236 the farmers' handbook. 



Depth to Plough. 



In years past the practice was to plough as deep as possible, even to 7 

 inches, but with more experience to guide us, it is found that very seldom 

 more than 5 inches is necessary, and the best results arc usually obtained, 

 from a depth ranging from 4 to 5 inches. Farmers should be careful not to 

 plough too many years at the same depth, however, as such a procedure is 

 very liable to result in the formation of a hard pan. An occasional varia- 

 tion of, say, half an inch in depth will prevent this. 



If the ploughing in one season is from north to south, it is advisable that 

 the following year it should be from east to west, in order that the forma- 

 tion of deep furrow- may be prevented. Many farmers, for convenience, 

 plough the paddock round and round, but it is certainly a better method to 

 plough in " lands." 



The Implement to Use. 



Much controversy exists among farmers as to whether the mouldboard or 

 the disc plough is the better implement for the purpose. No hard-and-fast 

 rule can be laid down, and the farmer must be guided to a large extent by the 

 class of soil he has to handle and the condition it is in when making a choice 

 between the two implements. 



The mouldboard plough may be said to do better work in land that is 

 likely to break up too tine, and is certainly superior to the disc on land 

 covered heavily with weeds or other rubbish. 



On the other hand, the disc plough on fairly clean land has many advan- 

 tages, chief of which is that from 400 to 500 acres can be ploughed with the 

 one set of discs without renewing them. However, a great deal less depends 

 upon whether the land has been ploughed with a disc or mouldboard plough 

 than upon the choice of the right time and the thoroughness with which the 

 work is done. 



Treatment of Ploughed Land 



The ploughed land should lie in the comb for six or seven weeks after 

 ploughing, and then be broken down with heavy harrows. This method is 

 usually preferable to breaking the comb down immediately after ploughing, 

 because the winter rains in the former case are more likely to be absorbed, 

 air, wind and sunshine are better able to penetrate and sweeten the soil, and 

 the particles of the soil are not likely to run together and form a hard crust 

 as easily as they would if the land were harrowed immediately after 

 ploughing. 



As the principal object of fallowing is- the storage of moisture, to the end 

 that two years' rainfall may be used to produce one crop, it will be easily 

 recognised that the subsequent working of the fallow has a very important 

 place in this method of cultivation. 



Working the Fallow. 



It may be said that only a small percentage of the fallowed land in the 

 State is worked as it should be. It is true that the wise practice of 

 ploughing in the winter or spring preceding sowing is becoming more 

 general, but it is seldom that the soil is given the attention during the 

 fallow period that it should have, and the wonder is that a lot of fallowed 

 land yields as well as it does. Weeds are allowed to spring up and are 

 not checked; the surface is allowed to become crusted and is not disturbed: 

 and in this way the value of much of the work that has been done is seriously 



