Show 1 MODERN METHOD OF TILLAGE Great Many of the Old Practices ofF of-F lrmers Are Erroneous and Will Be Changed In commenting on an article treatIng treat-Ing of the conservation of moisture In the soil by harrowing the surface na soon as possible after plowing N S Bcldcm In the Field and Farm says tho writer is wrong mind gives his reasons for so thinking In the first place he says we know that when land Is freshly plowed that the underside under-side of tho furrow Is made up of mora or less all holes and clods which when left undisturbed as a harrow undoubtedly un-doubtedly does by simply going overtime i over-time surface tho evaporation of tho air will certainly bring the moisture with It A great many of the old practices of farmers nro certainly erroneous and will be changed when thinking men got to work A harrow Is a good machine ma-chine to make the surface look well but aside from this It has no business In tho Held except at weeding tlmo and after a rain to break tho crust To make myself better understood twill will tell you how I proceeded with my work nt Las Vegas Nt I plowed my land deep and followed an closely as possible with a Campbell subsoil packer weighted to 1000 pounds When this was accomplished I was done until seeding time I have never seen a harrowed field ook better on tho surface and I know that my land Is In good condition to hold tho mots tore The seeding was done with a shoo press wheel drill crossing my plowing amid packing work My seedbed seed-bed was about uniform nfter this process pro-cess and I doubt If the harrow could be made to do the snnio work I have not harrowed this field nor do I Intend tend to do so until a crust forms The field Is left In n uniform appearanco and the grain seemed to como up all together If farmers will practice 1 plowing their ground and packing It at least five months before sending and If tho weeds put In nn appear mice go on the land with n harrow that will entirely cut tho surface ho will find It In about as perfect conill x tlon to receive the seed mind with as h good n mulch to hold moisture as by any other plan ha can take wIn w-In this western country the farmer Is able to work almost the year round j I and If ho docs not got his land In proper condition after waiting for It to gather molstura and settling Into a r good seed bed he has two seasons of which to tako advantage but ho should not sow at random simply because q be-cause he thinks his land Is ready for j plowing and packing I do not believe f4 In dry farming for tho reason that I have never seen any plan to follow Hut I do believe that Now Mexico will be accepted as a farming country very soon and as readily as Nebraska and t 1 Kansas have been taken In It 1 was only a few years back when the best of Nebraska to my certain knowledge was considered very droughty and all r kind of propositions were offered to overcome It Now they have too much molstunrcf simply because by years of tillage the surplus has been stored and new plans have been discovered Tho old farmer Is n9t now pointing to l the man with the book larning with t ridicule but Is studying his lesson 1 i |