The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1914-04-10
Tha Seed Bed.

Culture Dept, Deere & Co., Moline,
illinois.
Primarily I want to impress upon
the mind of the farmer the fact that
good farming involves at least four
essential features all of equal impor-
lance and all interdopendont, and a
neglect of any onb of them will be
sooner or later reflected in the pro-
ducts Of the farm. The four STEPS or
operations are as follows:
% The seed bed.
CD The fertility which involves the
necessity of stock raising.
CD Seed selection and breeding.
"a Cultivation and crop manage
ment.
We Will first consIlcr the seed
bed how It should be made and what
1t should contain.
The seed-bed is the home of the
plant. From the sccd beds the plants
receive their essential requirements,
namely, food, air, water and warmth.
Plant Requirements:-Plant require
ments, like those OF animals, arc eX-
acting. The laws OF life and develop
ment of the plant permit Of no re-
peal, nor will they tolerate radical in
reference. Plants, like animals, may
subsist on q starvation diet and in
an unsanitary environment, but I'M
dc such conditions the growth and
production is Improbable. The best
results are obtained only when ma
lures laws are observed and quanti-
ty and quality of everything that en-
ters into the growth of either the
plant or the animal are provG-d.
Air:-Plants require air, and it
should not only be accessible to the
stalk, branches and leaves but 1t
Is absolutely necessary that a suf-
ficient amount be in the setubed
within reach of the plants and roots.
Nature lavishly supplies the plant
with an abundance of atmospheric
oxygen and carbon above the ground,
but It devolves upon man to so make
and maintain the seed boa that the
parts of the plant below the surface
will also have an abundance of free
oxygen.
Soil is composed of crystals and
particles of disintegrated rock con-
tanning chemical elements. The ir-
regular surfaces of the particles do
not permit them to come in close
contact with each other. The inter-
vening spaces are equal in volume to
the particles of soil. that is, approx
imately fifty per cent of the volume
of the average soil is air spaces.
These spaces are intended for the cir
culation Of air and the passage Of
minute roots oxygen enters the soil
in various ways and is utilized by
the plant roots, and through the
same air spaces carbonic acid gas
and other noxious gases pass out.
II from any cause the ground is seal
ed up. II the air spaces are clogged
either by water or silt, the plant suf-
fers from two things. manly, auto
caused by the presence
Of poisonous gases and smothering |
ensues, on account of the absence
Of atmospheric oxygen. Pants in this
respect are not unlike animals, for
Il a man or an animal Is placed in
! closed room where noxious eXhal-
atoms are breathed and fresh air is
not admitted, the man or animal per-
shes. Common reasoning should teach
is how to rectify the condition, but |
90 often we do not reason; we are
content to blame natures elements
Dr. attribute the deficient harvest to
ack of fertility OF the soil.
Too much water in the seed bed |
nay be the cause. The water line
)r sheet water may be 50 near the |
surface that the surface soil is con-
SANITY surcharsed with water, or a
lard pan may exist preventing the |
of water to the deeper
thereby holding It in the
seed bed. In either case the surface
water shoutl be removed.
Drainage: -Drain tile is a most Ell
'ectual remedy. II, however, the tex
.ure OF the soil is OF such a nature
hat free subsurface flow is per-
nitted, ditching will serve the pur-
pose as we'll as tile. The benefits OF
lie drainage are:
% The removal of surface water
between the plane of the tile and
The surface of the ground.
(2) Physical improvements of the
soil. rendering 1t porous and mellow.
CD The admission Of atmospheric
oxygen and carrying off heavy noxi-
ous gases.
"a Rendering the soil several de-
grees warmer than undrained ground.
90 Increasing the water absorbing