The Hope pioneer., 1922-04-27
SEED BED MUST Be.
MELLOW and FIRM

The soil, the rain, and the sunshine
take about 80 to 100 days to do their
job of maturing crop of spring wheat
in North Dakota. Anything that the
grower is going to do to lessen that
amount Of time required, or to make
more certain his crop must be done
before the first days work with the
drill marks one per cent of the time
Nature is going to give to her job.
Mans contribution to the certainty Of
grain crop practically ends with
seeding; he must do his part before,
or just after this critical time.
Our willing silent partners, the soil,
the rain, and the sunshine will do
their share if we make our contribu
tion at the right time, and in the right
way. These silent partners ask that
the active member of the firm, the seed
wheat, start its adventure in comfort
able surroundings, in short, in a good
seel bed. And what is good seed
bed? Only he who has actually
handled the soil knows that peculiar
combination of mellowness and firm
ness in which good seed delights
(poor seed doesn't have the capacity
to enjoy good seed bed). The good
seed asks for mellowness so that air
can get in, so that root can go down,
and SO that shoot can come up. But in
the same breath, this good seed insists
upon a firm seed bed so that the seed
and the young plant may quickly es-
tablish close and very neighborly rela-
tiOns with the plant food and the water
which surrounds each tiny soil grain
as film. The sprOuting seed and the
young seeding have very little oppor.
tunity to go after water, or anything
else-the soil must bring it to them
and the soil can only il, this when it is
pressed firmly but gently about them.
Pack the Seed Bed.
/ The disc harrow is the first tool
thought of in preparing seed beds, and
we use it too much. Where the disc
| harrow has to patch up a poor job of
| plowing by cutting up and burying
trash; where it has to bump over
weedy corn stubble land, it is not go
ing to do it's part The disc harrow is
a pulverizing machine; it is not a
I pIow; and it is not the best sort Of a
weed eradicator. Whenever the disc
/ harrow is compelled to do too much,
the seed bed is usually made too deep,
and if the field is trash Uttered. it will
do this job very evenly. Such seed
| beds need firming before seeding, so
that there Will be uniform depth of
seeding. On land free from trash,
where the drill seeds to an even depth,
and on land not inclined to blow, firm
Ing after seeding is good practice.
. If no other implement is available
after firming before seeding, the disc
harrow, set straight, will help nightly.
All deep plowing, and all spring plow-
Ing require fir1ning. Sprng-plowed
light lands may be firred after seeding
provided the surface is left fairly
rough. Smooth packers. or rollers,
leave light lands too smooth. On such
lands, the press drill used after the
packer will roughen the surface and
yet insure close packing Of the soil i'm
mediately about the seed.
Why all this insistence upon better
seed beds? Three reasons stand out.
A properly prepared seed bed insures
(1). Freedom from weed competi.
tion in the early days Of growth.
(2) Uniformity Of stand.
CD Earlier emergence, and better
foOthold, both of which tend to shorten
the time required for maturity.