308 Missouri Agricultural Report. 



once or twice, and then plowing. By disking the soil is kept in ideal 

 condition to take in the water. 



Q. You seem to recognize the idea that it is advisable to disk 

 before plowing. I would like to ask the question, would you use a 

 large disc or a small one? 



A. I am a little undecided in regard to that. We use a medium 

 sized disc in preference to a larger one — something like fourteen 

 inches, I think. The smaller disc will certainly do more pulverizing. 



Q. Do you think a small disc goes sufficiently deep? 



A. I think so. The 14-inch disc would go sufficiently deep. 

 The third method of preparing the seed-bed for wheat is the listing 

 method. When a farmer farms so much land ihat he can not plow it 

 all each year, he starts a lister after harvest and lists out the 

 ground. There are two ways in which to finish the seed-bed. One 

 is to list again, splitting the ridges and leveling the ground with 

 the disk and harrow. The other is to work the soil back into the 

 furrow with the disk and harrow without any more listing. 

 Usually the farmer has time to list only once, disk once or twice and 

 harrow once or twice. By that time he has worked the soil back into 

 the furrows and has leveled the seed-bed. This is an ideal way to 

 catch and store the rain. The furrows take the water right into the 

 subsoil, where it belongs, and the after cultivation covers it up with 

 a mellow soil mulch which prevents loss by evaporation. I believe 

 this listing method is a good plan in Central and Western Kansas, 

 but in Missouri plowing would perhaps be preferable. 



Q. Would you do the listing as soon after the harvest as you 

 could? I presume you list your furrows as close together as for 

 corn rows. If you list twice, how long would you wait before you 

 list the second time? 



A. I would advise to list again at once as soon as the first list- 

 ing is finished. The difficulty is to get the soil settled by listing 

 twice, and it is not commonly practiced. 



Q. Would it not be advisable to disc after the first listing and 

 then list again ? 



A. Yes, that should put the soil in a more pulverized con- 

 dition. 



Q. There is a question I had in mind in my first question 

 which has not been brought out, and perhaps T did not make it plain 

 enough. You seem to gather that I had in mind the idea of a seed- 

 bed for wheat. I had in mind a seed-bed for corn. We often find 

 litter on the ground, which we plow under. My idea is that the 

 farmer raises nothing to burn, and what is on top should go under. 



