Yerington times. [volume] (Yerington, Nev.) 1907-1932, 1917-05-19


today. Their successful handling
means to the people the necessities
of life, and they demand training
as. great as any business or science
In fact, the raising OF our food stuff.
! is science. and the marketing of the
same is business, a science and a
business to which the best minds Of
the nation are directing their atten-
ton.
Modern methods and systems have
contributed and will contribute won
derful things to the farmers. Ne
cessity is the mother of invention,
and in a time like the present crisis
when the world faces food shortage
many new methods and aids to the
farmer will be forthcoming. How
ever. the farmer who will make the
best of the newer ideas will not lose
sight of the older principles that com
mon sense and experience have taught
him.
1t will be our aim from time to time
to give our readers through this de
partment any new methods or aids
which we may be able to secure.
A noted firm authority writing fol-
one OF the leading agricultural papers
saws: "a clod contributes nothing tc
plant growth so long as it remains
clod. for the simple reason that
plant roots cannot penetrate it. These
clods allow too free access OF ali
and the land dries out. Hence, the
man who allows his land to get cloddy
through bad cultivation invites a crof
| failure, which will not wait for a
second invitation"
The United States Department OF
Agriculture in Bulletin No. 64O says
1T matters little whether soil is fer
tile or not, if the fertility is bound
| up in clods or Jumps, out OF reach Of
the young rootlets" Early blowing
thorough working and compacting oil
soil will eliminate the humps and clods
make a finely pulverized, compact
moisture-c seed bed from
which the rootlets will begin to draw
nourishment as soon as they are SEM
out. No good healthy root system
can be established in field that /:
not finely pulverized.
| Roots need fine soil III order tina
they may find their way through
lastly. but that is not the only reason
Going back to our common sense lin
Of reasoning, roots get plant food fror
| ,oil and in order to get this food the
must come in contact with the sol
As a matter of fact the scientist woul
| cell us that each particle OF soil
dated with water, and in this sc
called soil water" the plant foods ar
dissolved. The more of these part
les of soil that there are touching tn
|
water the plant can take up. If lump
are coarse the roots Cannot come /
contact with so many OF them, an
will not be so closely surrounded b
The soil particles.
In coarse and lumpy ground, per
haps half the length of the root wi
be wasted 20 far as feeding the plan
IS concerned
Mgaking a Fine. Firm Seed Bed.
To secure soil OF the proper textur
md fneness, we must begin with TIL
blowing Much depends OH doing thi
correctly, for instance certain clay
when plowed wet will pudle, and be
,ome 50 hard and lumpy that M
mount of work can get them in shap
for planting in one season. The cor
rect time for blowing and the man
ner in which it is to be done is a stud,
itself 1t depends upon the terri
tory, upon the soils, the nature of tn,
.rops, and many other conditions.
Once the field is properly ploweC
he work OF obtaining a fine seed bee
is well begun. For years the accepted
method has been to follow the pillow
With harrow. This is a good i'm
element as far as it goes, but it doe
not go far enough The best it Cal
10 is to scratch the surface to deptl
Of three or four inches. and on some
soil it will pulverie the humps very
fine to this depth The farmer real
les that it does not work deep enough
and often adds rails, stones or other
Weights to make it cut deeper
| The spring tooth harrow is in some
ways better implement, 1t pulver
ICES the top and also digs deep down
and brings up Jumps from the bottom
of the bed The truth is, however
that no implement which cuts or drags