158 THE PRINCIPLES OF AGRICULTURE 



slice is not laid flat, but left at an angle of about forty-fiv<» 

 degrees, tiiat the soil may become warmed for the purpose ot 

 promoting chemical action and the liberation of plant-food. It 

 may also serve to hasten the drying of the land (95). 



2556. Summer-fallowing is often an advisable means of pre- 

 paring the seed-bed. It consists of two or more summer plow- 

 ings and several harrowings, the land remaining idle. Fallowed 

 lands are usually sown to wheat in the fall. An ideal seed-bed 

 can be secured by this means. Fallowing is to be advised when 

 lands are very stony, stumpy, hard, or when they have become 

 foul with bad weeds, or have been injured by plowing or ditching 

 when too wet. It is a means of putting the land right. The 

 better the condition of the land, — that is, the better the farming, 

 — the less the necessity of summer-fallowing. The practice is 

 becoming less common, largely because modern implements and 

 methods enable us to handle the land better. 



258a. The pictures will make this reasoning plain. Fig. 60 

 represents a wheat plant in the fall, on properly handled land. 

 The roots are near the surface. Fig. 61 shows how the roots 

 strike deep when manure is plowed under and the soil is left 

 loose ; and this plant stands less chances of success than the 

 other. 



263a. The accompanying figures, which are made directly 

 from nature, illustrate the point that deep planting in well-pre- 

 pared land tends to result in a deep and spreading hill of potatoes 

 (Fig. 62 ^ whereas shallow planting in poorly prepared land results 

 in a shallow and crowded hill (Fig. 63). The better potatoes may 

 be expected in the former case. 



