PLOWING THE SOIL. 197 



as danger of hard freezing is over, say by April 10, 

 when the land is dry enough to be fit to till, we go 

 afield with disk harrows. The cutaway double disk 

 harrows suit us very well for this purpose. Fol- 

 lowing the disk harrow goes the slant-tooth smooth- 

 ing harrow, which levels the land quite well. 

 After the smoothing harrow goes the plank drag. 

 This makes a smooth surface, free from clods. The 

 drag is made of three planks, about 2x12, lapped 

 together like shingles and bolted together. The 

 drag makes drilling easier and a better seed-bed. 



Sometimes the fertilizer is sown before the land is 

 dragged, sometimes afterward. This point is not 

 very material. As already described, we commonly 

 sow acid phosphate of about 16 per cent grade, be- 

 cause it is cheaper with us than bone meal or any 

 other carrier of phosphorus. We sow no potash 

 except on black peaty soils, once beds of swamps. 

 Lime we have applied earlier; it is best to have it 

 incorporated with the soil some weeks or even 

 months before sowing the seed when this is pos- 

 sible. 



Seeding with Drill. After the drag comes the 

 drill. We use a drill with grass seed attachment 

 that sows both barley and alfalfa seed. The alfalfa 

 seed is sometimes set to fall in front of the drill 

 and sometimes to fall behind, depending somewhat 

 on the nature of the soil. On stiff clay land it will 

 not do to bury alfalfa seed very deep. On lighter 

 looser soils they will come up through an inch of 

 soil. 



