The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1922-03-17
SUMNER TIILAGE
IN MONTANA
BY CLYDE MCKEE, Agronomist

IudIIuTc Is JUST UcAVlc pioWAuS IoiN
that is to be summer titled, provided
the manure is we'll rotted.
Should land be worked Immediately
after the plow? If blowing is done
in the fall the land should be left
, rough until spring as the rough sur
face will hold more snow and there is
less danger of blowing. If plowed in
the spring and the land is moist, har-
rowing is advised as this will prevent
baking and the formation of large
Jumps. If the stubble soil %pulverizes
readily and is in good filth as it is
plowed, packing Immediately is I'M
necessary as the rain and subsequent
work during the season will firm the
seed bed sufficiently. Packing is rec
commended only after delayed spring
blowing or where the plowed layer
for any reason does not make salts
factory contact with the subsoil.
Care of Summer Titled Land
After Flowing
How many civilizations should be
given during the summer? Cultiva-
ton has two main purposes: (1) to
maintain a surface that will most eff
fectively absorb the rainfall; (2) to
prevent losses of moisture from the
soil through weed growth and surface
evaporation. Cultivate the fallow suf-
ficiently to kill all weeds. The best
time for this is when they are just
coming through the ground. Clean
ground needs little additional cultiva-
ton except to fill deep cracks in the
surface or to break up a hard crust.
Mort than this will only cause a great
er loss of moisture. Practice timely
cultivation which will kill weeds when
small, before they do much damage,
Maintain a cloddy or granular mulch.
What are the best machines for
summer tillage? Use implements that
will kill weeds and maintain a mulch.
The spike-tooth harrow is satisfactory
on clean soils where there is no drift
ing and before weeds become large.
The objections to the spike-tooth har-
row and the disk, the two implements
most used for the cultivation of plow-
ed land, are a. that they have a pull
verifying eject which destroys rather
than maintains the clod mulch, and
(2) they are not efficient in the elm
ination and control of weeds. Shallow
working implements that will kill
weeds and at the same time shift the
clods and rubbish to the surface, al
lowing the finer soil to settle into a
firm seed-bed, are recommended for
average conditions. Such implements
are the duck-foot, rod, and knife weed
ers, the spring-tooth harrow, and ver-
ious types of homemade cultivators.
TO prepare summer-tilled land for
winter, leave the soil rough and ridged
to hold snow and lessen soil blowing.
A few deep burrows plowed fifteen to
twenty rods apart at right angles to
tn prevailing winds will usually con-
troll soil blowing.
Seeding the Crop.
In preparing summer-tilled land for
spring seeding, if weeds have started,
cultivate with a weed-killing imple-
ment as early as possible, following
this with a narrowing. This will make
it possible to sow IN a clean seed-bed
and get the grain started ahead of the
weds. Seeding should Immediately fol-
low cultivation.
Seeding experiments with spring
August l to September Is has given
good yields at the Judith Basin SUBJ
station. Wheat seeded after Septem-
Der 20 is likely to get a poor start in
the fall and may winter-kill.
Seeding experiments with spring
uraipos ch01uc tho+ Tho Ln,@ ,:a1l. -,z
obtained from early seeding. Seed as
early as the land can be prepared.
Early seeding may not always give
the largest yields but for average con-
ditions it is decidedly the safest prac-
tice.
The rate of seeding will vary with
the locality, preparation Of seed-bed,
the vitality of seed and variety used.
notwithstanding tests with various
small grains on summer-fallowed
ground were continued for six years at
the Judith Basin substation. With win
ter wheat there was very little differ
ence between the 3-peck and 4-peck
rate. Three pecks per acre is the
quantity generally used in the Judith
Basin and is the one used in all of the
varietal tests with winter wheat at
the substation. In case of spring
grains the following rates of seeding
are found to give the highest returns
spring wheat, 4 pecks; early oats, 4
pecks; late oats, 5 pecks; barley, S
pecks. These recommendations are
further supported by the results OBJ
tanned at experiment stations in other
parts of the Great Plains where soil
and climatic conditions are similar to
those of the dry farm areas of Mon