The Kenna record. (Kenna, Roosevelt County, N.M.) 190?-1924, 1912-07-19
FLOWING ON DRY FARM
Prepares Seeded by Cleaning
Land and Admitting Air.
Depth Depends In Part on Nature Of
Soll-Doubtful It Deep Work In
ereases Yield In Proportion
to the Expense.

Deep, thorough blowing minimizes
| supplementary cultivation and aug
ments the yield; poor, shallow plow-
ing augments supplementary cultiva-
ton and minimizes the yield. If the
purposes of stirring the soil were bet
ter understood, less diversity OF opin-
ion as to how it should be done would
exist. Flowing prepares the seeded
by cleaning the land and admitting
air, warmth and moisture into the soil.
This accelerates certain physical and
chemical changes which are conducive
to plant growth. In dry farming the
admission of water into the soil is
paramount.
Now a thinly plowed slice will not
hold as much water as deeply
plowed one.y Hence, much Of the rain
that falls on shallowly plowed land Is
lost to evaporation before it can seek
its course downward into the subsoil.
| Then, too, during the hot summer
months deeply plowed land in good
filth admits OF by far less evaporation
from below than does that which is
shallowly plowed. Add to this the
excellent seed bed afforded the young
plants by deeply stirring the soil and
little remains to be said in favor OF
ehallow blowing.
The depth to pillow depends In part
upon the nature of the soil Most dry
! farm soils, however, are uniform to
great depths and little fear need be
entertained of throwing up lifeless,
inert masses of subsoil. In those few
sections where the latter condition
does obtain, care should be exercised
by gradually increasing the depth Of
the plowed area. Seven or eight-inch
blowing, if honestly done, is deep
blowing. 1t furnishes an ample reser-
voir for the temporary storage of wa
ter; 1t forms a mulch deep enough to
prevent evaporation from below; it
affords a seed bed adequate to the
needs Of the young plant.
After deep blowing the soil should
be given ample time to compact and
settle. The heavy soils tend to pack
quickly. Special care must be given
to sandy soils, since when deeply
plowed, they require considerable
time and work to become firm. If the
necessary preparation cannot be given
them relatively shallow blowing is ad-
visable. This holds especially true In
the case Of spring blowing.
Very deep blowing and subsoiling
as advocated by some may slightly
increase the yield, but it is doubtful If
the increase is proportiOnate to the
added expense. The law of diminish
ing returns applies to farming as well
as to any other activity. Such plow-
ing once in a series Of years would
no doubt be profitable. 1t will be re-
called here, too, that the deep and eX-
tensive root systems Of most dry
farmed crops render a great service
to that part of the soil beyond which
the plowshare cannot reach.
Plow when the land is moist. When
the fall is favorable, 1t is generally
the best time to pillow. Leave the
ground rough during the winter and
work 1t down early IN the spring with
the disk and harrow. Fall blowing
puts the farmer ahead with his work,
releases plant food. leaves the land in
shape to take water, and gives the soil
time to settle.
In areas where the wind blows con
\ >siderably. lifting both the snow and
the soil, 1t is good practice to leave
the stubble over the winter and to
turn it in the spring. It should be re
membered, however. that it is always
more difficult to secure good com
pact seed bed for spring sowing OF
land that Is plowed in the spring thar
on that which is plowed in the fall
In fact. many failure has been due
to planting seed on loose spring