STATE CONVENTION—CORN RAISING. 
213 
doubting face. I guess I know better than that say they. Yes ; 
and right here I want to take issue with the whole people of the 
state who plant their corn 4 feet apart. In the one case, the 
square rod would contain 17 bills, and the other 27. But, says 
some one I want my corn to have a chance to ear, and have big 
ears too. So do I, and a good many of them. But, says one, 
your corn will all grow to stalks. Yes, there will be a good 
many stalks and a pile of corn too, if properly cultivated. 
Here then we come to the next important thing as a success in 
raising corn, 
CLOSE PLANTING, THOROUGH AND DEEP CULTIVATION, 
and cultivate it close to the hills. 
My plan in cultivation is to commence harrowing as soon as 
the corn is planted, and continue until it is 4 to 6 inches high. 
Then use the cultivator; cultivating close to the hills and cultivate 
deep. This is the secret of success. A pony and a green boy are 
a poor team to cultivate corn. I have never owned a horse so 
large and strong but I could use all the strength he had in culti¬ 
vating corn. 
In the one case the boy could manage to scratch along in the 
middle of the row not getting nearer the hills than 8 inches to a 
foot, while in the other case, if properly controlled, the cultivator 
can be run near enough to clean the land of weeds and stir it close 
to the hills, so the corn roots would not have to nenetrate the stiff 
compacted soil for nearly a foot before they could find loose fine 
soil to nourish the plant. All the intervening space between the 
rows will be found filled with fine roots. But, says one, perhaps 
you break the roots in your cultivation, and will thus injure the 
corn. No; the corn has a remarkable power, where the roots are 
broken, in supplying new ones, and multiplying then indefinitely, 
in proportion as the soil is loosened and is fertile, so as to stimu¬ 
late the growth. Here again, the person who is curious in these 
matters, if he will examine the broken roots within 12 hours after 
cultivation, will find them striking out a perfect net work of 
young rootlets, and so rapid is the growth that in less than three 
days they will be found to occupy all the loose ground between 
the rows. 
