Bonners Ferry herald. [volume] (Bonners Ferry, Idaho) 1904-current, 1909-02-27

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dfies VIII puiverlze the ground more
than hours of work after 1t has be-
come dry and baked.
The fall blowing will usually need to
be gone over with the disk to get 1t In
shape for planting The superior con-
dition obtained by double disking-
that is, letting the disk LAP half"-will
more than pay for the extra labor.
There is an additional advantage in
that the surface is left smooth. Disk
ing spring blowing is seldom neces-
sary.
In cases where improper blowing has
left field cloddy the roller may often
be used to advantage. A corrugated
roller is better for this purpose than
smooth one, as it tends to crush the
clods rather than to simply push them
down into the finer dirt A home
made "planker'' or clod crusher will
often answer the purpose as well as
roller.
The roller packs the ground consid-
erably and so quickens the capillary
rise Of water. If the surface is left
smooth much Of the moisture that
comes up will be lost by evaporation,
and later In the season the crop will
be likely to suffer from drought. To
avoid this the roller should be follow
ed Immediately by the harrow.
This loosens a thin layer Of surface
soil. When the capillary water reach
es this loose layer its rise is checked.
and comparatively little is lost by evap-
Grafton. For this same reason it Is
often well to harrow fall blowing as
soon as it is dry enough in the spring,
especially II disking is not TO be done
until late.
After the ground is plowed and disk
| ed the harrow must be used to COM
plete the preparation for planting.
There are many kinds of harrows, but
none that are better than the ordinary
spike tooth. These are made in all
styles and sizes. The harrow Is eco
nomical to USE since it gets over
ground so rapidly. The best time to
harrow In order to pulverize the soil is
Immediately after light shower. The
little clods will then be softened and
will be easily knocked to pieces. TIC
| XIII WteQS, uONtNtly IL 10 DClAtl W Woh
until the soil is little drier, as har
rowing a wet field will transplant the
weeds rather than destroy them.
Do not be afraid to harrow too much
No work that you can put on f1elt
pays better. No other implement Will
kill as many weeds in so short time
and no other machine will tear clods t.
pieces 80 rapidly. A field well plowe'
and disked and narrowed until 1t is II
as fine filth as it is possible to make
is an ideal seed bed. Seed planted II
such a soil will start under the mos
favorable conditions. If the seed itsel
is strong and the after treatment wha
1t should be, a maximum crop may b
expected.
Not all fields need to be plowed bt
fore the crop is put in. 1t is geners
, practice In the corn belt to SOW sma
, grain on stalk fields without any pre-
, vious preparation. Experiments hav
shown that small grain does not yiel
enough more on plowed corn stall
, ground to pay the cost Of plowinl
| Very frequently they do not yield 6
r much. Where small grain follow
> small grain, however, blowing is ne
r essary to kill weeds and loosen Il
5 surface soil. 1t does not need to
D loosened as deeply as for corn, hoy
Q ever, since the small grain plants al
harder than corn and the roots al
r more aggressive In pushing through
8 hard soil.
& While blowing stalk ground is u
|. necessary, it will usually be four
Q profitable to disk the land before see
II ing. This chops up the cornstall
l. and provides a mellow layer of 81
Q for the seed to terminate in.
% Where the oats are to be put In wi
10 a drill the ground should be doub
e disked previously. If sown broadca