Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-02-15
HOME COURSE IN
MODERN AGRICULTURE
UI.--preparinq the Ground
BY C. v. GREGORY,
Agricultural Division, Iowa State College
Copyright, 1908, by American Press Association

times will pulverize 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 a.
roller.
The roller packs the ground consid-
erably and so quickens the capillary
rise of water II 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 thin layer of surface
soil. When the capillary water reach
es this loose layer it's rise is checked,
and comparatively little is lost by evap-
Grafton. For this same reason 1t Is
often we'll to harrow fall blowing as
soon as it is dry enough in the spring.
especially If 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 To
kill weeds, however, it is better to wait
until the soil is little drier, as har-
rowing 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 field
pays better. No other implement will
Jx:11 80 woods ~, co short n time
and no other machine will tear clods to
pieces so rapidly. A field well plowed
and disked and narrowed until it is In
as fine filth as it Is possible to make 1t
Is an ideal seed bed. Seed planted IN
such soil will start under the most
favorable conditions. II the seed itself
is strong and the after treatment what
it should be. a maximum crop may be
expected.
Not all fields need to be plowed be
fore the crop is put in. It is a general
practice in the corn belt to SOW small
grain on stalk fields without any pre-
vious preparation. Experiments have
shown that small grain does not yield
enough more on plowed corn stalk
ground to pay the cost Of blowing.
Very frequently they do not yield as
much. Where small grain follows
small grain. however, blowing is nee
essary to kill weeds and loosen the
surface SOIL 1t does not need to be
loosened as deeply as for corn, how
ever, since the small grain plants are
harder than corn and the roots are
more aggr essive in pushing through a
hard soil.
While blowing stalk ground is I'M
necessary, it viii usually be found
profitable to disk the land before seed
ing. This chops up the cornstalks
and provides a mellow layer OF soil
for the seed to terminate in.
Where the oats are to be put in with
drill the ground should be double
disked previously. If sown broadcast