38 



Kansas State Board of Agriculture. 



SEED-BED PREPARATION. 



The ideal seed bed, according to reporters, is firm and moist. The sur- 

 face should be loose, mellow and finely pulverized, to a depth only as 

 great as it is intended to sow the seed. The field should be as smooth as 

 it is possible to make it, and without depressions where water will stand. 



Different growers have different methods of obtaining a proper condi- 

 tion of seed bed. Some plow deep for the preceding crop, and then very 

 shallow for alfalfa; others plow six months or more preceding the time 

 of sowing, and allow nature to settle the soil. In the latter instance the 

 moisture must be conserved and the weeds kept down until seeding time 



FlG. 28. The walking plow is still used on many farms. [Courtesy Wisconsin 

 Experiment Station.] 



FIG. 29. Plowing corn ground with a sulky plow, for alfalfa. 

 [Courtesy Moline Plow Company.] 



