Rural Gaztte.

Hawke's Bay Herald, Volume 15, Issue 1198, 21 October 1870, Page 2

Rural Gaztte.

&. CULTURE OF MAIZE. " t-jfj "^ ■-- No. 2. • . ;:^r|-?; Having sowa the maize, either iaj • 7 drills or in the plough -furrows; as : ; ; already described (the harrows, in the! * latter case, following quickly after the .^ plough), the young plants will soonl ." _: appear above the ground, and it is in ■ ; this early stage of growth that they i are subject to th&attacks of wirewowaas^ . and slugs, which insects seem, to : J -Wf \ particularly fond of the young- maiieT^ By sowing plentifully, however^say^a at an inch and a half to two inches between the seeds as dropped in. the rows, there will be a superabundance ■; of plants, and these can be left until they are four or five inches in height, when they must be thinned out by the hoe, leaving the plants standing; at about six inches apart. This hoeing process is not a very laborious one, asi . it is confined to the rows of corn ;|?Me&? ;^ are standing atlintervals of '&veff}6i?Z It jsj quite needless to use the"; jipe, 1 "• 'r. except for the purposes described,yas; ; f the.plpugh will shortly follow, andeffec-' tually dispose of weeds in the intervals. : . These weeds must be the guide: fpxc • the first ploughing, or rather Horsehoeing. One « steady horse must be used -for this work, and of course it' ; '.\. must not.be allowed to crop, the cara.u. v whilst ploughing between the rows. Commence by turning the sods towards the middle of the rows, and plough; as near, the plants as you can. AgpocL . ploughman, with a handy plough,/ and \ . steady horse, will go within twpi or IV three inches of the plants. r As the soil is thus removed from one side of the plant, it is not desirable to remove it from both sides at the same time, especially in hot, dry weather ; therefore, when you- have _• ploughed one interval, that is, the space between two rows of corn, mis 3 the ad-,* joining interval, and go to. thel third; thence to the fifth, seventh, : and so on. The young plants will thus be undisturbed on one side, whilst the other side is under tillage; for, uulike hand hoeing, this ploughing cuts away T the lateral roots of the maize, and if they were to be cut away on both sides simultaneously the plant would suffer. After three or four days, when the weeds have had time to wither (for this ploughing should be done in dry weather; if possible), the plough must follow along the same intervals as before, replacing the soil, and laying it up against the stems of the plants ; and 7 after a further delay of three or four/days, the alternate intervals which had been omitted in the first hoeing, are to be treated to a double ploughing, in, their turn. Thus the whole field get's" a double ploughing, excepting the narrow strip upon which the plants stand. This certainly seems to be a very laborious process as compared with wheat or barley growing, but it is no more than is necessary in the case of potatoes : and mangolds, and the Jand is ; welL cleaned by it. We are informed that in America it is usual to repeat this 1 double hoeing, but we have never done so, as we always found the vigorous growth of the corn rendered a repetition impracticable, as well as unnecessary. Iv light soil, where deep ploughing is not necessary for the growth of the maize, we think it probable that sonw of the modern contrivances for stirringithe soil, and destroying weeds, might \ be advantageously substituted for the plough ; but we have had no opportunity of putting this to the test of expe- ! rience. - We shall on another occasion treat of topping the corn, which operation we have, however, omitted in this dry climate without any material damage to ithe crop. The main object of topping! is to remove the high stalk above the corn, after it has served its purpose, and thus admit sun and wind to hasten the ripening of the grain. Where : labour is abundant, the tops, being good I fodder, will pay for the operation of re- ; moving them, but we have not found 4tso here, especially as they have to be carried to the headlands, the coru jnot admitting the passage of . a .cart | between the rows. The harvesting, as we have said, may be done at any ; time in dry weather. The cobs are ; broken 'off the stalks and tossed into, a cart, the stalks being removed when convenient. The husks have to be stripped off by hand, which is a tedious business, but may be done in a barn in wet weather, if a supply have been gathered; in before-hand. Is will not do however to gather in the corn whilst wet ; nor, when gathered, can it remain many days in a heap, as it would ferment. The husks being removed, the corn is stored iv racks called cribs in America, constructed to hold from one hundred to three hundred bushels, and resting on posts, sheathed with tin or zinc, to keep the grain from rats and mice. Having remained some weeks in the crib, or until it is required for use or market, the final operation is that of shelling the grain off the cob, which can be done by the American corn shellers. Two men will shell from twenty to thirty bushels of grain daily, filling aud sewing the bags ; but where water or other power is available^ one man will suffice. The cobs are excellent fuel when they have been well dried in the crib. We have given thus a general outline of the process of maize culture, harvesting, &c. ; but we shall enter into the details more particularly as the season for each of the several operations draws near.