UNCLASSIFIED ANNUALS.
In this division of garden crops come sweet corn, okra and martynia,
which have no relation to the other crops, and none to each other,
except that they require about the same cultivation. They are all
warm-weather crops and are grown for their immature fruits. They
require “quick” soil, are not usually transplanted and demand little
care, except good tillage.
SWEET CORN.
Although almost unknown in any other part of the world, in America
sweet corn is one of the most important crops. One hardly ever sees
even a small backyard garden without a few stalks of sweet corn, while
the canning industry has grown to such enormous proportions as to
require thousands of acres of corn every year. Sweet corn cannot be
grown in the South unless the seed is gotten from the North every year.
It thrives best in the crisp climate of the Northern States and of
Canada.
This is the crop that gave rise to the famous joke at the “World’s
Fair” in Chicago. The Englishman asked the girl in charge, “What do you
do with so much corn?”
“Oh,” she said, “we eat what we can, and what we can’t we can.”
Afterwards Johnny Bull tried to tell the story. “So funny,” he said;
“she told me that they eat what they can, and what they can’t they put
in tins—why don’t you laugh?”
Sweet corn requires more attention than field corn, both as regards
earliness and the proper development of each plant. For this reason it
is planted in hills rather than long drills, and in warmer and quicker
soil, with quickly available fertilizer. Ground that has been plowed
deep the fall before, and fertilized with well-rotted manure makes
a good soil; if the ground be hard or cold, a handful of commercial
fertilizer may be added to each hill.
Although corn is a hot-season plant, it is practically a surface
feeder, so it cannot withstand drought as well as potatoes or
other crops. That is why it is well to plow deep and make a good
moisture-holding bottom in order to get good corn of any kind. That
is also the reason for the frequent surface tillage given the growing
plants.
Seed is planted for the early crop as soon as the ground is warm
enough, and as corn rots quickly either in cold or damp ground, it is
well to plant freely. Coating with tar perhaps preserves it, at least
from the crows. The idea is to get as many ears as possible from each
plant, so give plenty of room, the rows being three to four feet apart,
and each hill from two and a half to three feet apart. For early crops
use Early Minnesota, Early Vermont, Cory and Crosby and other popular
brands. The Stowell Evergreen is the standard for late crops. Corn may
be sown successionally, at intervals of a week or two, either for the
home garden or for market supply.
In growing for market, earliness should be borne particularly in mind.
The whole profit in corn may hinge upon even one or two days’ delay.
In fact, where you are competing with many other gardeners, a half day
may make a big difference. You can get ahead only by having quick and
well-prepared land, planting the earliest varieties and giving the crop
good tillage after it has begun to grow.
Some gardeners force early sweet corn by placing a handful of fine
manure in each hill, stamping it down hard with the feet. Loose dirt is
then kicked over it and sprouted seed planted—that is, seed that has
been soaked in warm water until germination has really begun within it.
This is a good method where the soil is moist so that the seeds may get
a quick start, but it is no good in dry soil. The manure acts like an
individual hot-bed for each hill of corn.
Where this plan is used, thorough culture must be given, or the corn
roots will remain in the manure during growing time and suffer from
drought.
Corn is not the only crop that is benefited by the use of the feet in
planting. Wherever the soil must be compacted about the newly planted
seed, the feet can be used to advantage. So true is this, that Peter
Henderson, the well-known New York gardener and seedsman, wrote a
pamphlet called “The Use of the Hands and Feet in Planting,” which is
sent free upon application. It is well worth reading.
When it first comes into the market, sweet corn usually brings 25 cents
a dozen ears; that is the time for the wide-awake gardener to sell his
crop. Later it may fall to five cents a dozen, and usually sells as low
as 10 cents; there is no profit in that.
If you pick the first ears as soon as they are well set, the second
setting will be much better for it. (Very small, immature ears are fine
cooked or raw, to eat, cob and all, but our people are not used to
that.) It takes about a peck of corn to plant an acre in hills, and, if
well attended to, the plants should yield from 8000 to 10,000 ears to
the acre.
The insects and diseases include wire-worms, cut-worms, chinch-bug and
corn-stalk disease. Short rotation, including fall cultivation of the
land, will check the wire-worms. See Cornell Bulletin 107. Treatment
for cut-worms is fully described in Cornell Bulletin 104. Ditching,
plowing and harrowing are bad for the chinch-bug and good for your
corn. Read Ohio Bulletin 69, Kentucky Bulletin 74, and New York Report
15, pp. 531-533.
It would be fruitless to take up your time with a discussion of
corn-stalk disease here, when you can get it all by simply sending for
Nebraska Bulletin 52.
OKRA OR GUMBO.
Although okra is really a Southern States perennial, it is cultivated
as an annual, the seeds being sown every spring. It is grown for its
pods, which are cut while still young and tender, and are much used for
soups and stews. Of recent years the pods are also canned and dried for
use in winter.
Okra takes about the same treatment as sweet corn, the seeds being sown
where the plant is to grow, except in the Northern States. There the
seeds are often planted in boxes, pots or sods turned over, simply
because the season is not long enough to ripen the plants. The real
okra is a large-growing plant that must be planted from one to three
feet apart in rows that are three to five feet apart, but the dwarf
and early-maturing varieties that are grown in the North, may stand as
close as one foot apart in the row. There are no important insects or
diseases.
MARTYNIA.
Martynia is grown solely for its half-matured pods which are used in
pickles. The plant needs a warm soil, sunny exposure, and much room,
as it spreads over three or four feet. It thrives under the same
cultivation as is given corn and okra, and may be planted in frames or
in the open as soon as the weather is warm enough. It is annual and
native from southern Indiana to the Gulf.