The ranch. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1902-1914, 1909-07-15

is TO De IdllOWou the next SuIuueT.
Were this to become common prac-
tice it would be a valuable addition
to the present methods. By early fall
dislxing weed seeds are covered and
caused to terminate, the soil is put in
better condition to take the winter rain
and snow, and stubble is covered, or
partially so, and its decomposition
fastened. The soil usually works
much better in the spring, and less
surface cultivation is needed before
blowing.
Sub-Surface Packing.
In addition to the last method of
summer following described, two spe-
cial implements are used in different
parts of the country for settling and
packing the lower portion of the fur
row slice. One of these implements is
corrugated roller, the cOrrugatlons
of which are sharp and wedge shaped.
The bevel of the corrugations reaches
from the outer rim to the large axle
to which the corrugations are attached.
This roller has been used in the vi
cinity of Wasco, Ore, for a number of
years. The other implement, the sub
surface packer, has been introduced
more recently. 1t consists of series
of wheels upon long shaft The rims
of these wheels are wedge shaped
AS explained before, land that has
lust been plowed is loose and open, con-
tanning many air spaces. This open
condition permits the air to circulate
quite freely in the soil, which dries 1t
out quickly. While it is desirable that
the air should enter the soil, and that
noxious gases arising from the decom-
position of organic matter should es-
cape, there is little danger of getting
the lower portion of the soil turned by
the plow into a too compact condition
in at least the major portion OF the
Columbia Basin. In fact, summer fall
low land usually dries out as deep as
it is plowed because it is too open In
summer following an effort should be
made to get the bulk of the soil that
has been turned by the pillow, especially
the lower portion, pulverized and
packed so closely that the air will
circulate in it very slowly
When the corrugated roller or the
packer is used on the summer fallow
land it closely follows the ploW. 1t
should never be used when the soil is
wet, for the packing will cause the soil
to run together. But If the blowing
has been done when the soil breaks
up in a mealy, granulated' condition,
the MASKING of these wedge-shaped
surfaces into the soil fills up the air
cavities and presses the soil granules
together without uniting them. This
causes the air to circulate in the SOIL
very slowly, and in this way the
amount of moisture lost by evapora-
ton is greatly reduced. Water passes
from a soil that is moist and in this
mealy, granular condition into a dry
soil very slowly, in order to save the
greatest amount OIL moisture, then
it should be the aim to dry the surface
soil just as quickly as possible after
blowing and packing. This is done by
stirring the surface, usually with a
common tooth harrow. The surface is
then kept dry by frequent surface Gull
tivations. In conserving moisture IL
is also very essential that the surface
be stirred after each rain that vets
down to the moist soil or forms crust
on the surface
The following instance illustrates
the value of sub-surface packing in the
Columbia Basin:
Mr.. d. Buchanan summer fallowed
400 acres near Ritzville, Wash. With
the exception of running the packer
over 70 acres, the entire field received
the same treatment. The whole field
was sown to winter wheat. At harvest
time the 70 acres outyielded the re-
mainder of the field bushels per acre.
The corrugated roller has given about
the same results in eastern Oregon.
First Customer-The price of meat
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