Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-08-26
Preparati0n OF Ground for Wheat.

# The best farmers of the present day do
# not spend more time, labor or expense IN
&# preparing their field for wheat seeding
aM than was common forty or fifty years ago
2# We think they use less of each, the differ
WI ence between modern and old methods be-
M ing that the former are better directed and
Il the work is not done so much by what
sailors call "main strength and stupid
ness" II would go hard indeed with
modern farmers if they put more prepare
# tory work on their wheat fallows than is
3 implied in the old fashioned way OF plow
81 ing and cross blowing successfully three,
"a four, or even five or six times in a season,
81 especially if the land was infested by
81 thistles or other perennial weeds. Much
a of this labor was wasted, and we are in
81 lined to think worse than wasted, by mis-
& direction 1t used to be common re-
d mark among shrewd practical farmers
i that good wheat was rarely grown where
4 land had been plowed To kill the thistles--
TO use their phrase, 1T killed the nature
of the land''--not very accurate or scien-
tifc explanation of the result, but certain
" a most expressive one. Stated more
accurately, this excessive blowing reduced
land to so fine filth that ii held too much
moisture. Hence in winter and spring the
soil became compacted by the particles
running together in a more or less thin
mud. The frost hove out the roots OF win
ter grain on all such land, while 50 soon as
dry weather came the surface formed into
crust which gradually hardened down
ward through the summer. 1t is little
wonder that good crops ofwheat could not
be grown, unless in exceptional seasons,
by such methods as these. The bad effect
Of excessive blowing in breaking up the
natural water-courses through the soil is
now quite generally conceded. One deep
blowing does not have this result, for, un.
less the soil is entirely bare OF vegetation,
the decay of the Sod beneath the furrow
lends to establish other water-courses in
place of those which the pillow has inter-
rupted.
The approved practice of best farmers
Is to pillow only once for wheat Turn as
good a sod as possible under the fnrro"
and afterward work altogether upon the
surface. Work the ground often, for the
more frequently IL is stirred the shallower
il can be cultivated killing all weeds at
the first rather than letting them take root,
making deeper cultivation necessary. The
old-fashioned harrow or drag Is one of the
very best implements ever put into sum-
mer fallow, and it would be good thing
II all fallows could be cultivated by that
alone. The drag compacts the soil and
rarely If ever scratches more than two or
two and half inches deep The deep
cultivation sometimes given by horse cul-
tivators going down and turning up the
soil four or five or more inches Is little
less injurious than the old-fashioned
method of cross-plowing. We know too
well why this deep cultivation Is prac-
ticed Weeds are allowed to grow in sum
mer fallows until nothing but deep plow-
ing will uproot them. Even then 1t is
better to make the cultivator teeth sharp,
so as to cut off obstinate roots, and then
keep it not more than three inches deep.
If the fallow is dragged once week with
well-sharpened tooth-drag it will cut of
or break of thistle roots more perfectly
than less frequent but deeper cultivation
would do.