PREPARATION OF THE SOIL 



is wet. Soil that is worked when very wet, except 

 sometimes a very sandy piece, will scarcely 

 recover from it for a whole season. 



The purpose of the fall ploughing will be most 

 completely accomplished by leaving the land in 

 clods and rough, loose ridges, for the frost to 

 operate upon during the winter. The greater 

 the surface thus exposed to the influence of the 

 atmosphere and changes of weather, the better 

 for the soil and the coming season's crops. More- 

 over, late turning over the ground is an effectual 

 means of killing off the larvae of the May beetle, 

 the pestilent white grub, and other larvae of insects. 

 Being disturbed from their winter quarters, they 

 are to a great extent destroyed by exposure to 

 the cold and air. 



In the case of sod land to be prepared for 

 tilled crops, there is a manifest advantage in 

 turning it earlier in the season, so as to hasten 

 the decay of the turf; but with land already 

 under cultivation the case is entirely different, 

 and the later it can be done the better. 



It is, of course, assumed that everything neces- 

 sary to a perfect drainage has been done prior 

 to the process of preparation here described. 



[41] 



