Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-06-04

verzlng of the soil and the mixing of
manure with it accomplishes three OBJ
jects, all of which are important for
plant growth.
In our efforts to properly prepare the
soil we must not forget that the work
not only needs to be well done, but it
needs to be done at the proper time; this
is when it will secure the best results.
or when the plants are soon to come
into condition to need large quanti-
ties of well prepared plant food. If the
soil be prepared so early in the spring
that decomposition in a great measure
ceases before the plants begin to grow,
the result will be far from satisfactory;
but if the work be done but very
short time before the seed be planted,
by the time the young plants begin to
grow the soil will be in an active state
of ferment; while in this condition the
young roots can more readily penetrate
it, and the soil being full of divided
atoms of manure that are soluble in
water. the roots readily find all of the
elements necessary to force a rapid
growth of the plants. A soil that is
prepared just before planting will keep
in better condition during the entire
season than it possibly could be if the
before, because the heavy rains which
usually come in the early spring beat
the ground down so hard as to retard,
if it does not entirely stop decomposi-
ton before the roots of the plants begin
to grow. If preparation be delayed
until after the crop is planted it will be
impossible to prepare only what soil is
| between the rows; this, it is true, will
do much to force the growth of the
plants, but it will not help the growth
of the plants when they first start,
which is the most important period of
their growth. By preparing the soil
before planting it can be done better
and easier than after the crop begins
| to grow; but the portion of the soil not
covered by the growing plants should
receive constant attention..
Whenever the farmer finds the soil is
covered by hard crust, caused by
| heavy rains, or from any other cause,
he should lose no time in pulverizing
it with some implement adapted for
the purpose. The old hanu hoe is a
very poor implement for this purpose;
a small iron rake is Il much better i'm
plement. 1t is surprising that an inn
plement so i'll adapted for pulverizing
| the soil as the hoe should have been so
universally used for so many centuries;
| it probably would not have been if our
ancestors had not mistaken the prin-
ciple oh ect for cultivating crops. Their
sole object was to XII the weeds and
hill up the crop by drawing up all of
the loose soil around the plants, leav-
ing the ground between the rows hard
and poor, neither the air or water
could penetrate it. 1t did not occur
| ~ IL A. IL \ h.
light and loose enough for the air and
| water to have Tree access through 1t;
so the old hoe was considered an ex-
cellent instrument. and in fact it was
for the purpose it was used. But as
soon as 1T was found that in addition
to the Ing of weeds it was necessary
to stir the soil, implements were IN
vented to take the place of the hoe.
We have not yet got just what we need
cultivate properly and easily around
growing plants in the garden The
wheel hoes in the garden are not
made just as they should be; most
of them are too heavy, and they fail to
leave the soil as fine as it should be;
| in fact the inventors, most of them,
still keep to the idea that all the work
to be done is to kill the weeds; and we
are sorry to be obliged to acknowledge
that in many gardens they fail to do
even that, for hand wheel hoe, if
not run through the garo.en before
the weeds get one or two
inches high, it is a worse implement
than the common hoe. When the
wheel hoe is to be used itmust be start
ed as soon as the weeds are up, and
run often enough to prevent them ever
getting more than two inches high.
The wheel hoe when run through the
garden often enough can be made to 60
over quarter of an acre of land in less
| than one hour and half. For field
crops the horse hoe and cultivator
should be used.
He who would grow the largest crop
with the expenditure of the least labor
| and material should see to it that his
soil is thoroughly prepared just before
the seed is planted, and also after the
| plants are up that the soil is stirred
often enough to keep a crustfr from form
ing on the surface; if this is done there
will be no trouble about the weeds
| Massachusetts Ploughaaan.