There is no money crop more available to the farm gardener than sweet corn. It will grow anywhere, and the young ears are always in demand. Any sod land plowed shallow will yield a crop of sweet corn. It is easy in this latitude to have an unbroken succession of marketable ears from July 1st to October 1st, or even somewhat earlier and later.
Shallow plowing and the use of a little fertilizer or compost in the hills will put the ground in order. A complete fertilizer is best. A compost containing hen manure is excellent.
Planting.—Eight or ten quarts of seed are required to plant an acre of corn in hills, allowing for replanting of what is injured by grubs or other causes. The larger varieties should be planted 4 feet by 3; the rows 4 feet apart and the hills 3 feet apart, with not more than three stalks in a hill. The smaller varieties may be grown much closer—3 feet by 2. Any method may be used in laying out a corn field that will give each stalk (of the large kinds) the equivalent of 4 square feet of ground space. The dwarf sweet corns demand about half that space.
Varieties.—The sweet corns require from sixty to eighty days to produce ears fit for boiling. The earliest varieties are small, and are lacking in sweetness as compared to the best intermediate types. Still, the early prices are so much better than midsummer prices, that the early varieties will always be grown for market. Indeed, the best profits of the business are from the extra early and extra late sales.
Sweet corn should not be grown by shippers who are distant more than twenty-four hours from market, as the ears lose quality and flavor soon after being pulled from the stalks. Forty-eight hours from market is an extreme distance, but is feasible if the ears can be chilled in a cold storage house previous to shipment; otherwise, they will heat and spoil. Even when designed for a near-by market a load of sweet corn ears may heat and spoil during a single night. It is best to scatter them upon the grass, if pulled during the afternoon for shipment the following morning.
The most profit to the grower will be found in ears which are not too large, as corn is often sold by the dozen, the large sorts being too weighty.
The early kinds, though small, can be planted closely, and a large number of ears secured; and they are out of the way so soon that the ground can be used for celery or other late crop. Celery can be set out between the rows of corn, and thus be shaded to some extent during the critical period following transplanting.
The Evergreens, Early and Late, and the shoe-peg types, such as Country Gentleman and Zig Zag Evergreen, are among the sweetest of all. The grains are of irregular shape and arrangement, and the appearance of the ears is not altogether prepossessing. When once known, however, they are in demand by consumers.
The red-cob corns should be cooked by dropping into boiling water. If cooked slowly, the red color of the cob affects the appearance of the grains.
Sweet Corn.—For first early, we recommend Burlington Hybrid and Mammoth White Cory. The former closely resembles a true sugar corn in appearance. For second early, Early Champion and New Early Evergreen; for late, original Stowell's Evergreen, Country Gentleman, Zig Zag Evergreen. See "Johnson & Stokes' Garden and Farm Manual" for descriptions of varieties.