Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1912-04-12
sPBIlSaTndE so1IrrnI.AaEi

SPHINGT14E SO1IrT1llsAGE
In large portion Of Minnesota, the
latter part Of March or the early part
|of April witnesses the beginning Of
those operations in soil-tillage which
are SO largely to determine the quail
ity and amount of the crops grown.
Good tillage must provide home for
good seed, in a soil well-pulverized and
enriched and freed from weeds, if,
later on, the greatest reward is to come
to the tiller. ~. F..
The. study. of so-called "dry farm
ing,' as we'll as Of irrigation processes,
has during recent years brought about
considerable notifications of the ideas
formerly dominant in relation to the
tilage. While no less Importance is at.
tached to the breaking up Of the soil
and reducing it to such sttilth' as
shall facilitate the absorption of plant.
food by the growing crop, and while
the destruction Of weeds remain one of
the important objects of tillage, more
emphasis is today laid upon such q
treatment Of the land as shall best con-
serve the supply Of moisture, hinder
evaporation, and keep "the watery
gifts of the skies' in the soil until
they shall have been fully utilized in
reproduction.
It is established that this latter end
will be most effectively served by the
use, in the spring, Of the disk and har.
row on fall-plowed land, to pulverize
the surface and thus break the contin-
uity Of contact, among the soil.parti-
cles, which promotes the capillary as
cent and evaporation Of moisture. A
fnely-divided surface not only affords
a good seed-bed, but, as a protective
mulch, it conserves the water-supply.
And as DR.. MCGEE, the hydrographer
Of the Reclamation Service, declares
in a recent article it is really upon
the adequacy Of the water-supply,
rather than upon the quality Of the
land, that success in agriculture de-
ponds. He shows that we have in Am
erica enough cultivable land to sup
port two billions Of people; but the wa
ter-supply is sufficient only for one bill
lion; so the latter figure is set as the
limit of population which can be sup
ported on our continental domain.
Spring plowed- it is not to
have, so largely as fall-plowed, the
benefit Of winters saturations and
I1COA1uSo duu Cud Wigs SAOulu Ue
even more thoroughly worked. AS
the furrow-slice is otherwise likely to
dry and harden in the sun and air,
each days blowing should be narrowed
as soon as done. If, after this, one
disking will give you a fairly good
seed-bed, two or three diskings, with
alternate borrowings, will assuredly
give you a better one, with fewer
weeds to steal away fertility, and with
a practical certainty Of larger crop.
If disking can be preceded by sub-sur-
face packing, for the purpose Of firm
ing the lower part Of the furrow-slice
and uniting it with the subsoil, and adj
ditional means is provided for the re-
tention of moisture, and an insurance
against the effect of droughts.
The depth of blowing should be va
ried from year to year, to avoid the
formation Of hard, compact layer Of
subsoil such as will attend continual
blowing at uniform depth. Heavy
soils should be plowed deeper than
light ones. In most Minnesota soils,
seven inches is considered "deep. &C.
R. Barns, Extension Division, College
Of Agriculture.