28 GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS 



together so as to restore capillary action and the 

 stirred soil would be moistened from the subsoil be- 

 low, and seed would be much more likely to ger- 

 minate promptly. The compacting of the surface, 

 however, favors evaporation, and the danger now 

 is, if the drought continues, that the reserve mois- 

 ture of the subsoil will be all pumped up and 

 evaporated so that the young plantlets will suffer. 

 To avoid this trouble it is usually best, when it is 

 found necessary to use the roller, to follow this 

 implement with the smoothing harrow to break up 

 the compacted surface and restore a dust mulch. 

 Of course plowed land should never be rolled when 

 it is wet. Grass land is sometimes rolled when quite 

 wet in the early spring to settle plants into the 

 ground tliat have been lifted by freezing or to 

 bury small stones out of the way of the mowing 

 machine. 



A plank drag, or leveler, is sometimes used after 

 harrowing instead of the roller. This crushes clods 

 and fines and levels the surface even better than 



A Plank Drag. 



'&• 



the roller and leaves it in nice condition for a seed 

 bed. On most soils it is preferable to the roller. It 

 is an inexpensive implement that can be made by any 

 farmer out of a few pieces of two-inch plank. 



Furrowing or Bedding. — The soil being now pre- 



