Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-07-13
HOW TO CONSERVE THE
MOISTURE OF THE SOIL

quirement OF crops I! properly distributed
or conserved during the growing season.
In doing this, l believe the piow is the
one implement to be used In preparing
the soil for the reception OF moisture. Il
breaks and pulverizes the soil most thor.
oughly, and the pillow that does this work
the best is the one to use. If the plow-
ing isAdone in the fall OF the year much
loss OF water will be prevented.
If the soil breaks up ctoddy, I would
allow 1t to remain during the winter with.
out narrowing. but IL it is In good physi.
cal condition l would put on some cover
crop. The Importance of this cover crop IL
hard TO estimate az it binds together the
soil PARTICLES, takes up the soluble plant
food which would otherwise pass away by
drainage. and then by blowing this under
early in the spring we add organic mat
ter to the soil. We all know that this or
gantc matter is very essential. The soil
containing the proper amount OF organic
matter Is a warmer soil. and retains
moisture much better.
This spring in the preparation of tho
seed bed we know that we were able to
begin work much sooner on the fall
plowed land. The seed bed in the north.
west that was best prepared was worked
as soon as the season permitted. SO that
a mulch was formed which prevented the
escape OF water from below.
On this same seed bed we noticed the
huctuation OF water was very gradual
and less extensive than OF spring plow-
ing. II We take into consideration the
ease with which fall blowing can be
worked. the increased amount OF water
retained. the excess OF grain produced,
and the uniformity OF the moisture cone
tent throughout the season. we are led to
believe that this is one of the best meth-
DDS of preparing ground.
Pillow Six to Eight Inches.
Il Y1,fu lnu{rry hnsN1 m A1osN M %anv~
blowing aids In the aerat.on. also In the
conservation of moisture. 1t provides for
a very large area Of soil for roots to
penetrate. Remember. that a soil plowed
10 inches deep will hold a 2-inch rainfall
without any run-off. I am in favor OF
deep plowirg II 1t can be done in tho fall
OF the year.
The next Implement use on the farm
is the harrow. Besides pulverizing the soil
1t is very efficient In forming q soil
mulch. When using 1t for this purpose I
set the teeth so that they penetrate the
soil about two or three inches deep. The
cultivator is an implement which I use q
great deal. The question arises what
kind of a cultivator should I use. Let
us bear in mind that the less surface ex-
posed the less will be the evaporation. II
we use large shOvels to kill the weeds, we
should follow It with some sort Of an Inn
plelnent to reduce the ridges and Hrevent
loss Of water. Nothing could be better
] than a c%ultivntor to dry out a field faster
by throwing high ridges leaving q large
surface exposed to the action OF the sun
and wind. 1 use a surface cultivator with
small shovels. BY small shovels 1 mean
a pillow that has eight shovels, four on q
side.
The roller Is an implement whose value
depends largely upon local conditions. I
do not know of "a tool which requires
l -, o,@ ~~n Dc AN (Ac ~n~~-@- eos ~
my sandy soil I use a roller repeatedly I'M
order to pack the soil particles close to
gether. The chief difficulty Of this kin
Of soil IS that the space between the soil
particles Is so large that the water passes
through freely. and we lose 1t by percola-
ton. The capillary openings are SO large
and capillary action is poor and much
water is lost by evaporation. The roller
lessons the size OF these pores, and then
the capillary force is strong enough to
draw the water to the surface.
If we leave the soil packed we will lose
this moisture rapidly unless we do some
thing to prevent 1t. We must establish
a surface mulch. After using the roller I
follow 1t very soon with Il smoothing har-
row so as to restore this mulch and stop
the water from evaporating.
DO not hesitate to go into the grain
fields with your harrow and keep this
mulch. If the seed bed has been we'll pre-
pared you can harrow your ground until
the grain is six inches high. Not only
do we keep the mulch. but we also kill
many weeds which have begun to grow.
Brother Farmer. remember that farm
ing IS u business, an industry, and that 1t
requires thought to handle the many
problems presented during a season. II
we keep in mind three things in our farm
ing 1t will mean bushels increase in our
crop:
A deep seed bed to hold the water.
This seed bed must be firyn.
Surface cultivation to keep a soil mulch
to prevent evaporation.