The Falls City tribune., 1911-07-14
FREQUENCY OF CULTIVATION

tors going IN the corniields in
order to gel over them At least
once a week. Is Tins good adj
vice. Is II necessary II cover
the ground so often if no rain
intervenes To answer these
questions it Is necessary 10 I'M
derstand why W cultivate then
our reasoning powers should be
called into action To determine
when and how often the corn
needs to be cultivated.
In the first place We cultivate
to kill weeds. In spite Of all that
has been SAID and written about
soil mnlches ia recent years, It
must be admitted that weed kill
ing is the greatest object of eul-
tiyation for growing crops. Al
low weeds toy ROY IN a eornfield
unchecked, and IN the best of
seasons the yield of corn will be
nothing. Keep the weeds down
by scraping them off at the sur
face Of the ground, and even
though not much be kept on the
top of the soil. if the season is
favorable a very good crop will
result. Weeds are the greatest
MASTERS of soil moisture with
which we have to contend they
are yeritabIe pumps through
which the sta and wind dry out
the soil at a terrific rate.
The second reason for cultlya-
ton, and one that would be put
first by many men, is to con
serve moisture. But do you
know that n crust of dry soil,
such as is formed on western
plains very soon after a rain, is
almost as effective against al
lowing deeper seated moisture to
escape as a muleh9 WI know
from observation that when soil
becomes very dry water does not
pass into it readily. Thus after
a light shower we find the line
between wet aud dry earth very
definite andd marked. The rea-
son for this is that the dry soil
is so dry that it does not at
tract moisture by capillary at
traction.
IL after a heavy rain the sur
face of the soil can be dried out
rapidly, the layer of dry soil will
act as a check to the escape of
soil moisture whether it be loose
or hard. SO far as holding mois-
ture is concerned the important
thing accomplished by cultivating
after a rain is to hasten the dry
ing ont of a protective surface
layer. But to hold moisture the
hard dry layer is quite as effec-
tive as the soft dry layer. The
effectiveness of a covering of the
soil to prevent the escape of
moisture depends more upon is
dryness, ard consequent lack OF
capillary attraction for water,
than upon its l%ooseness.
But while a layer of hard dry
earth is as effective against eva
poration of water from the soil
us a layer of soft dry earth,
yet it is not as good for the
crops, for the reason that it does
not permit Of adequate soil ven
tiiation. Within the soil, process
SEES OF decay are taking place
that prepare plant food for the
use of plants. This cannot pro
weed without the admission of
air, and air cannot circulate free
" enough through a hard crust.
The. efore, we cultivate to ven
tilate the soil, as well as to has
ten the drying out of IA layer of
surface soil to act as a mulch.
"a tiYation TO ventilate the soil is
probably as important, or even
more so, as to check evaporation.
ANVN, dlAtl w navy II III 10y
er of soil over our fields to pre-
vent the escape of moisture, and
having no surface crust to break
mp, does it do an Y good TO drag
any kind of an implement
through this mulch to stir it upg
Ia other words if we have as
deep a mulch on our cornfields
as, can be placed there without in
mring the corn roots, and weeds
are not growing, does that field
need stirring until rain comes
again to destroy the muleh2 Rea-
son indicates that il does not.
BY r%e-stirring the already loose
earth we cannot bring moisture
from below as some suppose nei-
Their can we make the mulch we
have any more effective.
AT the Nebraska Experiment
Station two years ago, plats of
corn were cultivated throughout