344 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ture in case the rains shall fail him. For this reason we have 

 learned in the matter of plowing to do our deep plowing in the 

 early part of the season, so as to give the soil a chance to retain its 

 original density. If w'e plow late in the fall (unless it be for corn), 

 then we plow more shallow, so as not to make too loose a soil for 

 the crop of the following summer. 



For this reason largely we have found by experience that one 

 of the best conditions for a grain crop is to keep the corn field clean 

 — which has already become compact by natural settlement and in- 

 creased by the packing of the tools, teams and men in its culti- 

 vation — and discing the same to the depth of about two or three 

 inches. By this method it is readily seen that we have this compact 

 soil that we have referred to. 



The second fact is that we know to a certainty the great value 

 that there is in some- form of mulch for the surface soil, that shall 

 check evaporation. In some cases, as in the growing of trees, we 

 can use the mulch of straw, hay and other refuse. In place of this 

 we use the earth mulch, or what is sometimes called the dust blan- 

 ket, which is nothing more nor less than keeping the surface soil 

 loosened by continuous cultivation, which destroys the capillary 

 action of the denser soil and prevents the escape of water, because it 

 cannot ascend through this loosened condition of soil. 



What the Campbell packer proposes to do. — With the under- 

 standing now of our conditions of soil and also a clear view of these 

 two facts, which will ever maintain in our best agriculture, w'e can 

 readily see what Mr. Campbell proposed to do with what is termed 

 his subsoil packer. 



First of all, he proposes to restore the density of the soil arti- 

 ficially by putting upon the newly plowed land when it is freshly 

 turned his packer, which is a roller composed of wheels, each wheel 

 having a wedge face, and the wheels closely placed upon an axle, 

 and all put within a frame very like the wooden roller, and the 

 whole weighted down by rocks, which are placed in the box so as to 

 give it a proper weight. We here call attention to what we believe 

 to be sometimes a serious defect on the part of the operator in us- 

 ing a Campbell packer. If one shall fail to do the rolling while the 

 soil is in a moist condition then the work is very inef^ciently done 

 and, we consider, would not be worth the time consumed in pass- 

 ing the roller over the soil. On the other hand, if the packer is 

 used while the soil is moist, immediately after the plowing, it will 

 settle that soil back to a high degree of density, packing it not upon 

 the surface alone, indeed leaving that in somewhat of a loose con- 

 dition, but packing it quite firmly from the bottom of the furrow 



