The Ward County independent. [volume] (Minot, Ward County, N.D.) 1902-1965, 1910-03-24

devoted to small grain, namely: the
!, Campbell sub-surface packer. or CORFU
gated iron rollsr,- peg tooth harrow,
and the weeder. Generally one Of these
implements is found on a farm, some
times two, and but rarely the three OF
them. The disc harrow, the acme
harrow. the Canadian thistle cultiyat'
or, and the corn cultivator, also be-
! iong to this class of Implements to a
certain extent. but as they are also
used for other specific purposes beside
moisture conservation. they will re-
ceive no further consideration in this
article.
The Campbell subsurface packer 10
|fuunarDu1 Mt ffeyrsafzrms In the ;Dako-
tas.a. Il, consists Of q steel frame, axle
andtramset Of wheels running on the
axle I'm the enclosed frame. q Each
Each wheel is independent Of its neigh
Dor. It has hub Of five inches in
width and v shaped tire about one
and one half inches wide with the
point Of the v sinking into the ground
This machine should follow the pillow
the day the land is plowed or the
morning afterward. 1t forms the bot
tom of the furrow slice down into the
bottom of the furrow, thus pressing
the soil firmly around any stubble,
manure, litter or weeds plowed under,
and at the same time, fills up large
air spaces in the soil. 1t makes what
is known as firm seed bed and by
pressing the dry surface soil firmly
down on the moist sub-soil does a
great deal to prevent loss of soil mois-
ture. In order that this should accom-
plished the peg-tooth harrow should
follow the sub-surface packer. The
corrugated iron roller is in reality a
sub-surface packer with heavy teetl
flush with the rim of the wheels at
right angles with the spokes. This
implement Is just as useful as the
sub-surface packer with heavy teeth
soil and at the same time It. brushes
all clods and leaves the surface reas.
onably level. It does not leave as
good soil mulch as the sub-surface
necessary to follow with the peg tooth
harrow, than when the sub-surface
packer Is used.
There are two types Of peg tooth
harrows, the iron and the wooden
frame and they are SO familiar as to-
need no further description. As a
rule, the iron harrow Is heavier than
the wooden harrow, but It makes up
for this to some extent by the slantlng
device generally used by means Of
which the teeth can be set at any
angle. As a rule, the heavy harrows
are adapted to the heavy soils and the
light harroWs to the light soils. The
iharrow -should follow, the Sub surface
packer, or if such a machine is not
used, it, should follow the splow In
order to form the dust mulch as soon
as possible (this is not necessary on
the heavier soils of the Red River
valley.) Should heavy rains come
in the autumn later on, the harrow
should be used again to break up the
soil crust. 49, H. a
In the spring as soon as the land
is fit to work, the harrow should. be
used to break up the crust that always
forms during the winter and thus save
soil water, warma up the soil, make a
mellow seed bed, and start annual
weed seeds. Thorough narrowing in
the spring before seeding, pays we'll
for the labor expended with but very
few exceptions. After the grain has
been seeded week and before any OF
it is up. it should be narrowed again
to kill annual weeds; such. - pig.
weed, mustard and French weed, II
any Of these weeds are present In the
field. On hrm havy soil, tho harrow
can be used to very good advantage
until the grain Il four to six inches
high, II care 10 used not to drag the
grain just % It is coming up. Care
must also be- used to use q lisht harcj
row or to slant the teeth back 70 @
not to pull up the young grain plants.
This work should never bs done
when. there, T. . heavy dew on tho
grain or II it is wet from any other
cause. The harrow should not be
used on grain after IL Is up ON light
soils, as it Is hound to 20 in too deep
and injure the roots Of the grain.
For such soils as these, there Il
no better implement known than the
weeder. This Is machine that has
q long slightly curved spring tooth.
the lower six inches is round, about
three-eighths of an inch in diameter
and pointed. These teeth are general
" carried in three rows on rigid
steel frame, which is carried on a
light truck. Two horses will easily
handle a twelve foot machine and
go over twenty-five to thirty acres in
a day. The teeth can be set so that
they will just scratch the ground or