The Montgomery advertiser., 1906-12-03
December Flowing.

December Ei0W1nBs
 fk often happens that the month which is one of the most favorable for Blowing is allowed to pass without my blowing being done While the ndustrfous farmer finds December hlly laden with tasks, often more than Ae can find willing laborers to help kim execute, he will generally De aoie b do some blowing in this n onth If ne infly realizes the advantages or go oo- mw. Teams are now 4cte large part M the time. The weather Is eool and he working day Is sho-t. both or which conditions make blowing in De- lember less of a strain end wear on cams than if the period of heavy blowing has to be prolonged into the warm weather of spring.
 Tn selecting the fields to be ploWed t once. first place shoulc ss given 70 Bermuda or other tough sod. Tho breaking of Bermuda sod will be done much more satisfactorily and the draft considerably decreased by using roll Ing coulter, which can he attached to me blow beam. After <tsszes and drying have done their best to kill the Bermuda rootstocks in the immense clods. the land will nave to be rebrok- en, preferably in February, this sec ond blowing being partly to expose new surfaces to freezing and to dry Ing, and partly to secure pnlvSrizatton. A narrowing given a few weeks later should leave the land in t5irly good filth and avoid the imperfect stand of cotton so often seen after Bermuda sod
 Wherever large amounts uf weeds or other forms of vegetable matter are present on a soil with fairly stiff soil or subsoil, 1t will as a rule. pay to blow in December even though tSe land run together so much as to need to be stirred again in spring with blow or harrow. Above all things do not burn the trash for December blowing. Vegetable matter Is the almost unt- yersal need of Southern soils and fire is the active enemy of permanent Ter tiIity.
 An additional reason for blowing be- fore Christmas obtains in the prairie region, since this frees the farmer from the necessity of lowing after Christmas when the land Is too wet. One of the chief disadvantages of farming in that region is he elatively small number of days during Jannaey and February when the land is in con dition for very effective flowing. The easiest way to lengthen tne -ason .s by December or even by November blowing.
 Of course the harrow will not be used on sandy or prairie land plowed fn December and not sown in q winter crop. The breaking of ciods, usually so important, Is here unnecessary, and may be harmful by increasing the ten- dency to the formation of dense and continuous connected surface layer
 Without having been able to submit to d rigid test the merits of the so- called Mallory system of running in the fall a deep furrow, followed by a sub~ soil furrow both under the old cotton row and in the old water furrow, be- tieye in that system for stiff shallow clay soils.
 FaIl blowing and even early winter blowing destroys some of the injurious forms of insect life. Fall blowing, for another reason, is the system to which we shall have to come when the boil weeviI reaches US and there are mani- fest advantages in trying 1t now and learning under what conditions 1t can best be done before we are rushed ig- narantly Into 1t by this scourge.
 Tn blowing under corn stalks s9nd large cotton stalks 1t will pay. in cash and In convenience of cultivation to chop them into pieces< We had best not rely on hand labor much longer for this A stalk cutter, costing perhaps forty dollars, ik the most suitable im- pIement for this purpose but a fairly safisfactory substitute may be had in fhe disc harrow used when the stalks are dry and brittle. Corn stalks are best cut Into pieces by using the har- row twice, the second cutting being aone in direction perpendicular to the first. The same end may be attained by dragging down and stTaightening put the stalks by the use of a spike tooth harrow or log or pole drag, eith- or being followed at right angles by the disc harrow.
 Leaching Is believed to be greater pn land plowed in the fall than if left unbroken throughout most of the win ter. However. this difference would be but slight except on soils having much sand both In soil ana subsoil.
 One danger that attends very early fall blowing Is largely avoided by blowing in December. Vegetable matter plowed in as late as December finds the tenn peratare of the soil too cool for rapid Fermentation and consequent formation