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Show USE OF DISK HARROW Numbered Among Most Important Impor-tant of Farm Implements. Performs Important Service In Conserving Con-serving Moisture In Ground to Be Broken and Preventing It From Becoming Hard. ' The disk harrow and pulverizer has long been numbered among the most valued of farm Implements. It is an Indispensable auxiliary to every farmer farm-er who uses a plow, but modern science Is fast widening the scope of its activities beyond the reduction of the plowed field, writes L. R. Johnson of Cape Girardeau county, Missouri, in Farmer's Gazette. Invented more than a generation ago, It has remained for sagacious minds during the last few years to discover new uses of great Importance for Its well known capacity as a pulverizer. One of these Is, the principle that thoroughly to fine the surface soil In advance of the plow Is of great value to the coming crop, whatever It may be. Under former methods the soil was set on edge or turned over in rolls, chunks, clods and sods and the raw, rough upper surface, for the depth of a few inches, rolled, harrowed and dragged until smooth and fine. This treatment left a field looking beautiful beauti-ful on the surface but just below there was the medley of chunks, clods and sods, compressed no doubt to some extent, ex-tent, but still a labyrinth of air chambers cham-bers in a crude chaos of weeds, grass and uncompacted soil particles. Now when the grain was sown or planted on the fine upper stratum it would come up promptly but when the growing grow-ing roots began to make their way downward In search of water and food, they found themselves frustrated by the air spaces which prevented the necessary contact with the soil particles par-ticles from which water and food are derived. They were also checked by the lack of moisture which was dried up by the free circulation of the air In these cavities and fissures. Compare this with the condition for roots in the soil-bed when the disk precedes pre-cedes the plow and the surface is well pulverized before being turned under and forms a stratum of fine soil that is readily compacted by the pressure from above as well as by the action of rains. Another, value of this preliminary pre-liminary disking is its breaking down and cutting to pieces the weeds and trash left by preceding crops. It Is quite common to see farmers turning under waving masses of weeds when plowing for wheat although few of them are unaware of their very injurious injuri-ous action on the coming crop. The disk would at least chop these up and thereby reduce materially their capacity ca-pacity for damage. A more Important service and one but little related to this Is the employment employ-ment of the disk in conserving moisture mois-ture in the ground to be broken and preventing it from becoming too hard, as often happens in July and August. Heretofore the farmer who on account of the press of other duties entered late upon the breaking of wheat land, frequently found it so hard that It was only with great suffering to his teams that the work could be accomplished, and even then with the result that the field was a mass of huge clods akin to boulders. It was either this alternative alterna-tive or the more unendurable one of waiting for the rain that was to come the next few days but did not. Under the new dispensation he can early in the season put a boy on the big disk and while he himself is engaged en-gaged with Imperative work, the surface sur-face of the field will be cut to pieces In such a manner as effectually to baffle baf-fle sun and winds In their attempts to steal a barrel of water from the underground un-derground reservoir. Then the soil particles will not solidify Into rocklike rock-like masses for horse or mule with aching shoulders to toll over and nellher will there he a forest of weeds with each Individual stem acting as a (tump to dissipate the precious water. |