CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 41 



in case of a dry spring your soil, if properly handled, as 

 I will outline later, can be planted, and the seed will im- 

 mediately germinate and grow, while your neighbor is 

 worrying about a dry country and may harvest nothing. 

 Fourth: Sometimes you may have teams and time 

 to do some fall plowing for spring crops. If your soil is 

 dry it is folly to plow, but if you have held the moisture 

 in the soil, it is wise to fall-plow, providing you follow the 

 plow with the sub-surface packer, firming the lower por- 

 tion of the furrow slice while the soil is still moist, holding 

 the moisture below instead of allowing the furrow to dry 

 out, as it will, if left loose by the plow. 



DO NOT GAMBLE. 



Some say that with early plowing the rains will pack 

 it, and you don't need the Sub-Surface Packer. If you 

 want to gamble the price of a good crop that it will rain 

 enough in the fall to do the necessary packing, then all 

 right. However, let us consider one fact. How would 

 you have come out in the fall of 1903 in western Kansas 

 and Nebraska, the Panhandle of Texas, and all eastern 

 Colorado, with practically no rain for eight months, from 

 late August to early May, 1904? Just as a great many did 

 come out. Better follow business principles and be sure. 

 Gambling wins sometimes, but you can never bank on it. 



Fifth: In case you wish to sow fall wheat this early 

 disking may mean ten to thirty bushels more per acre. 

 By holding the moisture as shown above, it will be seen 

 that any subsequent rain will percolate more quickly and 

 deeper. If the rain be a heavy one, sufficient to dissolve 

 and pack the loosened surface, the harrow should be thor- 

 oughly used as soon as the soil is dry enough not to stick, 

 and by all means wait ro longer. When you are ready to 

 plow for fall wheat your soil is moist. By following the 



