The Ordway new era., 1914-12-04
PREPARING SEED BED
Get Rid Of Numerous Ar Spaoes
by Firming Soil.
Efseetive Work should Be Done Jvse
After Flowing. usins Either eus-
surface Packer or Disk Sst
straight and Weighted.

the seed bed on dry land are In
vogue-one by plowing, the other ~
disking. We occasionally nnd other
methods, such a. listing. but not com
monty. Far more often we hnd seed
bed with absolutely NO preparation
at all and this Is surely not good
farming where deep tillage ID 20 e.
sential. In preparing the seed BED
with the plow we must consider the
depth and the time to plow. Ths
depth OF plowing depends on the typo
Of soil, the previous tillage. the crop
to be grown, the time the plowing -
done, the amount Of water In the soil
and the prevailing climatic conditions
When done shortly before seeding, es-
pecially in our dry regions, the piow-
ing should be shallow, unless the fur
row slice is sufficiently moist to per
init Of packing and plenty Of help 10
available to pack the furrow slice.
From observations during two ex-
tremely dry years would say that
more crops are lost from q loose,
poorly prepared seed bed than from
lack of cultivation. 1t Is abso-
lutely essential In dry land that the
seed bed be firm. A loose seed bed
dries out unless opportune rains keep
1t moist. II 1t dries the crop suffers
and the younger the crop and the
deeper the loose seed bed extends the
greater the extent of injury. When
ever the soil is plowed, numerous air
spaces are found in the furrow slice.
where clods, weeds or litter are
turned under, writes w. w. Burr in
Denver Field and Farm. We must
get rid of these air spaces by nrming
the soil, for otherwise the movement
Of air through these larger open
spaces will very rapidly dry out the
soil
Aside from the larger open spaces
the soil particles falling from the plow
are not set close together. They have
comparatively few points Of contact
Thus the movement Of water from
one to the other is slow while the
passage Of the air through the soil II
much greater than when the soil has
been firmed and as a consequence tho
ground dries out more quickly. This
is Of vital Importance. II any crop 10
sown on seed bed prepared only BY
the plow and harrow. there may be
sufficient water In the upper part Of
the soil-where the particles have
been brought quite closely together
BY harrowing-to germinAte the seed.
But the harrow stirs only two or
three inches Of soil. Az soon ~ tho
crop has used the moisture In these
few inches It will suffer unless oppor-
tune rains come to supply II with
water until its roots can get through
the loose layer below. II light rains
keep the upper few inches moist, the
roots will probably tend to stay near.
er the surface rather than push
through the loose soil. The time to
arm the furrow slice II Just after the
blowing il done. n the surface h al
lowed to dry out II cannot be packed.
II there is sum cient moisture to plow
we'll there viii be enough to pack.
The firming may ,be done with either
. subsurface packer or q disk set
STIR Sht and weighted. This frming
Of the soil to get rid Of air spaces anA
bring the particles in closer contact
II more essential on soils that have .
tendency to become loose and aShy
and in regions of scant rainfall. Heaw
Ter soils settle more readily than the
lighter ones. In regions Of greater
rainfall. the rain falling upon thu
plowed surface beats the particles
more closely together and washes tho
finer particles down into the open
spaces and the soil may not need mo
chanical firming.