Wallowa County chieftain. [volume] (Enterprise, Or.) 1909-1911, 1909-02-25
Home Course In
Modern Agriculture
III.-Preparing the Ground
By c. V. GREGORY.
Asrfe aIfuraI DfSiEfcn. IesDo S1afe College
conrrrhs los hr American Prs.A Assosiaton
Preparing the Ground
By c. V. GREGORY.

times will pulverize the ground more
than hours Of work after 1t has be-
come. dry and baked
The fall plOwing viii usually need 10
be gone over with the disk 10 ger IL 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 plOwing Is seldom neces-
sary.
In cases where improper plOwing has
left a field elOddy the roller may often
be used 10 advantage. \ corrugated
roller is better for this purpose than a
smooth one. as It tends 10 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. 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 win
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 it's rise is checked
and comparatively little is lost by evap-
Grafton. For this same reason il is
often well 10 harrow fall blowing as
soon as il is dry enough in the spring
especially If disking is not to be done
until late
After the ground is ploved and disk
ed the harrow must be used 10 COM
pleIe 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 10 use. since Il 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 sofIened and
will be easily knocked To pieces. To
kill weeds. however. it is better TO wair
until the soil is u 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 a field
pays better. No other implement will
kill as many weeds in so short time.
and no other machine will tear clods t.
pieces so rapidly A field well plowed
and disked and narrowed until it is in
as fine tilth as it is possible to make il
is an ideal seed bed Seed planted in
such soil will start under the most
favorable conditions If the seed itself
IS strong and the after treatment what
1t should be, q maximum crop may be
expected
Not all fields need to be plowed be-
fore the crop is put in. II 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 Weld
enough more on piowed corn stalk
ground to pay the cost of plowing.
Very frequently they do not yield as
much. Where small grain follows
small grain. however. plowing is nee
essary to kill weeds and loosen the
surface soil. 1t does not need 10 be
loOsened as deeply as for corn. how.
ever. since the small grain plants are
harder than corn and the roots are
more aggressive in pushing through a
hard soil
While plowing stalk ground is un.
necessary. it will usually be found
profitable 10 disk the land before seed.
In This chops up the corustalks
and provides mellow layer OF soil
fer the seed to germinate in.
Where the oats are to be put in with
4 drill the ground should be double
dtsked previously. II sown broadcast