Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1911-07-14
HOW TO CONSERVE THE
MOISTURE OF THE SOIL

auirement OF crops IL properly distributed
| or conserved during the growing season.
In doing this, | believe the plow is the
one implement to be used in preparing
the soil for the reception of moisture. II
breaks and pulyerizes the soil most THOR
oughly, and the pillow that does this work
the best is the one to use. If the plow-
ing is done in the fan Of the year much
loss of water will be prevented. -
If the soil breaks up cioddy, ! would
allow ii to remain during the winter with
out narrowing, but if it is in good physi-
cal condition | would put on some cover
crop. The importance Of this cover crop is
hard to estimate as 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
ganic 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 or the
seed bed we know that we were able TO
begin work much sooner on the talL
pIowed 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 tho
CSCdp6 Vi "dltE llOlli
On this same seed bed we noticed the
h]uctuation Of water was very gradual
and less extensive than on spring plow-
ing. If we take into consideration the
ease with which fall plowing can be
worked, the increased amount OF water
retained, the excess Of grain produced.
and the uniformity of the moisture con-
tent throughout the season, we are led 10
believe that this is one of the best meth
DDS OF preparing ground.
Pillow Six to Eight Inches.
This blowing should be deep, as deep
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. | am in favor of
deep blowing if it can be done in the fall
OF the year.
The next implement l use on the farm
is the harrow. Besides pulverizing the soil
it is very efficient in forming a soil
mulch. When using it for this purpose 1
SET the teeth SO that they penetrate the
soil about two or three inches deep. The
cultivator is an implement which | use a
great deal. The question arises what
kind of a cultiVator should | use. Let
us bear in mind that the less surface ex-
posed the less will be the evaporation. If
we use large shOVels to Kill the weeds, we
should follow 1t with some sort OF an i'm
plement to reduce the ridges and prevent
loss OF water. Nothing could be better
chan a cultivator to dry out a field faster
by throwing high ridges leaving q large
surface exposed TO the action OF the sun
and wind. l use a surface cultivator VIII
small shoyels. BY small shOvels l mean
a pillow that has eight shOvels, four on a
side.
The roller is an implement whose value
depends largely upon local conditions. I
do not know Of a tool which requires
more judgment as TO its proper use. On
my sandy soil | use a roller repeatedly in
order TO pack the soil particles close to-
gether. The chief difficulty of this kind
of soil s that the space between the soil
is so large that the water passes
through freely, and we lose it by p~ercola-
ton. The capillary openings are so large
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
the water to the surface.
If we leave the soil packed we will lose
this moisture rapidly unless we do some
thing to prevent it. We must establish
follow it very soon with a smoothing har-
row so as to restore this mulch and stop
the water from evapOrating.
DO not hesitate to 90 into the grain
fields with your harrow and keep this
mulch. If the seed bed has been well pre-
pared you can harrow your ground until
the grain is six inches high. Not only
we keep the mulch. but we also kill
many weeds which have begun TO grow.
Brother Farmer, remember that farm
ing s. a business. an industry, and that it
thought to handle the many
problems presented during a season. IL
we keep in mind three things in our farm
ing it will mean bushels increase in our
crop;
A deep seed bed to hold the water.
This seed bed must be firm.
Surface cultivation to keep a soil mulch
to prevent evaporation.