The Keota news., 1911-12-22
Must Be Done Deeply and at the
Right Time.
Experiment Stations Find That When
Work 10 Done In Fall Il Proves
Water Conserving and Has
Many Other Advantages.


sary that tho plowing be done at the
right time. In the very great ma
3ority of cases over the whole dry
farm territory. plowing should be
done in the fall. There are three rea-
sons for this: first. after the crop IL
harvested. the soil should be dis
turbed Immediately. 10 that it can be
exposed to the full action Of the
weathering agencies. whether the win
ter bc open or closed. II for any rea-
son blowing cannot be done early. 1t
IL often advantageous to follow the
harvester with q disk. and to plow
later when convenient. The chemical
eject on the soil resulting from the
weathering made possible by fall
plowing. as will be shown in chapter
TX. Is Of itself 80 great as to warrant
the teaching of the general practice
OF fall plowing. Secondly. the early
stirring Of the soil prevents evapora-
tion Of tho moisture in the soil dur
ing late summer and the fall. Thirdly.
In the parts of the dry-farm territory
where such precipitation occurs in the
fall. winter or early spring. fall
blowing permits much Of this precipi-
tation to enter the soil and be stored
there until needed by plants.
A number OF experimental stations
have compared blowing done in the
early fall with plowing done late In
the fall or In the spring. and with
almost no exception 1t has been found
that early fall plowing Is water-con-
serving and in other ways advantage
Gus. -, It was observed on q Utah
dry-nkm that the fallplowed land con-
tanned to . depth Of 10 feet TAT acre
inches more water than the adjoining
springplowed land-a saving of nearly
one-half Of years precipitation. The
ground should be plowed in the early
fall a. soon a. possible after the crop
10 harvested. It should then be left
in the rough throughout the winter.
50 that it may be mellowed and
broken down by the elements. Tho
rough land further has q tendency to
catch and hold the Snow that may be
blown by the wind. thus insuring .
more even distribution Of the water
from the melting snow.
A common objection to fall plowing
II that the ground is 30 dry in the fall
that 1t does not plow up we'll. and that
the great dry clods Of earth do much
to injured the physical condition Of the
soil, It 10 very doubtful II such an
objection 10 generally valid. especially
II the soil 10 80 cropped ~ to leave .
fair margin of moisture in the soil At
harvest time. The atmospheric agen-
cies will usually break down the
clods. and the physical result Of the
treatment will be beneficial. Un-
doubtedly. the fall blowing of dry land
10 somewhat dinacult, but the good re-
suits more than pay the farmer for
his trouble. Late fall blowing. after
the fall rains have softened the land.
II preferable to spring plowing. II
for any reason the farmer feels that
he must practice spring plowing. he
should do It as early as possible In
the spring. OF course. It II inadvis-
able to plow the soil when It 10 20
wet q to injure it, tilth seriously. but
% soon az that danger period II
passed, the plow should be placed in
tho ground. The moisture in the soil
viii thereby be conserved, and what
ever water may fall during tho spring
months will be conserved also. This
IL Of especial importance In the Great
Plains region. and In any district
where the precipitation comes In the
spring and winter months.