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Show PLOWING ON DRY FARM I Prepares Seedbed by Cleaning Land and Admitting Air. Depth Depends In Part on Nature of Soli Doubtful If Deep Work Increases In-creases Yield In Proportion to the Expenaa. Deep, thorough plowing minimizes supplementary cultivation aud augments aug-ments the yield; poor, shallow plowing plow-ing augments supplementary cultivation cultiva-tion and minimizes the yield. If the purposes of stirring the soil were better bet-ter understood, less diversity of opinion opin-ion as to how It should be done would exist. Plowing prepares the seedbed by cleaning the land and admittlug air, warmth and moisture Into the 6011. This accelerates certain physical and chemical changes which are conducive to plant growth. In dry farming the admlHslon of water Into the soil is paramount. Now a thinly plowed slice will not hold as much water as a deeply plowed one. Hence, much of the rain that falls on shallowly plowed land Is lost to evaporation before It can seek Its course downward luto the subsoil. Then, too. during the hot summer months deeply plowed land In good tilth admits of by far less evaporation from blow than does that which Is shallowly plowed. Add to this the excelleut seed bed afforded the young plants by deeply stirring the soil and little remains to be said In favor of shallow plowing. The depth to plow depends In part upon the nature of the soli. Most dry farm soils, however, are uniform to great depths and little fear need be entertained of throwing up lifeless, inert masses of subaoll. In those few sections where the latter condition does obtain, care should be exercised by gradually increasing the depth of the plowed area. Seven or eight-Inch plowing. If honestly done, is deep plowing. It furnishes an ample reser- j voir for the temporary storage of water; wa-ter; It forms a mulch deep enough to j prevent evaporation from below; It j affords a seed bed adequate to the needs of the young plant. After deep plowing the soil should be given ample time to compact and settle. The heavy soils tend to pack quickly. Special care must be given to sandy solls since when deeply plowed, they require considerable time and work to become firm. If the necessary preparation cannot be given them relatively shallow plowing Is advisable. ad-visable. This holds especially true lu the case of spring plowing. Very deep plowing and subsolllng as advocated by some may slightly Increase the yield, but It Is doubtful If the Increase Is proportionate to the added expense. The law of diminishing diminish-ing returns applies to farming as well as to any other activity. Such plowing plow-ing once in a series of years would Do doubt he profitable. It will be re-I re-I called here, too, that the deep and e-tensive e-tensive root systems of most dry-farmed dry-farmed crops render a great service to that part of the soil beyond which the plowshare cannot reach. Flow when the land Is moist. When the fsll Is favorable. It Is generally the best time to plow. Leave the ground rough during the winter and work It down early In the spring with the disk and harrow. Fall plowing puts the farmer ahead with his work, releases plant food, leaves the land In shape to take water, and gives the soil time to Settle. In areas where the wind blows considerably, con-siderably, lifting both the snow and the soil, It is good practice to leave the stubble over the winter and to turn It In the spring. It should be remembered, re-membered, however, that It Is always more difficult to secure a good compact com-pact seed bed for spring sowing on land that Is plowed In the spring than on that which Is plowed In the fall. In fart, many a failure has been due to planting seed on loose spring-plowed spring-plowed land. Where the ground Is to be fallowed during the following summer, sum-mer, there Is but little preference between be-tween spring and fall plowing, especially espe-cially If the fall Is dry. In dry and heavy soils the disk plow may be more serviceable than the moldboard; hut the latter haa a more general use and doea moat satisfactory satisfac-tory work. |
