140 THE BUSINESS OF FARMING 



times for a single crop. It was their creed to 

 plow well and in good weather so as to avoid clods. 

 The successful Roman farmer never allowed his 

 eye to deceive him, for he knew that too often the 

 smooth surface of the soil left by plowing con- 

 ceals the clods. So he took the sharp, stout stick, 

 and drove it into the newly plowed soil. If it 

 readily penetrated the soil to the plow depth, he 

 knew the plowing had been well done, and that 

 there were no concealed clods. If the stick pene- 

 trated the soil with difficulty, he knew his plow- 

 ing had been badly done, and that the soil had 

 broken up cloddy, and so would not be in the 

 proper condition for the successful growing of 

 crops. To avoid clods they advised against plow- 

 ing their lands before the 13th of April. 



While the farmer of to-day is more interested 

 in how soils should be plowed now, yet if he would 

 but study how the best farmers, even the farmers 

 of thousands of years ago, plowed their soils, he 

 would get the greater inspiration to plow well. 

 We have frequently said that soils after they have 

 been cultivated for a score or more of years, plow 

 differently from the way they did when first sub- 

 jected to cultivation, for when the vegetable or 

 organic matter content has been reduced in them, 

 they become compact and easily assume the cloddy 

 condition, and to plow them in this state when they 

 are too freely saturated with moisture, means to 

 secure the cloddy seed bed, which under present 

 soil conditions, is one of the most serious menaces 

 to successful farm operations. 



Never plow the clay soils when they are too wet, 



