Progressive Agriculture 31 



of water more vital than during the early spring 

 winds and bright sunshine. That is why the 

 early use of the disk is so very important. 



In case the farmer is planning to plant corn with 

 a lister months later, plowing is not desirable and 

 this early disking and continued spring tillage, 

 until soil is warm, is vital to large yields and 

 certainty of a profitable crop. One careful trial 

 will convince. If, however, the farmer expects to 

 plow the ground for oats, potatoes, checkrowed 

 corn, feterita, sudan grass, hog millet or any other 

 crop, the early disking is of great importance. 

 In fact, without this early disking followed with 

 later timely spring tillage to keep the surface 

 loose and prevent the loss of water and the weeds 

 growing, the soil will deteriorate before planting 

 time, and its available water and plant food will 

 be less. This would mean that the crop would be 

 smaller no matter what the season may be, but 

 very much less, or a possible failure, in a drouthy 

 year. 



Early and continued spring tillage not only con- 

 serves the moisture, but aids in warming the soil. 

 As previously stated, every act of preparation of 

 the soil, disking, plowing, packing and surface 

 cultivation, should be done with a full under- 

 standing of its purpose or object. The entire 

 work must be done to improve the soil condition 

 with special effort to obtain the fine firm seed and 

 root bed with loose coarse mulch. All stages of 

 this work if done, so far as possible, at a time 

 when the soil is moist, will then be more suscept- 

 ible to the desired effect of the implement used. 



