OCR Text |
Show TREATMENT FOR HARD SOILS Where Land Is Difficult to Work It Should Receive Careful Attention One Good Method. Often the different kinds of soils are found on the same farm and the best results cannot be obtained, as far as crop returns are concerned, by a uniform method of cultivation and irrigation. The soil that is hard and difficult to work should receive niosi careful attention, not only from the standpoint of cultivation, but also in the method of irrigation. It is not always profitable to attempt at-tempt a perennial crop on 6oil that is hard to work and 'irrigate the yield is usually low, due to the resistance re-sistance to root development and scarcity of plant food; also to the shallow depth of the irrigation which in turn causes the root system to develop de-velop near the surface and make the crop susceptible to drought. Deep plowing, with a liberal application appli-cation of manure or straw, will be found beneficial. The decay of the organic matter will leave the soil more or less porous and allow the moisture access to the lower soil; root development will be more complete com-plete and the crop will stand drought better. The cultivation of sugar beets on hard soil will, if properly handled, bring the field eventually into proper tilth. Furrow irrigation will not allow al-low the soil to bake; deep cultivation of the crop will be found beneficial; the tap root of the beet will have a tendency to open up the soil below the plow sole; the decayed tap root after harvest will leave the lower soil more or less porous, and hence increase the capacity of the 6oil for the storage of moisture. |