Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-04-18
SPRING FARM, WORK
why Agriculture Can Not he Conducted
on Set Rules.

Why Agriculture Can Not he C0nducteo
Set Rules.
p The farmer who starts out in the
spring without his work all planned
out, just how and where each part of
the work will be done. will most as
suredly meet with failure. The man
who follows the same plan of planting
and cultivating, irrespective of the sea-
son, as the conditions under which he
is working, will fail to meet with the
best success.
1t is good economy to plan ahead, to
outline the general plan of work. but
much of the details must of necessity
be kept and be determined as the work
progresses.
What would be the better plan one
year would be nearly the worst to be
followed the next, because the condi-
tions were so different Yet there are
plenty of farmers who follow
the same course year after year
and put in the best part of their spare
time complaining that farming does
not pay. 1t is an item to prepare the
soil and plant the crops in good sea-
son. With grass and oats and some of
the garden. crops this implies doing
the work at the very first opportunity
in the spring. With flax and potatoes
the work should be done little later.
But corn. beans and sorghum and q
large class of garden crops should not
be planted until the soil is reasonably
well warmed up SO that a quick ger
mination of the seed and vigorous
start to grow can be secured.
But there will be a considerable
variation in the time that this can be
done and any attempt to follow a set
rule would certainly prove unsatis-
factory.
This applies also to all kinds of
work, as well as the manner of doing.
If the soil is warm and dry corn
should be planted and covered much
deeper than if the soil is wet and cold.
II the soil can be prepared in a good
thrifty condition before the seed is
planted. the harrow is the best imple-
ment to commence the cultivation, but
II rough and cloddy, and as is some
times the case, wet. the one-horse
diamond pillow will prove the most sat-
isfactory. One season one or two har-
and three or four civilizations
with riding or walking cultivators is
all that will be necessary to keep the
soil in good filth and the crop free
of weeds. Another year the diamond
pillow will have to be used all during
the season in order to afford sufficient
and to keep down the weeds.
while in a dry year it will be neces-
sary to stir the surface Of the soil
to the depth of two or three
inches in order to maintain a good
growth, so that the man who attempts
to raise good crop of corn by using
the diamond pillow every year, running
the bar of the pillow to the corn each
way and then throwing the earth to
the corn each way and laying by the
corn by running out the burrows, will
occasionally fail. saF ~
II the best success Is secured, farm
work must be done according to the
season. and have such implements used
as are necessary to do the kind of work
the crop requires, the pillow, harrow,
cultivator and other implements need
ed in the preparation, planting and
cultivation of the crops, so that the
work can be properly done in good sea-
son and economically.-N- j. Miller.
In Western PlOWmau. s,ss7 -Fs. n