Kentucky Agricultural E.rpcr-i111c21t Station. 17
cept a small eo-operative field 011 the Lincoln Institute farm i11
the wester11 part of Shelby County.
Most of the experi111e11ts of the department 011 crop pr0· ’
duction are conducted 011 the Central farm at Lexington. The
e]1ief experiments are as follows;
I. Cultivation Experiments with Corn to DQfO1‘1l1l1lQ the Function
of Cultivation.
1. No cultivation. `Weeds scraped. e
2. Shallow, 7 to 8 times.
3. Deep, 7 to 8 times. -
4. Shallow, 3 to 4 times. ·
5. Deep, 3 to 4 times.
’ 6. Scraping cultivator, 3 to 4 times.
These experiments l1ave bee11 running for 7 years.
The results of the experiments show that the chief flll1C·
tio11 of the cultivation of cor11 011 the type of soil represented
by the Experiment Station fa1·111 is to kill weeds a11d 1l()iQ to (?Oll—
serve 111oisure thru the so-called soil 111ulcl1. Practically the
831110 results have been obtained from all the methods of culti-
vation. \Vherc the weeds were scraped with a sharp hoe, with
very little disturbance of the soil. practically the san1c results
l1Z`t\'C l)(}Ol1 obtained as with cultivation, except in two years
when there was unusually dry weather before the eor11 had
made much growth. Very clearly, that form of cultivation is A
most etfeetive which 111ost effectively destroys weeds. The
ideal is shallow cultivation with a eultivator having a large
nuinber of shovels. before weeds have made much growth. lt
is ;3·enerally believed now that not ]l1U(Jll ]1l<)lSflll`C escapes by
surface evaporation after the corn has reached a ll(‘l‘,1`lli` of
about 18 inches. lf tl1e weather is quite dry before this stage.
tl1e mulch produced by cultivation probably conserves 111oistnre.
. There is no doubt that ]]1