36 Progressive Agriculture 



two and a half inches deep as conditions will 

 permit and all possible effort put forth to leave it 

 reasonably coarse. Another important thing is, 

 do not let the weeds grow. A few weeds will 

 make several bushels difference in the yield. If 

 weeds persist in growing, it is an indication of a 

 good seed bed and that plant food is being in- 

 creased, therefore, get busy, for the more the weeds 

 take of this the less you will have for the crop. 

 Then if the weeds get any size they will not only 

 utilize plant food but deplete the moisture to 

 such a degree as to check bacterial or chemical 

 action. Watch these points closely. A little 

 timely work prevents all these unfavorable con- 

 ditions and means many more bushels of grain. 

 While it is true that early June plowing followed 

 by persistent work to get the lower portion of the 

 furrow fine and firm will tend to more weed growth, 

 yet if the weeds are kept down andfsoil mulch 

 loose to a depth of about two and a half inches, a 

 more ideal seed and root bed will be obtained and 

 an increased amount of plant food will be avail- 

 able. This fact leads to an important question 

 which will be more fully discussed later on and 

 that is quantity of seed. Too frequently we find 

 the farmer sowing 20 pounds of fall wheat per acre 

 with little regard to the real soil condition ob- 

 tained. Summer tillage may be so handled that 

 12 to 15 pounds of winter wheat per acre planted 

 reasonably early would stool so liberally that it 

 would have to be disked in the spring to thin it; 

 while a less carefully handled field might be seeded 

 a little later with 25 to 30 pounds of seed and yet 



