OCR Text |
Show PREPARING LAND FOR FLAX Deep Plowing Found to Be All Right If Rains Followed Immediately Experiments in Colorado. (By ALVIN KETSER. Colorado Experiment Experi-ment Station.) Experience with flax on the plains through the seasons of 1909-13, show that to be successful, flax land must be well prepared. In those seasons when there is considerable spring moisture, sufficient to compact soils that were plowed, deep plowing gave the best results. These better results from deep plowing in these cases where there was moisture enough, were due in a large part to the cleanness clean-ness o,t the land, that is, the freedom of the soil from weeds. It was uniformly uni-formly noticed that the deep plowed land was not as foul as the shallow plowed. Deep plowing was found to be all right if rains followed immediately, immedi-ately, or if the plowing was done several sev-eral months ahead of planting so that compaction and settling took place. In 1913, deep plowing just before planting the crop almost caused complete com-plete failure, because rains did not follow sufficient to moisten the plowed layer and compact the subsurface If deep plowing is used, therefore, in preparing the seed bed, it should be done at a considerable time before planting. Where plowing is done immediately im-mediately prior to planting, plowing Bhould be shallower, i,ay six or seven inches at the outside, and should be followed up immediately with the disk harrow, to compact and fill up the subsurface. Smooth, well-prepared land greatly insures the success of the crop. This was especially shown in experiments of 1911 and 1912, and was shown up in the other years. |