Ee 
ei 
94. 
and a suitable day chosen for firing, it will be found that a clean sweep will 
have been made, of all the fallen timber, a few of the largest logs along 
being left. These, however, will present no obstacle to subsequent planting 
operations, and will be easily got rid of by-and-by. 
If the burn has taken place by the end of August, or indeed at any time 
between that month and the end of December, corn-planting can be at once 
proceeded with. There will be no weeds to clear away—the land presents to 
the view only a vast array of charred stumps and blackened ground, relieved 
by numerous patches of white ashes, still further increasing the richness of the 
fertile soil; but the ashes should be spread over the ground, and not left iu 
heaps, to utilise them to the best advantage. 
SOWING THE SHEED. 
Although the soil is apparently a mass of roots, these are easily cUk 
through with a No. 3 hoe. it is always an advantage to sow corn in straight 
lines. On plain or forest land it cheapens and facilitates subsequent culti- 
vation, whilst on new scrub lands it permits of free access of sun and air to 
each stool of plants. 
Farmers differ in their opinion as to the distance at which corn should be 
planted. Some plant at 4 feet between the rows and 3 feet between the stools; 
others, 5 by 3; others, again, 6 by 3; whilst some give 6 feet between the rows 
and sow the seed continuously. The latter maintain that a greater yield is 
ensured by this system. In the United States of America most careful 
experiments have been made with a view to settling this point, and the results 
of a large number of tests go to show that the wider planting gives the greater 
yield. My own experience has been that 6 by 3 is the distance at which 
corn should be planted to give the best results. In 1863 I took 78 
bushels per acre off a 10-acre patch of newly burnt-off scrub Jand at Oxley 
Creek; and I believe that my neighbour, Mr. Amos Radcliffe, who still works 
the farm adjoining mine, exceeded this return. On this occasion there were 
two fully developed cobs and often three on each stalk. When I tried closer 
planting, the yield was far less. 
As I said before, corn should be planted in straight lines, even on new 
serub land full of stumps. To accomplish this, the planter must have some 
guide through the maze of stumps. A stick with a piece of white paper or Tag 
on top should be placed in the ground at a distance of about fifty yards from 
the starting point, and another fifty yards further on; then the planter, by 
raising his hoe as he advances in a line with the stick, can manage to keepa 
fairly straight line. The No. 3 hoe should be used, as it will cut through most 
of the roots, and will not easily break at the eye (a common trouble with hoes 
roughly used by the men) even with a stiff wrench. : 
The seed is carried in a canvas bag with a wide mouth, slung round the 
waist. One blow of the hoe is sufficient to make the necessary hoie, into which 
from three.to five seeds are dropped, according to the soundness of the grail. 
A backward, pushing motion of the hoe covers the seed, and the planter then 
advances far enough to plant one foot on the last hole planted. This pressure 
will not harden the surface soil on virgin ground; on the contrary, it just gives 
the pressure required to settle the soil over the seed. This regular advance 
brings him to the proper distance at which to make the next hole. The seed 
is again dropped, and so the process goes on till the whole field is planted. At 
intervals of, say, twenty or thirty feet, pumpkin seeds are dropped in the same 
line as the corn. Now 
A WORD ABOUT SEED CORN. 
It has always been the custom with corn-growers to select the large fat 
grains for seed. There can be no doubt thatif the round grains are sown the 
crop will turn out a poor one. J have made experiments with these round 
grains, and invariably the cobs have not filled properly. But there is one poitt 
in connection with seed corn which is perhaps not generally known; and that 
