The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1875-08-26
Preparation 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
than was common forty or fifty years ago.
We think they use less of each, the differ
ence between modern and old methods be-
ing that the former are better directed and
the work is not done so much by what
sailors call "main strength and stupid
ness" 1t would go hard indeed with
modern farmers if they put more prepare
tory work on their wheat fallows than is
implied in the old fashioned way of plow
ing and cross blowing successfully three,
four, or even five or six times in a season,
especially if the land was infested by
thistles or other perennial weeds. Much
of this labor was wasted, and we are in
clined to think worse than wasted, by mis-
direction. 1t used to be common re-
mark among shrewd, practical farmers
that good wheat was rarely grown where
land had been plowed to kill the thistles-
to use their phrase, :" it killed the nature
of the land'-n0t a very accurate or scien-
tific explanation of the result, but certain
ly most expressive one. Stated more
accurately, this excessive blowing reduced
land to so fine filth that it held too much
moisture. Hence in winter and spring the
soil became compacted by the particles
running together in more or less thin
mud. The frost hove out the roots of win
ter grain on all such land, while so 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
tends 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 sod as possible under the furrow
and afterward work altogether upon the
surface. Work the ground often, for the
more frequently it is stirred the shallower
it 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 a good thing
if all fallows could be cultivated by that
alone. The drag compacts the soil and
rarely if ever scratches more than two or
two and a 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 blowing. We know too
we'll why this deep cultivation is prac
ticed. Weeds are allowed to grow in sum
mer fallows until nothing but deep pillow
ing will uproot them. Even then it 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 a week with
a well-sharpened tooth-drag it will cut of
or break off thistle roots more perfectly
than less frequent but deeper cultivation
would do.
Next to drag the roller IS the best i'm
plement to use in preparing seed bed fol
wheat, and for much the same reason. II
compacts the soil and helps to make q fine
filth but shallow seed bed. The DRAG
alone rakes the clods of earth on the sur
face, leaving it rough and uneven. Thi:
is not an advantage, as many have hastily
guessed from few experiments. Lane
left looking rough and full of hard clodt
of earth generally produces better whea
than where the surface is mellow ant
clods on the surface show frequent use O
the drag, while the mellow, smooth sur
face shows more frequent use of the cult
vator. Break these surface clods still
more by going over after each dragging
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