646 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE Off. Doc. 



the ^icatcr i)ai'l of the water, riacc (wo such si)Oiiges in a saiicei' 

 with a little water and tlie water will rise very rapidly in the one 

 and very slowly in the other. So it is with soils. It is fortunate that 

 the same conditions that enable a soil to absorb water also enable.-^ 

 it to draw water by capillary action from the lower depths, and yet 

 prevents its evaporation. And this condition and action are best 

 maintained by constant, long-continued, shallow^ level tillage; level, 

 because that produces the least surface for evaporation. In 1870, at 

 La Prairie, Illinois, copious spring rains ceased on April G, and not 

 an inch of rain fell until July 12. Many farmers quit'w^orking their 

 corn. Their fields were clear of weeds, and had a good dust mulch. 

 Calvin Stowell, the farmer with whom I boarded, kept the plows 

 going, cultivating his ninety acres at least once a week, and always 

 turning up a little moisture. One of his neighbors said: "Stowell 

 turns up a little moisture and that dries out; then he turns up a lit- 

 tle more, and that dri(^s out, and soon it will all be gone." But afttjr 

 awhile he saw that Stow^ell's corn was growing finely and his corn 

 was standing still, so he started the plows again. But it was too 

 late. He had lost hold on the little ropes, the capillary, by which 

 water is drawn up from the subsoil, and from the earth's deep weP ?. 

 In July, Mr. Stowell dug a stock well in a lot close to the corn field 

 fence, and, although on lower ground, the workmen w'ent down four 

 feet before they found a trace of moisture. Within ten feet of the 

 W'ell the plows were still turning it up at three inches. To keep up 

 the capillary action by which water rises to the roots of plants and 

 to prevent its evaporation, are important matters to the farmer. In 

 the great corn belt, cultivation of corn is kept up until the corn is 

 as high as the horses. Experience has shown that the increased 

 yield of wheat from spring cultivation does not pay for the labor. 

 In good land there is rarely a lack here of moisture to perfect a crop 

 of winter wheat. And, as the cultivation of grass is impracticable, 

 whajtever is done to conserve moisture for these crops must be done 

 largely before the crop is sown. If the soil is cloddy, is full of air- 

 holes, and is not continuously mellow and fine clear down to the 

 subsoil, the capillary action will not be perfect. For this reason 

 onr best winter wheat growers advocate early plowing and the fre- 

 quent use of the harrow and roller up to the time olf sow-ing. As 

 in the cultivation of corn, the ground should be stirred after every 

 rain to prevent evaporation. 



In spring plowing for corn our best farmers plow sod but four or 

 five inches deep. The harrow and roller will make the shallow- 

 furrow continuously fine. Deeper plowing requires deeper harrow- 

 ing, and in the case of stiff sod there will still be holes which will 

 draw off the water and prevent its return. The chief objection t(; 

 fall plowing for corn is that the winter so impacts the soil that the 

 spring rains flow over the surface, 



"Tearing a water-course down to the sea, 

 In the land of the brave, and the home of the free," 



while sod plowed in spring absorbs the water or lets it pass down 

 between the upturned sod and the subsoil. 



The treatment of grass land, a difficult matter, is a question >f 

 years and not of a single season. The soil should be so full of humue 



