8 



FARMERS BULLETIN. 



PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



The breaking of the land should begin as long before planting as 

 possible, for, inasmuch as water remains on the soil during the whole 

 period of growth of the rice crop, the microorganisms which are respon- 

 sible for nitrification whereby soluble nitrates are provided for the plant 

 remain dormant, if they be not totally destroyed for lack of oxygen, and 

 for this reason the land should be plowed as soon as possible after the first 

 crop is gathered, in order to give the soil a thorough airing. 



The breaking up of the soil can be effected with any ordinary steel 



FIG. 1. A light steel beam plow. 



FIG. 2. A heavy wooden beam plow. 



plow (figs. 1 and 2), but where it is desired to grow rice on a large scale 

 gang plows are more economical (figs. 3 and 4). There are different 

 makes of these implements, but they are all constructed on the same 

 principle and consist essentially of a broad plow or a number of smaller 

 ones hung on a frame and wheels. With one of these and three or four 

 mules a man can do five and six times the work in one day that he could 

 do with an ordinary plow, and three gang plows are all that are needed to 

 plow up a 500-acre farm. 



