HANDLING THE SOIL 39 



should not be harrowed down, for the freezing and thawing 

 and rains will make it flat enough. 



Spring plowing should be done as early as the land is 

 dry enough. Care must be taken that the soil is not too wet 

 or clods will be made, and the furrow-slice will become more 

 compact than before plowing. When the soil is dry enough 

 to crumble easily after being squeezed into a ball in the hand, 

 it will crumble up nicely in the plowing. Early spring plow- 

 ing is best because it keeps the moisture from d-rying out of 

 the soil. We can think of the plowed ground as being a deep 

 mulch, preventing the moisture in the subsoil from getting to 

 the surface and evaporating. It is not a good plan in a dry 

 spring to wait for rye or clover to get a good start before 

 plowing under, because they will greatly reduce the soil 

 moisture. Then, too, such a method may turn under so 

 much material that the furrow-slice will be disconnected 

 from the subsoil and the moisture from below will be hindered 

 in passing upward into the furrow-slice. If there is a period 

 of little rain after such plowing, the crops planted will suffer 

 for moisture. 



The purpose of subsoiling is to loosen the soil to a greater 

 depth than the ordinary plow does. This enables the soil to 

 receive and retain more water and also to let the roots feed 

 deeper. Subsoiling should be done in the autumn or sum- 

 mer, because the ground is not dry enough in the spring. 

 Subsoiling is hard work for the team and the plowman; it is 

 seldom necessary in well drained land ; and the results hardly 

 ever pay for the extra labor, except with very hard subsoils. 



In plowing, one of three kinds of furrows is generally 

 turned. 1. The flat furrow is one in which the furrow-slice is 

 completely turned over flat. It does not pulverize the soil 



