10 HINTS ON RAISING FARM CROPS 
will ruin the seed before it even germinates, if 
conditions are favorable for that process. Cut¬ 
worms are an annual pest that cut off the plant 
at night. There are several of such pests that 
we will discuss later, so will confine our study 
here to the matter of cultivation. Cultivation 
simply means the stirring of the surface soil 
to prevent loss of evaporation, admit air, kill 
weeds, etc. Shortly after the corn has been 
planted, it should be gone over .with a drag, to 
tear up what weeds remain. After the corn is 
up a few inches, it can be cultivated with a 
regular cultivator. Care must be exercised at 
this first cultivation, however, so that none of 
the corn plants are covered too much. One very 
good way, if using a riding cultivator, is to 
carry a stick, so that what plants are cov¬ 
ered by the shovels of the cultivator, can 
be quickly uncovered by the driver. The corn 
should be cultivated after a hard rain, as well 
as when the weeds commence to show. This 
keeps the moisture in the soil where it belongs. 
If the corn has been well taken care of before 
it gets too high, the weeds will be shaded out 
when the corn begins to “ear.” 
Corn is usually harvested with the ordinary 
corn binder, when used for silage or green 
fodder purposes. If the grain is wanted separ¬ 
ately, then the ears can be snapped off the 
.standing corn before the binder cuts it down. 
A corn binder is a horse-drawn implement that 
cuts the corn stalks within an inch or two of 
the surface of the ground, and ties the stalks 
together in conveniently-sized bundles. Thus 
the corn can be very easily handled. The corn 
