The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1920-10-01

TALL. In any case, Iall cultivation in
duces a greater spring termination
and enables US to kill the young plants
by subsequent cultivation.
1t is regrettable that in dry falls
the seed of the annual weeds can be
started only with difficulty; but BIZ
ennial weeds can be completely con-
trolled through surface cultivation.
The perennial plants are serious pests
in many stubble fields. They spread
not only by seeds but by under ground
creeping root stocks. These weeds can
not be controlled by burning, discing
or other surface cultivation. Example.
Canada thistle, SOW thistle and fan
weed.
The Seed Bed
A good seed bed is one that provides
the conditions necessary for germina-
ton, heat, air and moisture in optimum
amounts, at the right depth at the
time the seed is soWn. Too often the
surface of our fields is to hard to get
the seed into or too dry to cause ger
mination or covered with stubble
through which the drill cannot salts
factory force the seed. The surface
soil can be made more mellow by sur
face cultivation or by ploughing; the
moisture content can be more or less
controlled by the same means.
Importance of Available Plant Food
All of the plant food in a soil can
not be drawn upon by the growing
crop. Since plants "drink" their food
it is clear that only that portion of the
fertilizing constituents in the soil that
becomes soluble car be used by them.
1t is a wise possession of nature that
only a very small proportion of the
total plant food in a soil becomes
available or soluble in a year, other
wise the present holders of land
would quickly dissipate it's stores of
wealth and succeeding generations
would starve. The agencies causing the
breaking down of plant food consti-
tuents in the soil are more or less dor
mant during our dry falls and long
winters, with the result that the
amount of available plant food in old
fields is relatively small Under our
climate conditions the quantity is in
creased-and with it the yields of
crops-by any form of tillage that
does not waste soil moisture. The more
available plant food there is in a
soil the less moisture is required to
produce a bushel of wheat. In old
fields the amount of moisture is very
low at best and we cannot increase the
supply materially. But we can make
better use of what we have by giving
it opportunity to carry into the plant
a more dense solution, a larger load,
a righer "soil soup"
The straw of a cereal crop is made
up of elements derived by the plant
from soil and air. If stubble or straw
is burned the most valuable fertil-
ling element secured from the soil,
viz. nitrogen, passes off into the air.
The burning of straw dissipates or
ganic matter, the constituent that
helps to keep the soil from blowing,
the one that increases the water hold
ing capacity of the soil and at the
same time makes it easier to work.
The amount of this constituent in de-
cayed form in a soil is the greatest
single index to it's fertility.
Subsoil Moisture Must be Kept Avail
able to Plant Roots
Moisture and plant food are both
necessary for crop growth. The former
is often found in relative large guam
titles in the subsoil, from which area
it may rise to the plant roots by cap
illarity. But frequently in our tillage
operations we create a condition where
the subsoil moisture does not rise fast
enough to meet the needs of the crop
above in which case lower yields re-
suit. Such a condition is produced
when the furrow slice of ploughed
land is not pressed firmly against the
subsoil. Moisture will not rise salts
factorily through a layer of lumpy or
loose soil, or worse still, through an
air space or Russian thistles and weeds
The chief reason why fall ploughing
results in poor yields is the cutting
off the subsoil moisture. By spring
time all weeds have blown away and
the furrow slice car be pressed firmly
against the subsoil.
The place to use the disc is before
blowing; it mixes the stubble with the
soil and pulverizes the soil so that the
furrow slice can be packed against the
subsoil. With limited rain fall it is
not advisable to pillow under too much
trash, as weeds and stubble. 1t SER
iously interferes with the upward
movement of soil moisture from the
subsoil; thus lessening the yield. Clean
L