Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-08-30
RURAL AND DOMESTIC.
When and How to PIoyv.

When and How to PIow.
The National Granger says: Now
that the crops are "laid by" and the
farmer has time to think little before
he begins to prepare for the the work
OF another year, suppose he listens to
the experiences gathered from prac-
tical thinking farmer upon the SUBJ
iect of cultivating lands; and first to q
few words a. to when and how to pillow.
The fall is without doubt the best
time to fallow lands for spring plant
ing, and to break up all kinds Of sods
or weedy soils. The weather is then
cool, and the farmer is less busy than
he is In the spring of the year. The
inverted burrows are subjected to the
disintegrating influences Of the winter
frosts, and if done late the grub-worm
and insects that modest the crops will
be killed by the freezes, and millions of
eggs laid by flies and seeds of parasite
plants will perish by the cold. The
winter rains and SHOWS will also yield
up to the pulverized soil many chem
ical elements to be used In the summer
as plant-food that would be otherwise
washed away and forever lost.
For other blowing, no definite time
can be assigned, and each planter
must be governed by the exigencies of
the occasion. But no farmer should
ever pillow lands when it is too wet. lest
it should bake and become sodden, like
sunburnt brick, and loses the friable
nature inherited to all loamy soils.
Neither should lands be plowed when
too dry, as the pillow then runs hard,
giving much extra labor to the team,
and unnecessary friction to the pillow
beside, making the fallow cloddy and
difficult for future cultivation.
The team should be always fully
able to do the work intended, so as to
draw the pillow with ease. It is not only
distressing to animals to be urged
on beyond their strength, moving at
snail gait, and kept in motion by the
swing of the whip, but it causes an I'M
necessary wear and tear of muscular
fiber that must be replaced by more
food and rest, OF there will be " broken
down stock" The team must be so
hitched to the pillow as to secure the
best advantage for the highest draft
Experience has shown that the most
desirable elevation of a chain is at an
angle of about twenty degrees with the
plane Of the. burrows bottom. When
necessary a drop link will regulate In
double teams the proper elevation.
When oxen are used, proper atten-
ton should be paid to the length of the
yoke, for frequently long or short
yoke will materially change, not only
the ease of draft but the set of the
pillow, and, consequently, the depth and
smoothness of the burrows.
The cutting edges of the pillow should
always be In fine order, and made of
good steel that will wear, for it is much
cheaper to cut than to tear the furrow-
slice from its bed, to say nothing of the
clogging and sliding, and increase of
draft, all of which is detrimental to
good blowing. The draft is affected
by a dull shear and coulter not less
than 80 per cent, so that any farmer
can see how necessary 1t is to keep his
shear and coulter sharp
The depth of the ploWing must be
governed by circumstances: the nature
Of the soil, and any other reasons that
may exist at the time. But, as a gen
eral rule, deep blowing is nearly always
preferable, and the deeper the better
OIl all ldiiOW, WCCoy, VI ooo JANUS. LII
such cases, eight, ten, Or twelve inches
are obest-in ordinary blowing seven
inches will do very well, and four
inches for Swimming. The width Of
the burrows in ordinary blowing should
be about as one and half to its depth
say furrow is eight inches deep, then
it should be twelve or thirteen inches
wide, which will make the lap Of fur
rows not too much for thorough pull
verization and killing Of grass.
One other essential point of cultiva-
ting land is to always pillow the crops
before the land gets foul with weeds or
grass, for one blowing to keep crops
clean, is worth more thar three to clean
them when foul. Recollect the old
adage che who plows earliest and
most, makes the most corn"