Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1909-09-21

truth or the importance Of the fact
that these are the ideal conditions anj
those for which every farmer should
strive in the preparation Of his soil
for any crop. Moreover. 1t win usu-
ally pay to go to considerable extra
expense, IL that be necessary, In order
to secure this ideal condition Of the
seed bed.
When Flowing ls Not Necessary.
II the wheat or the oat crop Is to
follow a crop Of peas whether the land
should be rebroken deeply will, as
stated, depend on the conditions. II
the land was well broken for the peas
and there is not too much fresh" on
1t, there is no necessity for rebreak-
ing, and this is especially the case IL
the peas were cultivated or grew In
the corn. In fact better results will
probably be obtained, under such con-
ditions, If the land is not rebroken for
the wheat and oats, unless II can be
done at least a month before sowing
the small grain and be otherwise
properly prepared.
Breaking the land for the fall grow
ing of small grains, and also frequent
ly for the sowing Of peas, Is often de-
layed or rendered more difficult by the
hard condition Of the soil at these sea-
sons. Even though 1t be possible to
plow the land, 1t may break UP into
large clods in such way as to render
the securing Of q proper seed bed DIFF
ficult and expensive. In such cases
the following method will often COM
pletely solve the difficulty: First, disk
the land once or twice, or as often as
Is necessary to cut up the top surface,
which will also best dispose Of any
trash" which may be on the land,
then break the land to the desired
depth and stop plowing soon enough
eacn forenoon and evening to thor
oughly harrow that which has been
broken that same morning or after
noon. BY this method land that would
otherwise break up into clods. will
usually be early pulverized by the
smoothing harrow.
It is a much more difficult and ex-
pensive task to pulverize clods with the
disk after they have been turned up
than before the land has been broken.
Moreover, the use Of the smoothing
harrow, as suggested, before clods
have dried out, will be much more eff
fective than under the usual practice
of blowing the whole field before It Is
narrowed.
Where 1t is not deemed advisable to
rebreak the land. the disk should be
used sufficiently to thoroughly pull
verize the top soil and completely cut
up and into the soil all the "trasa"
which may be on 1t. A larger guam
tity of such trash" may be disposed
of in this way than is generally con-
sidered possible. II too much litter Is
turned under, it may be impossible to
so compact the soil that 1t will hold
the moisture which. 1t already has or
that which may afterwards fall on 1t.
This fact has resulted in the practice,
which is now quite common, Of sowing
both wheat and oats without rebreak-
ing the land; and unless the breaking
can be well done az least month be-
fore seeding time, We would much pre-
fer to use the disk to dispose Of the
trash" on the land, II there Is any
considerable quantity Of it
On the other hand, II the breaking
can be done early enough to give rea-
sonable assurance Of the soil receiving
a sufficient supply Of moisture from
rains, and 1t is broken in the manner
above described, we would prefer that
1t be rebroken in preparing for either
the wheat or the oat crop.
Use the Harrow Freely.
There is probably no implement 80
generally useful on the farm as the
smoothing harrow, and this Is espe-
cially so in the preparation Of the land
for such small grain crops as wheat
and oats. While this crop is unques-
tionably true, 1t is strange fact tnat
only small proportion Of southern
farmers are supplied with harrows.
For firming and compacting the soil,
Just what is needed for the wheat
and oat crops, the smoothing harrow Is
indispensable. Fortunately these har-
rows are not high-priced. and cover
ground 80 rapidly that they afford one
Of the cheapest and most economical
methods Of cultivating the soil.-Dr.
TAFT Butler in the Progressive Farmer.