I hadn't heard the term before either. Maybe the term is still used, I dunno.

In the semi-arid plains, farmers adapted the planter to plant the corn in deeper furrows. This planter was known as a "lister." As Elroy Hoffman remembers, the lister would plant the seeds in a deeper furrow and cover them leaving a four or five inch mound of dirt on either side of the furrow. What rain fell on the field settled into the seed furrow. Then as the season progressed and the corn plant grew, special cultivators were used to throw the mound of dirt back up over the roots, preserving the subsoil moisture and supporting the stalk. By the 30s, well over half the corn planted on the plains was planted with a lister.

Written by Bill Ganzel of the Ganzel Group. First written and published in 2003.

Here is a link that might be useful: Neat reading