The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1900-04-26

The harrow is one of the tools that
farmers should study with care, in the
light Of the needs Of their own soil
and its condition when plowed, for
narrowing is one of the most impor-
tant operations connected with the
preparation of the soil for crops, and
is scarcely less so in the case OF such
crops as corn, as an element in the
cultivation of the ground after the
crop is in, says Homestead. Every
body does not see the question alike.
as, indeed, how should they, since the
conditions of one farmer differ SO
much from those of another that theiI
several necessities in regard to 1t will
greatly vary? There are some soils
that are in such a mechanical condi-
ton, and are plowed in SO timely a
way with respect to the moisture that
IL in them, that they turn over under
the plow like a bed of ashes and fall
apart with scarcely a clod in a days
work. Here narrowing is simply a
question of smoothing the surface, and
a tool that will do this answers every
purpose. On the other soils the pillow
leaves the ground lumpy and full OF
holes between the furrow slices, and
narrowing that merely scratches and
levels the surface does not fill the bill
at all. narrowing in such cases must
consist in breaking up the clods and
cutting the furrow slices to a sufficient
depth to. settle the soil together and
make it a smooth, compact seed-bed
through which the wind will not blow
and evaporate all the moisture it con-
tains, and which will present to the
roots finely comminuted soil from
which they may extract nutriment
presented in an available form. Two
farmers whose soil represents these
two opposite conditions scarcely I'M
derstand each other when they talk
about narrowing. An implement that
satisfies all the requirements of the
one is of little or no use to the other,
and results hat are all that are neces-
sary in the one case will in the other
be found worthless.
Outside of blowing Matches where
the best plowmen are on their best
behavior, there is not a great deal of
first-rate blowing done on soils that
are a little difficult. We are in the
habit of c%ultivating areas so large that
a days stint is a little too big to do
the work in a really artistic way, and
even the best plowmen fall into care
less habits, and the result is that most
fields are full Of uneven places, cloddy
furrow slices, balks and other imper-
fections, unless the soil should happen
to be of the sort that pretty much
plows itself. The task of making a
mellow, well-pulverized seed-bed suf1.
GENTLY deep to take the seed at an
even depth and give its roots a chance
to spread themselves without drying
out in the open spaces between clods
is not only a very important one, buf
becomes largely a question Of gooe
narrowing and plenty of it, with a too
adapted to the faults to be overcome
The narrowing that is done by way q
cultivation, on the other hand, is quite
another matter. 1t is very necessary
but it is the surface-stirring, weed
killing, smoothing, moisture-conserv
ing kind of narrowing that is needed
and with an entirely different kind o
a tool. The two kinds of narrowing
in fact, have scarcely anything in com
mon except the name.