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Show DRY FARM ESSENTIAL i Ideas of Practical Farmer on Need of Deep Plowing. Very Firtt Rcqulsit in the Conserva-tion Conserva-tion of Moisture Prevents Formation Forma-tion of What Mifiht Be Called a Plow-Can. (Dy J. 8. Mt'ltlilV. Iri.tl.nl North Da-kola Da-kola liy l'inii-r.) If 1 were akid what 1h tin' one thin above all other thine m t t iMry In dry funning I would say Ui-P plotting. Fur purpoM-K of dry farming all of the subsoil sub-soil iu this stato lying t of lie river I practically th suiiiu. and I composed of drift brouKht hero during tlio glacial period, ono of the uwt tu-iM-ndou event this old earth ever experienced. ex-perienced. Now, this bubxoll or drift i thiofly decotiipoced or disintegrated rock, and bu all the crop producing proK'rtles, such as uitrogen, lime, pol-atih pol-atih and phoMphoruu, which are thu Clements oepeciaJly uceded lu ceretil production. De p plowing I the very lint easentlul In moisture conservation, conserva-tion, as the thing it does is to increave the absorbing storage capacity of the soil; and the (Inst step in dry fnrming U to get water Into the soil, and deep plowing I the first aid In thie particular. par-ticular. Then, too, deep plowing prevents the formation of what mlKUt be called, for the want of a better name, plow pan 1 have examined literally hundreds of fields, and I never yet examined ex-amined a field, In a dry year especially, espe-cially, that this plow pan would not be in evidence when the plowing was leva than seven Inches. This plow-pan plow-pan I caused chiefly from the pressure of the subHoll. producing a sort of a glaxed surface, and this prevent any proper contact between the furrow-Uch furrow-Uch aud the subsoil. In dry farming the plowing should be so deep that you would find It qulto Impossible to had where the furrow-slice end and tb subsoil begins. When that condition is present there I always a proper contact between the furrow-rlice and, without even thinking, you can axe that this Is cesaiy, when you are depending chiefly on the water stored lu tho soil, which you get by capillary capil-lary and not on free water, to mature your crop. Furthermore, when this plow-pan exist, the average rainfall, up to one Inch, never penetrates tho subsoil at all, any more than It did the sod, and for the same reaou. Tb subMoil Is the farmer' reservoir reser-voir for the storage water that supplies sup-plies the moisture during the seaxon. After you have once plowed your land to, say, a depth of ten Inches, It I not necessary, of course, to plow so deep each year. When 1 summer till a piece of land I plow deep, for this Is the time to bring up new soli so as to glv It plenty of time to become weathered. Now, a aoon aa the crop Is harvested on this land the next season 1 disk It Immediately; and when 1 plow It for the next crop, and It should be done that fall la possible, I only plow It about six Inches deep. ome four year ago 1 acquired a piece of land that had been tilled (so call) for twelve years. No part of this land was ever plowed five Inches deep, and I determined to get down Into It, and I did. Now 1 estimate, and my men thought by estimate conservative, con-servative, that It took a full third more power to break up this hardpan formed by twelve year' plow pressure than It would to break the original prairie sod. I find that the average farmer and the average farmer Is always al-ways attempting to do moro than hi power Justifies doing rsrely plow more than five lnche deep, and he will come nearer plowing four lnche. Turning four or five lnche of the top soli over this year and flopping It back next year. Is not dry farming; It Isn't farming at all; and the man who follow fol-low that slipshod system, whether be Is handling 160 acre or 1.C00 acres, la going to lose out. Now you might properly ask right here: "How deep do you advocate plowing In beginning thia aytem?" I answer: "Not ! than eight lnche, and nine would be better." You can alwaya plow deeper In the spring and early summer than you can In the summer proper or fall, and the land should never be plowed when dry. 1 want to say right here. If you have a piece of land that I full of weed and that ha been farmed Indifferently, like the average In the wi stern part of the state, Just double-disk that land the first thing In the spring. This disking will break the crust, establish a mulch, conserve the moisture In the soil and enabli the spring rains to penetrate; also It will help to germinate million Of weed seeds. Then about June 1, or as soon thereafter aa possible, plow that land eight lnche deep, follow the plow promptly, with a harrow and hen I say promptly, I mean the day you plow, aud the hour you plow would te better. Now sweep over tht land with a harrow and It ehould be a fairly heavy harrow for thla work-after work-after the crust csused by the sun and rain and prevent evaporation of moisture, but It re-establlsbe th mulch, drive the moisture down and kills more weeds. Keep this field good and black all th next summer. |
