SPADING AND PLOWING 



97 



to increase their water-holding- power, and this can 

 best be done by plowing farm manures in deep. 



In many parts of the South the farmers use very 

 small plows and small animals to draw them. The 

 result is that the soil is not prepared to a sufficient 

 depth to allow of the large root development neces- 

 sary for large crops. These farmers need larger 

 tools and heavier animals if they expect to make 

 much improvement in the yield of their crops. 

 These small plows and this shallow plowing have 

 done much to aid the washing and gulleying of the 

 hill farms by rain. The shallow layer of loose soil 

 takes in the rain readily, but as the harder soil be- 

 neath does not take the water as readily, the shal- 

 low plowed soil soon fills, then becomes mud, and 

 the whole mass goes down the slope. The land 

 would wash less if it had not been plowed at all, 

 and least of all if it were plowed deep, for then 

 there would be a deep reservoir of loose soil which 

 would be able to hold a large amount of water until 

 the harder lower soil could take care of it. 



BREAKING OUT THE MIDDLES 



Some farmers have a way when getting the land 

 ready for a crop, of plowing the rows first and then 

 " breaking out the middles " or spaces between after 

 the crop is planted. This is a poor practice, as it 

 interferes with thorough preparation of the soil. 

 The ground can be more thoroughly plowed and 

 broken up before the crop is planted than after- 



