26 ELEMENTS OF FARM PRACTICE 



Arithmetic: 



1. How many gallons of water fall on an acre when there is a 

 rainfall of 1 inch? (Note: There are 43,560 sq. ft. of surface in an 

 acre. There are 231 cu. in. in a gallon.) 



2. If a cubic foot of soil will hold 3 gallons of water by capillarity, 

 how many gallons will an acre of soil to a depth of 2 feet hold? How 

 many inches of rainfall would this represent? 



THE SEED BED 



Yields. — The way in which the seed bed is prepared 

 has much to do with the success of the crop grown. Where 

 farms are large there is a strong tendency to rush through 

 the spring work and get in a large acreage of crops, but often 

 without due preparation of the seed bed. Such hasty work 

 at seeding time is very often the chief cause of a poor harvest. 



A yield of twenty-five bushels of oats per acre leaves 

 the farmer no profit, as it costs as much to raise them as 

 they are worth. A yield of forty bushels per acre leaves 

 considerable margin for profit. Twenty-five acres of oats 

 yielding forty bushels per acre are much more profitable 

 than forty acres yielding twenty-five bushels per acre, as 

 the same amount of oats is raised with less land and labor. 



A good seed bed must be moist (not wet), firm enough 

 so that it will not dry out quickly, loose enough to permit 

 air to enter the soil, and warm enough to cause the seed 

 to germinate. The farmer cannot regulate the weather, 

 but he can do many things to assist in regulating these 

 conditions, and such is the object of tillage. 



Air is needed in the soil to start the seed to germinate 

 and to supply the oxygen necessary in the chemical ac- 

 tion which must take place in the soil, to make the plant 

 food in the seed available for the growing plantlet and to 

 break down plant food in the soil on which the plantlet 

 can feed after it has used up the food stored in the seed. 

 Cultivation with a disk or harrow stirs up the soil and lets 

 the air circulate through it. 



Moisture is needed in the soil — (1) to dissolve the plant 

 food in the seed planted, so that the little plantlet can make 

 use of it; (2) to supply the growing plant with water; (3) 

 to assist in the chemical action in the soil which liberates 

 plant food; (4) to carry the plant food to the plant. Cul- 



