Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1911-03-31
Use the Harrow More Freely


Can there possibly be any doubt
about the value of the smoothing and
disk harrows in preparing the seed
bed This is one thing about which
we have felt confident. 1t has seemed
to us that there could possibly be no
sort of doubt of the great value of
the harrow in pulverizing the soil,
but trip through the country will
convince any one that many people
have either never heard of the harrow
or else they do not believe in it's
great and universal usefulness. This
paper has urged and insisted o,Na
more general use of the harrow, m.
I'll the editor had fancicd nothing fur
Their need he said on the SUBJ for
a time at least; but recent trips
through the farming sections have
shown him the error of his co iclu-
sions. Not one fourth, probably not
one tenth, Of the farmers of the
South make sufficient use of the har-
row.
Are we mistaken in our estimate
of Is value and the use To which il
should be put, or are the tillers of
the soil, throughout the South, mis-
taken? 1t almost seems ms if many
farmers have never yet heard Of the
use of tho harrow, or that they do
not believe what we have thouhgt we
knew about its value. The situation
is truly n perplexing one. Surely,
we are not mistaken in the belief
that the smoothing or disk harrow
should have universal use in prepar-
ing the seed bed but if we are not
then the majority of Southern farm
ers are either neglectful or still UNI
convinced Of the need of better
prepared 10 ID bed and the value of
the harrow in obtaining that needed
improvement in the condition of the
soil before planting the crops.
During the past two weeks we
have seen thousands of acres where,
in breaking the land, this late in tho
spring, the furrow slice has been
thrown up to bake and dry out into
clods or Jumps, which the smoothing
harrow would have put in good con-
dition if run soon enough after the
blowing was done.
In blowing during the fall and
winter it is probably best to leave
the land rough, and for this reason,
throwing it up into high, narrow
beds may be beneficial; but when.
blowing land ut this season of the
year there is no certainty that there
will be rain enough before planting
to pulverize the clods and for that
reason the disk or smoothing harrow
should be used before the land dries
and bakes into clods or even small
Jumps.
The man who works sandy land
sees less need of the smoothing har-
row than those on heavier lands; but
everywhere and always, a finely pull
verified and compact or firm seed bed
is best.
Thousands of acres are being plant
ed that were not broken until short
time before planting and then never
narrowed before the seed are planted.
Clods, tufts of sod, and even weeds
and grass are abundant when the crop
is planted. These could easily have
been destroyed before the crop was
planted, but are difficult to get rid of
after the crop is up, and if done at
all it must be accomplished at much
greater expense than would have
been necessary before the crop was
planted.
Use the harrows, use them thor
oughly and frequently before the
crop is planted, and then use them
some more.
We have just one more word on
this subject, Mr.. Good Farmer. Can
you not, by little friendly advice,
induce your neighbor, who has not
done so in the past, to use the har-
row as much as you have found it
profitable to use it, and then insist
on his using it still little more?-
Progressive Farmer.