166 ELEMENTS OF AGRICULTURE 



156. Fitting the Land After Plowing. Fall-plowed land 

 is usually left without other working until spring. If 

 heavy soil is fall-plowed and too finely pulverized, it is 

 likely to "run together."' (See Fig. 43.) 



Spring-plowed land should be dragged with a smooth- 

 ing harrow or otherwise stirred before the clods become 



too dry to crumble read- 

 ily. The drier the soil 

 the more frequently this 



FIG. 75. Smoothing harrow. A good tool for should be done. Under 

 killing weeds and fitting land ugual con( iitionS ; the 



harrowing should be done on the day that it is plowed. 

 If the weather is very dry, and particularly in semi-arid 

 regions, it may be necessary to harrow within a few hours 

 after plowing. One may stop in the middle of each half-day 

 for this purpose. Usually the land should be harrowed with 

 the smoothing harrow two to four times before planting. 

 Sometimes it may be better to use the disk harrow. On 

 stony land or on very hard soil the spring-tooth harrow 

 may be used. This is really a cultivator. 



If corn is to be kept clean, it should be planted in a 

 seed-bed that is free from weeds and that has been freshly 

 stirred in order to kill any sprouting seeds. This gives 

 the corn a chance to start evsn with the weeds. It is very 

 foolish to plant on land that has germinating weeds, 

 thinking to kill them after planting. It is better to delay 

 the planting long enough to kill the weeds. 



157. Planting. The selection of seed and germination 

 tests have been previously discussed (pages 25 and 48). 



"The Indian method of planting maize was to plant 

 four grains in a hill four feet each way. This method they 



