386 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



soluble plant food is downward, and one of onr purposes is to bring 

 it back, ae well as to loosen the soil and so aerate it and reduce the 

 potential to available food with the action of oxygen. Thus the 

 vital process of nitrification is promoted and the table spread for 

 the hungr}' rootlets of the young plant. 



6. The last purpose I will name is to facilitate future tillage. A 

 hurried and imperfect preparation not only cheats the plant of its 

 food, but cheats us of our time. Too often it is thought a sulTflcient 

 preijaratiou consists in making it barely possible to introduce the 

 seed, and that the main work of preparing the soil for the plant is to 

 be done with subsequent tillage. No mistake could be more fatal, 

 since in case of the smaller cereals there can be no subsequent til- 

 lage; and in the case of inter-cultured crops the greater need of well 

 prepared soil i® felt while the plant is in its feeblest stage, and be- 

 fore further tillage can well begin. Besides, it is far easier to put 

 the soil in good mechanical condition before there are tender plants 

 in the way than it is to do that work afterward. 



Keeping each of these purposes steadily in view, we next study the 

 means by which w^e can best accomplish them. 



1. I name plowing as the chief means. I expect proper plowing 

 to accomplish three-fourths of the preparations of the seed-bed. This 

 first and vital operation is so laborious and expensive that it should 

 be made to yield the greatest possible results. I have no time to 

 give it the attention it derserves, but must content myself with 

 briefly sketching a few of the more important points. 



To eifectively reach our first purpose — the proper disposition of 

 weeds, the jointer is an indispensable adjunct to the plow. Its shape 

 and setting are important. Too many jointers are too narrow and 

 stand too nearly perpendicular, simply cutting a narrow groove in 

 the ground; and if set deep enough to sufticiently denude the upper 

 edge of the furrow slice, it throws so much earth' behind the slice as 

 t( cause it to fall back. It should be broader, in form more nearly 

 that of the plow itself, so that one-third of the furrow slice may be 

 denuded of its surface without throwing over sutficient earth to 

 prevent the furrow slice from maintaining its place. Thus formed 

 and set, trash and weeds are thrown to the bottom of the furrow 

 where they will decay, instead of growing from between the furrow 

 slices and be out of the way of tillage implements; while the upper 

 edge of the slice will be bare and more easily pulverized in subse- 

 quent operations. 



2. Another very important matter looking to the pulverization of 

 the soil, is the form of the plow itself. While the long, wedge-shaped 

 plow, once in so much favor, is of slightly easier draft, its flat, un- 

 broken furrow slice is pulverized with comparatively great difficulty. 



