18 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 



standard makes of gang plows on our farms, and the one 

 with the shortest twist is doing the best work. "We cannot 

 see but that it pulls as easy as the others. Since we have 

 never tested out the drafts of different twists of moldboards 

 we will quote from Prof. Roberts as follows: 



"About 35% of the power necessary to plow is used up by 

 the friction due to the weight of the plow, and 55% by the 

 severing of the furrow slice and the friction of the landside. 

 If, after having done nine-tenths of the work, the plow allows 

 the furrow slice to escape without the greatest possible amount 

 of disintegration, great loss is sustained because the bolder 

 and more efficient moldboard may add but two or three per 

 cent to the draft." 



FALL PLOWING 



We cannot recommend fall plowing of ground in Central 

 Illinois, except in the case of heavy sods which require the 

 erosion during the winter months to disintegrate the soil 

 sufficiently to work into a seed bed. Fall plowed ground 

 leaches badly unless plowed very late. Without a cover of 

 any kind, soil will wash during the early spring months, 

 even on land that is considered fairly level. To fall plow hill- 

 sides is to invite the formation of deep gulleys which will soon 

 make the field fit only for pasture land. 



There are, in our opinion, just two good reasons for fall 

 plowing: First, the work is done at the slackest time of the 

 year when both men and teams might otherwise be idle. 

 Secondly, if the plowing is done late, it affords a splendid 

 opportunity to kill cutworms and other insects while they 

 are lying dormant in their winter quarters. During the last 

 five years we have fall plowed about ten per cent of our corn 

 ground and have winter plowed about five per cent. We 

 do not hesitate to plow clover sod in the winter time if the 



