OCR Text |
Show Preparing for the Corn Crop. On many of our farms tho work of picparlng for the coming corn crop nrrts largely done In tho fall. On other farms tho corn stalks stood In tho ilelds till too Into to plow and thnt Aork will havo to bo dono In the spring as soon n3 tho land Is In tho uropor condition for working. After tho oxporlonco of Inst year, our fames, fam-es, at least In Illinois and near-by states, will probably watch qulto carefully care-fully for tho ground to get Into Just tho right condition for tho work of tho plowman to count for tho most. In Iho localities referred to the ground, on account of not bolng In tho right condition at tho tlmo It had to bo plowed, was dlscouraglngly lumpy after plowing. In many of tho fields hnrrows and drags wero put on nnd in Immonso amount of extra work dono to get tho land Into n fairly good condition for tho putting In of tho corn crop. A too wet ground will run together whon plowed and will bo left by tho plow so lumpy that no ordinary amount of work will reduce It to tho desired fineness. Whon tho ground Is allowed to become too,dry It becomes hard to plow and requires nn unnecessary unnec-essary expenditure of forco to got It into condition. Thcro Is gonernlly a tlmo In tho spring when tho ground Is soft enough to plow easily, yet dry enough to bo friable, and la,, thon oaslly reduced to tho doslrod fineness bv tho work of tho harrow. When tho soil Is In right condition for plowing thoro Is llttlo danger of working It too much, as ovory Increase In-crease In tho footling aroa of tho corn roots means bo much moro available plant food for tho ubo of that crop. Somo good farmers follow the practice of plowing nnd cross plowing, harrowing and cross harrowing till soil is so fine that all parts of It will contribute their part toward tho nourishment nour-ishment of tho plants that aro to grow upon It. As to tho fining of the land, It should not bo forgotten that tho moro perfectly this 13 dono, tho caslor will bo tho work of cultivating tho soil later on and tho moro offectlve will bo that cultivation. Smut In Oats. Reports from various states say that tho oat crop last year was badly cut short by the prosenco of oat smut, 'and somo peoplo aro putting their brains to work to try and find a smut I I proof oat. It will bo far bettor If theso porsonB will spend tholr efforts I In provcntlng tho smut on tho varie ties wo now have. It might bo pos-slbio, pos-slbio, tofflnd an vat that would not yield to Htmit, but It would probably bo n very Inferior oat In other respects. re-spects. When our grains and fruits becomo highly developed thoy becomo moro susceptible to tho attacks of fungi. This Is' without doubt duo to tho openness of tho pores, which give tho spores of fungi a bettor chanco to tako root But tho very fact that an oat Is very suscoptlble to tho smut should indlcnto that It is a rapid grower and big yloldor, tho largo leaf readily taking In tho carbonic ncld gas from tho air to bo fixed In tho form of starch. It Is Biich an easy matter to prevent pre-vent smut In oats, that thero Beeins no good reason for going around It rather than fighting It. Wo havo told In thoso columns this year how to provent It In tho field and wo hopo that our readers will not only uso tho method themsolves, but will toll tholr neighbor about tho proventlvo measures meas-ures nccessnry. It Is not enough for a man to provent smut In his own fields, though that of course will do a good deal of good. It should bo eradicated eradi-cated from ovory community, and this can bo dono by Inducing all tho growers grow-ers of oats to treat tholr seed with tho formalin dip in somo mannor. |