CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 161 



of the check row planter. The earlier the ground is 

 plowed the better, provided it is not plowed when too 

 wet. But there must also be the disking process in 

 preparation for the plowing, for the problem of evapora- 

 tion also comes in very early in the year, and the disking 

 puts the surface in condition to prevent this and to en- 

 courage the percolation of the later rains into the soil. 

 The use of the disk is advisable since you can get onto 

 the ground with the disk and do good work when it would 

 be too wet to plow at a proper depth. And you can 

 cover the field quicker with a broad gauged disk than 

 with the plow. It also enables you to get your soil in 

 much better physical condition than would be possible 

 if the ground were allowed to dry out. The plowing 

 should be followed up soon after, but remember this point 

 if you have been particularly persistent in preventing 

 this evaporation by the disking your ground is in perfect 

 condition to plow, even though you have considerable 

 dry weather later in the spring. The soil will roll up 

 in a moist condition, and is susceptible to the best results 

 with the packer or any other tool. Follow the plow 

 closely with the packer, at least every noon and night. 

 There are few places where the subsurface packer 

 turns the profit it will in following the -plow in preparing 

 a field for corn. An experiment on the Burlington farm 

 in Phelps county, Nebraska, in 1904, where a strip of 

 land in a field being prepared for corn was left without 

 packing, the following facts were observed: Germination 

 was four or five days slower; the stand of corn much less 

 uniform and the final yield per acre fully fifteen bushels 

 less. 



WATCHING THE MOISTURE. 



Fall plowing is preferable at all times where the crops 



