A few early-planted cornfields around Mercer County are signaling it's

tassel time - the halfway point of a corn crop's cycle when July paints a crown of gold on June's acres of green. It also happens to be when a corn plant shifts its resources to producing the largest ears it can. A spokesperson for the Depweg Brothers farming operation reports that this field at the corner of State Route 118 and Philothea Road just north of St. Henry, shown on Monday, was planted April 24. A wet spring made planting early tricky this year, but the early fields have "turned out perfect," the spokesperson said.