96 THE OLIVER PLOW BOOK 



is loose, the less moisture escapes from them. Hence, 

 from a practical standpoint the plow bottom that leaves 

 sandy soils level after plowing is better for the soil than 

 one that leaves it ridged or crowned. 



A much better way to judge plowing is to take a spade 

 or some other sharp cutting instrument into the field 

 and see what is happening at the bottom of the furrow. 

 If there are large air spaces and clods the plowing is 

 certainly poor from a crop producing standpoint. If the 

 bottom of the furrow is covered with trash so that the 

 upward trend of capillarity is interfered with it is also 

 equally bad plowing. 



Plowing is good when the furrow slice is well pulver- 

 ized from top to bottom, large air spaces eliminated, 

 and the trash buried to interfere as little as possible 

 with the upward trend of moisture. 



