1901 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
691 
A TWO-STORY CORNFIELD. 
Harnessing the Old Sod. 
On September 14 I saw on the farm of Heman 
Clark, Port Chester, N. Y., a three-acre field of corn 
averaging 12 feet in height. There were many stalks 
14 feet high. Fig. 312 shows a small portion of this 
field. The man standing by the stalk is six feet tall. 
The apparently short stalks showing in the back¬ 
ground were in a hollow about 15 feet in the rear. 
Mr, Clark has made a study of corn for many years. 
He has spent considerable time in the West In rail¬ 
road building and the construction of irrigation 
plants, thus meeting farmers in the great corn sec¬ 
tions, and having an opportunity to observe many 
varied methods of handling the crop. To travel 
through this cornfield was like going into the woods. 
While the stalks were enormous, both as to height 
and size, there was something still more interesting, 
the large ears which hung over into the row, and 
would have made walking difficult if they had not 
been so high as to be out of the way of a man’s head. 
I saw very few stalks which did not have one fair¬ 
sized ear. 
The land about Port Chester is far from being 
prairie. It is rough and hilly, quite like much of 
western Massachusetts and Connecticut. The process 
by which Mr. Clark turns one of these old fields into 
such a forest of corn is an interesting one. 
“This field must have been in fair condition before 
being plowed for corn?” 
“It was an impoverished meadow, no longer produc¬ 
ing hay enough to be profitable. It was what is 
known as ‘run out,’ although there was a thick, heavy 
mat of sod.” 
“When was it plowed?” 
“L#ate in the Pall. From 
the middle to the last of 
October is the propsr time. 
We plowed it about nine 
inches deep.” 
“How was the field 
handled in the Spring?” 
“First we put on a dress¬ 
ing of well-rotted stable 
manure. That three-acre 
piece alone had about 20 
loads thrown on broad¬ 
cast. Then we planted the 
corn.” 
“W i t h o u t replowing, 
disking or harrowing in 
any way?” 
“Yes; what we consider 
a very important part of 
our system is letting the 
soil entirely alone until 
midsummer, when the sod 
yields well to the cultiva¬ 
tor. We leave the furrows 
just as they lie when turn¬ 
ed over in the Fall. Of 
course the field is well 
plowed, so as to be rea¬ 
sonably smooth. A line 
was drawn across the field 
as a guide in planting. The hills are four feet apart 
each way. If this variety of corn is planted any more 
closely the earing will be inferior. We try to put the 
hill as nearly as possible at the edge of the furrow, 
where it laps over on to the next one. The rains wash 
more plant food from the manure down into the soil 
at these points than at others, thus getting it within 
easy reach of the young corn rooits. The corn is 
planted about three inches deep, and a little earlier 
than under the system of Spring plowing and har¬ 
rowing. There is but little danger of the corn rotting 
in the ground on account of cold rains. It does not 
stand in the water, as the furrow lies up loosely, and 
there is good drainage underneath.” 
“How many times did you cultivate?” 
“Only twice each way, first when the corn was 
about eight inches high and next when half way to 
the horse’s back. If further cultivation is done, the 
corn roots, which by this time cross the rows, will 
be damaged.” 
“What variety of corn is this?” 
“It originally came from the West. By selecting 
the most desirable ears for seed for 10 years we now 
have a variety which, although growing very large, 
is earlier than many eastern native sorts, and yields 
from 80 to 100 bushels of ears per acre.” 
The ground, although so little cultivated, was free 
from weeds. In fact, such a swamp of corn is a dis¬ 
couraging place for weeds, as it treads on their toes 
and shuts out all sunshine. As the corn was fit to 
cut by the middle of September, it would appear to 
be early enough for ordinary seasons. It often hap¬ 
pens that the whole month of September passe® In 
this locality without severe frost. 
Mr. Clark has kept separately a plot of half an acre, 
a fair average of the field. This will be husked and 
shelled by itself, and the exact^ yield given in The 
R. N.-Y. later. The stalks will be turned into hay 
by being run through a shredder. This operation will 
be something like shredding cord wood, and certainly 
thoroughly test the machine. After the corn is re¬ 
moved, rye will be sown, and the field seeded to 
clover and Timothy, receiving a light dressing of ma¬ 
nure, while another run-out sod field is being plowed 
for next year’s corn. Mr. Clark says that he has not 
seen in Kansas any finer corn than some crops he 
has raised on old sod fields under this system. He 
would not attempt it on anything except sod, how¬ 
ever. Unlike many plans for raising large crops there 
is in this no heavy fertilization, and less work is done 
than where the corn is handled in the ordinary way. 
The essentials of this method are: Fall plowing; 
a top dressing of rotted manure in Spring; ear’y 
planting, and moderate cultivation. Horses and 
heavy wagons are kept off the field as much as pos¬ 
sible. Every time a plowed sod field is tramped over 
with a team the sod is packed down harder on the 
bottom of the furrow. This Is particularly true of 
the heavier lands. The surface may be made mellow 
by harrowing, but, five inches below, the soil becomes 
packed down harder than before it was plowed. When 
corn is allowed to grow in the soil as the plow leaves 
it the roots find plenty of mellow earth below, and 
feed on the decaying sod, which, lying loosely, stores 
up moisture and plant food better than it otherwise 
would. These are some of Mr. Clark’s arguments for 
this method of corn culture. The keynote of it all 
seems to be that the decaying sod is handled, or 
rather left without handling, so that the corn roots 
get the full benefit of it. This looks reasonable, and 
the large yield of corn and fodder backs up the argu¬ 
ment strongly. As no extra labor and expense are 
required, the plan is certainly worth trying, at least 
on a small scale, by those who have sod fields to 
plow and are interested in corn growing, w. w. n. 
MOLES AND SQUASH BUGS.—I have just been 
reading in The R. N.-Y. about ground moles, and 
having had a good deal of sad experience with them, 
I cannot refrain from telling how I rid my garden of 
them whenever they appear. One Summer my garden 
was suddenly overrun with them, and my vines were 
being killed by their digging under searching for 
worms. I take small bits of lean raw beef, cut half 
way through, and in the slit place arsenic powder 
half the size of a grain of wheat, then fold the meat 
together again and put it in holes where the moles 
come up to the surface, or open their runway and 
drop a bit in, letting the earth fall back over it to 
prevent cats or birds getting the meat. The moles 
are both killed and buried. I find this a much easier 
and quicker way than a trap, and it was and is per¬ 
fectly successful. Another thing I notice in this same 
paper, and. that is, reference to Squash borers. I have 
found that a handful of wood ashes, with or without 
a little Paris-green, thrown down at base of plant will 
effectually keep out the borers. If they get in before 
anything is done, cover the joints of the vine with 
earth, and new roots will then form, and sustain the 
plant. Not a bad thing to do when a vine begins to 
run anyway. L. B. 
Michifan. 
CATCh OR COVER CROP. 
Oafs and Canada Peas ; Experience With Rape. 
The R. N.-Y. desires me to tell of my experiences 
with the different sorts and kinds of cover crops to 
act as a Winter mulch, and afford humus for the suc¬ 
ceeding crop. In reply I would say that these experi¬ 
ments have been going on a dozen years, and with 
many kinds of crops, and while I have learned some 
things, not all of the trials have proved satisfactory. 
In a measure rye is the surest crop that I have tried 
on the corn stubble, but, like all other crops, the 
weather in the Fall is the greatest factor in the prob¬ 
lem, for it is the Fall’s growth that makes a success 
or failure. For two years past the dry Fall has about 
prohibited the growth of anything, being far from 
satisfactory before Winter, and as I want corn land 
plowed early so to Spring-fallow the land, and kill 
out weeds before planting, it does not usually give 
the rye much chance to start in the Spring before 
plowing. I have had two unpleasant experiences with 
large rye plowed under for corn. Dry Summers and 
the rye made a “joint” in the soil by its refusing td 
decay; it shut off the moisture supply, and both crops 
where the rye was used were far inferior to other sec¬ 
tions where there was no rye and the same tillage. 
Then I think rye is a great consumer of soil mois¬ 
ture, and as a consequence when the time comes to 
plow the land is very hard and lumpy, and difficult 
to get into good tilth. As the substance of rye is 
mostly water and starch, it is far from the best crop 
for green manuring. Oats and Canada peas when the 
Fall is favorable, make a fair crop to cover with, and 
stand lots of cold and freezing weather before they 
succumb; as many have 
noticed about the volunteer 
oats in the Fall wheat. The 
peas will live—many of 
them—^through the Winter. 
When the season is favor¬ 
able, and the oats and peas 
can be got in by September 
20, they will make a fine 
growth, and fill the soil 
thickly with their roots, 
and one will find a large 
amount of vegetable matter 
besides the roots to plow 
in in the (Spring, but if the 
Fall is dry the crop will be 
small, often very small. 
For a midsummer crop 
nothing equals the cow 
pea, and its growth in 40 
days is wonderful, especial¬ 
ly if 200 pounds of S. C. 
rock are used per acre. Last 
year our experimental plot 
grew in 45 days as large as 
we could well plow under. 
Three years ago our late 
July cow peas were plowed 
under in September, and 
the land sown to rye, 
which in turn was plowed 
under in April, and it 
proved to be one of my best cover crops, but it is 
difficult to get much growth out of them after the 
corn is cut and cool nights are the rule. With us 
Crimson clover is little if any better than Red clover 
sown among the corn, with the chances that more 
of the Red will live through. Last season we experi¬ 
mented with dwarf rape, and got some good stands 
on the experimental plots, and shall repeat them on 
a much larger scale this Fall. The rape, whenever 
sown, made a fine growth, and the last sowings grew 
to be nearly two feet high, but where the rape is 
sown late after the corn, it will do no harm, but prob¬ 
ably it would be better to sow nearly double the ordi¬ 
nary amount of three pounds per acre. That which 
we sowed last at the rate of six pounds (42 cents 
worth) made a mat as dense as heavy clover, and 
mostly lived through the Winter, sprouted up from 
the roots, and when plowed under, made a great mass 
of humus. Where the silage corn is growing on its re¬ 
mains the corn is a dark green, and is fast outgrowing 
any other section of the field. Owing to the 32 days 
of heavy rains in June, this plot was not planted until 
July 3, and it is now fully eight feet high, and has not 
heard that a drought is seriously interfering with 
corn growth, and the other pieces on the rape are 
making fine and rapid growth, all of which convinces 
me that rape may be made to play an important part 
in making a strong and vigorous plant to cover our 
soils, that would be otherwise left naked during the 
Winter, a serious matter in our semi-rigorous Win¬ 
ters, where rainstorms are quite as common as the 
snows. What pleases me with the rape plant is its 
deep-rooting habit, and where it is sown thickly, it 
completely fills the soil with good, strong, and well- 
fibered roots. What it might do on the sandy lands 
I cannot say, but I was so well pleased last year, that 
a bag of rape seed is now on hand, and will be duly 
sown on the stubble lands this Fall, john gottld. 
Northern Ohio, 
WHERE COWS IN PAN-AMERICAN DAIRY TEST ARE KEPT. Fig. 314. See Fikst Page. 
