, and 
the amount of water in each foot of earth was recorded to the 
depth of four feet. Seven days later, the water in this plot of 
ground was again determined, and also that in another strip 
lying immediately alongside of it, which had not been plowed. 
The result showed that the upper foot of soil on the plowed ground, 
had lost only 4.65 tons per acre, and the other three feet below had 
gained enough from below to make the average unchanged, while 
the same depth (four feet) on the unplowed ground, had lost 198.9 
tons per acre. Neither was this all; the ground first plowed was 
in perfect tilth, while that plowed six days later had developed in 
it such hard and large clods, that it became necessary to go over 
it twice with a heavy roller, twice with a disc harrow, and twice 
with a loaded harrow before it was brought into a condition of 
tilth, even approximating what it would have been had it been 
plowed six days earlier. 
Of course, the good effect above depends on sever¬ 
ing the soil from the subsoil. The result would not 
be so decided after the plowing of the second plot, 
because the mulch of plowed ground would contain 
so many clods, and be so open to air, that it would be 
but a small protection. The above experiment can 
be improved on in cultivated crops (instead of oats), 
by making a light, very fine, level mulch of soil on 
top of the seed bed, to prevent its drying out. One of 
the most common mistakes made by farmers this 
spring, is in plowing and leaving the seed bed thrown 
up loose, and even cloddy, to dry out. The harrow 
should follow the plow every morning, and if clods 
are left, the harrow or roller should be used at once. 
The clods work down much easier when fresh, and 
tons of moisture are saved to the seed bed itself, right 
where it is absolutely necessary. I saw a large field 
which had been plowed and worked once with a disc 
harrow, and left very cloddy and rough in the warm 
sun and wind for a week. It looked very harsh and 
white and dead, and surely had sustained a great loss 
by such butchering. 
Machine Planting; Drills or Hills ? 
This is the year when corn planters having a wheel 
to run over the corn and pack the soil about the grain, 
are in the height of their glory. Those using planters 
with no wheel, are rolling across the rows to answer 
this purpose, or else many grains will be covered by 
coarse earth, which will get too dry to sprout the 
corn, and their crop will come up very unevenly. I 
scratched out 10 cutworms from one furrow in which 
corn was growing, in less than two feet along the row. 
The early planting and warm spring have favored 
them. I could walk 40 rods in one field, where corn 
was three blades high, and not see a stalk but had 
been more or less eaten. Yet, if corn is covered 
deeply, the worms seldom kill it, as they must eat it 
off below the top bud, or it will come out again. 
J. S. Woodward speaks of harrowing twice, once 
across the rows before the corn comes up. This is 
now frequently practiced in this locality. But I can’t 
do it, much as I would like to, because I plant in a 
furrow. It puts the corn in excellent tilth, but one 
having old ground of a clayey nature, should remem¬ 
ber that a soaking rain after two harrowings, will 
make that seed bed as hard as it was before breaking. 
The harrow seems to break down all the little arch¬ 
like structure of the seed bed, while the roller only 
packs the soil a little closer. Soil is not easily pud¬ 
dled after the roller, but weeds start much worse. I 
once planted a field “on top,” and another in furrows ; 
I harrowed the level field, and when rain came, it 
looked like an onion bed with the corn standing up 
clean and nice. But when again dry enough to plow, 
it was very hard, and worked up rough, w r hile the 
field planted in furrows was in good tilth. I also 
noticed that my double cultivator made a ripping 
noise as it broke roots of corn knee high and more, 
w 7 hile it was silent and broke no roots in the furrowed 
field. If soil is very loose, or is held up with clover, 
it will do to harrow, and one can do great good both 
by conserving moisture and killing weeds. 
Are Weeds a Terror to Drilled Corn ? 
I am very much surprised that good farmers in this 
locality continue to use the check-row corn planters. 
They acknowledge that one can grow more corn by 
dividing it, so as to give each stalk its space, but say 
that they are afraid of weeds in drilled corn. I stirred 
up quite a,hot discussion in a farmers’ institute once 
by saying that, if I had a very foul field, I would 
prefer drilling. I finally explained on the black¬ 
board that the check-rower usually drops a hill two 
inches wide and from three to six inches long, some 
corn rolling a little with the planter, and plants in 
the surface soil; while the drill should always plant 
a straight row of single stalks in the bottom of a 
furrow. In the first plowing, my check corn is about 
level, and it is easier to use fenders and roll a little 
earth all around one stalk, in a furrow than two 
stalks on a level ; besides if the corn is showing the 
third blade, it will not bear enough soil to roll and 
lap between the stalks, and a white streak of weeds 
is left. The cross plowing is greatly over-estimated, 
as the rows are usually zigzagy, the hills wider, and 
one leaves a bunch of weeds still in the hill ; by the 
time the third plowing comes, the weeds are too high 
to cover. By allowing the fenders to drag, one can 
throw just a little earth around his drilled corn at the 
first plowing, and the second before the furrow is 
full; the third plowing ridges it just a little, while 
the fourth is further from the corn. As we use 
spring-tooth cultivators with four narrow shovels on 
a side, the ground is left practically level, and in fine 
condition for seeding to wheat or rye. 
1 plant potatoes with a machine, in a deep furrow, 
but throw a ridge of soil on top of them, then harrow 
and cross-harrow four or five times, till it is level 
when they come up. But corn will not bear planting 
so deep. A weed, before reaching the light, needs 
but little sap, and seldom has branch roots ; so it is 
true that a little stirring of the soil displaces the one 
long, smooth root and easily kills the weed. We 
thank our lucky stars that we have no Canada thistles 
to contend with. e. h. Collins. 
Indiana. 
HORSESHOE FARM NOTES. 
“ON time,” spading harrow, flax seed, crimson 
CLOVER. 
For several years, the wrens have not varied 24 
hours in their time of arrival, May 2. The birds and 
animals have a time for their actions, but many have 
lost valuable time in looking up grass and grain seeds 
for sowing. Would it not be better to do this in 
winter? A seed dealer said to me, “ I can tell who 
are the progressive farmers without going away from 
the store, by the time at which they buy their sup¬ 
plies.” I am receiving orders for seed potatoes now, 
after they should be planted. Some are paying extra 
express charges to get them more quickly, and all will 
pay dearly for their delay, by having a reduced yield. 
I have been fitting an acre for planting to straw¬ 
berries ; I commenced by plowing in July, 1894, as 
soon as the hay was removed. I drew on a good coat¬ 
ing of manure and plowed it under deep. I sowed 
the piece to flat turnips, and harvested over 400 
bushels—a small crop on account of excessive drought, 
but they saved a big bill for feed for hogs. I plowed 
again this spring, and found all the grass dead, and 
the sod rotted enough to fall apart and fill the soil 
with humus ; many weed seeds sprouted, and the soil 
mellow. I harrowed and rolled early in April. On 
May 1, I put on a Morgan spading harrow, and spaded 
twice. I found many weed seeds just sprouted. After 
this preparation, I shall not be obliged to hunt for 
mellow soil to set plants in, or hoe them more than 
twice this season—a great saving of cost in labor. 
The spading harrow does good work in soil adapted 
to its use. Doing the same work, it draws no harder 
than a spring-tooth harrow ; if one ride, it needs three 
horses. It cannot be made to tear up a liard-trodden 
fall-plowed surface equal to the spring-tooth. On 
stony ground, it is better than a disc, as it does 
not rise on the stones so much. It does not bring 
stones to the surface like the spring-tooth. It cuts 
hard lumps in two once only, each time over, hence 
one has double the lumps, of half size, at each work¬ 
ing. I would prefer a spring-tooth for all places ex¬ 
cept lumpy clay land. A spring-tooth in such places 
only stirs the lumps around ; if set full depth, it tears 
up more lumps. The spader has a tendency to work 
the lumps out each way into windrows, from the ac¬ 
tion of the teeth. It did not clog in the mud. No one 
would ride long from choice. One should not buy any 
tool without the privilege of testing it fully before 
payment. 
I put in two quarts of flaxseed per acre with the 
oats, peas and barley, this year. Is there any reason 
why we cannot grow our own oil meal, and save 
money to drain the soil instead of draining the pocket- 
book, for feed ? With milk at less than two cents per 
quart, for the year, we must change methods or quit 
dairying. To get an even stand, I use a drill. My 
wheat field has an acre in the center which was sown 
broadcast. The fertilizer was also sown by hand. 
Now, it looks as though the drilled portion would 
yield double the other. Some claim that oats yield 
better sown broadcast ; we are trying both ways. 
What says The R. N.-Y. ? 
Our Crimson clover sown on freshly plowed soil, all 
perished with drought a few days after coming to the 
surface. Sown on harder soil, and covered with one 
harrowing as in the currant and raspberry rows, it 
grew some. It wintered all right and is growing 
now. It is no larger than the Red clover seeding in 
the wheat field which was sown four months before. 
All small fruits should be hoed early in spring to 
kill weeds economically and promote growth. At this 
time, May 1, the clover would stick hard and be hard 
to pull out. Our boys when hoeing, asked me why I 
sowed it in there. “ To furnish humus and nitrogen,” 
said I. “ Well,” was the reply ; “ if you get it. the 
plant must be loaded, for it’s mighty small.” If any 
firm had boomed this plant, I should have written 
“one more” ; but having confidence in the honesty of 
The R. N.-Y., I rest the case. c. e. chapman. 
NUMBER OF CORN PLANTS ON AN ACRE. 
When corn ground is checked three feet eight inches 
each way, the number of hills on an acre is 3,240. 
In order to get 100 bushels of corn per acre, there 
must be an average of three quite large ears, or their 
equivalent, in each hill. It would seem that three 
good stalks should come as near to producing the re¬ 
quired amount of grain as any larger number of 
stalks in a hill, although some of our stations say 
otherwise. The Illinois Station says : “ The results 
of many trials suggest that most farmers in central 
Ohio and Illinois have attached undue importance to 
early planting and frequent cultivation, especially 
after the corn has made fair growth ; and that they 
have attached quite too little importance to securing 
a uniform stand, with at least 12,000 stalks per acre.” 
This number of stalks per acre gives an average of 
one stalk to slightly less than a linear foot in the 
row, but not quite an average of four stalks to the 
hill. 
The average yield of corn per acre in the United 
States is less than 30 bushels. One stalk per hill, in 
checks three feet eight inches each way, should give 
us one-hundredth of a bushel of corn, or at the rate 
of 32 bushels per acre. One hundred bushels per 
acre are rarely obtained, and we are forced to believe 
that each stalk in a hill of three or four stalks, can 
not be expected to yield a large ear of corn, or two 
small ones. If it did, the 100-bushel mark would be 
easily reached. In naturally fertile land, three stalks 
should produce a big yield of corn, and in thinner 
soils, two stalks will produce more grain than three 
stalks. 
But we do not grow corn for grain only. Except 
in the great natural corn regions, the fodder is a 
very material part of the food obtained in the crop. 
The man keeping three or four horses, and as many 
cows, finds the stover from seven or eight acres all 
the coarse food needed from November till April, pro¬ 
vided it is of good quality and properly saved. The 
quality and quantity depend upon the number of 
stalks per acre, the thicker seeding giving both qual¬ 
ity and quantity. For this reason, it is often advis¬ 
able to have three stalks in a hill in a soil that would 
produce as much merchantable corn on two stalks. 
It is one thing to grow grain only for market, and 
another to grow food for stock that includes the 
stover as well as the grain. In the latter case, quite 
thick seeding suits me best. alva agee. 
NEW YORK STATE BEAN CULTURE. 
In Genesee County. —The Marrow Pea bean is 
more generally raised for market, although there 
will be a large acreage of Red Kidneys this year. 
Nearly all cultivating is done with a two-horse riding 
spring-tooth cultivator, taking two rows at once. 
Beans should have such care before blossoming, as 
not to require much attention afterwards. We believe 
that level culture is superior when a harvester is used, 
as less earth adheres to the stalks when cut. We 
plant beans on sod, well covered with stable manure, 
plowed under, not too deep, and use a planter with a 
fertilizer attachment or a grain drill to plant, using 
100 pounds of high-grade fertilizer per acre. We 
never got a good crop of beans without large vines, 
never had ground too rich, and never had too much 
bean fodder, as it is excellent for sheep in winter. 
We harvest with a two-horse harvester, and men fol¬ 
low with forks shaking out dirt, stones, etc. The 
horse-rake will not only shell many beans, but is de¬ 
structive to the thrashing machine, and dangerous 
to help where there are stones or knots. All who 
have grain thrashers own bean thrashers, to run after 
the grain-thrashing season is over. These machines 
thrash and clean about 1,000 bushels per day, where 
all conditions are favorable. G. D. 
Oakfield, N. Y. 
Orleans County Notes. — In Bean Culture in 
Western New York, I do not think E. C. Gillett gives 
Orleans^ Countyqa higtmenough■ ^rating. A. B. Ray- 
