40 CONTINUOUS CROPPING 



known to farmers as " between wet and dry," the disc 

 harrow should precede the cultivator. Sometimes after 

 cultivating a piece of land it is necessary to allow the 

 land to dry a little before it is fit for discing. On the 

 other hand, if the land is dry, one implement should 

 immediately follow the other, so as to retain the 

 moisture. It is all a matter of judgment, and to 

 obtain the maximimi amount of good for the minimum 

 use of these implements is a matter of skill for each 

 individual farmer. 



One great advantage resulting from the use of quick- 

 working implements like the foregoing is the conserva- 

 tion of soil moisture. This makes itself very apparent 

 especially after a dry autumn or summer. If a farmer 

 commences the tilling with the plough and harrow of, 

 say, 4 acres of land, the operation would take him about 

 eight days. Now suppose during dry- weather con- 

 ditions he ploughs the whole 4 acres first, then by the 

 time the ploughing of the last acre is accomplished, the 

 first acre is baked quite hard, and needs a tremendous 

 amount of extra labour to produce a fine tilth. Then 

 by the time the tillage of No.i acre is completed, No. 4 

 is baked. On the other hand, by tilling with the disc 

 and triple cultivator, all the work can be completed 

 in sixteen hours, or, say, two days. 



Again, under dry conditions the triple cultivator is 

 passed over the whole 4 acres first. This just breaks the 

 top crust suihciently^ to form a soil mulch, which acts 

 like a blanket, and prevents excessive loss of moisture. 

 Having made a mulch over the whole 4 acres, then the 

 complete cultivation and sowing of each individual 

 acre should be proceeded with. On the other hand, if 

 the soil is moist when its cultivation is undertaken, it 

 would be better to till the whole 4 acres simultaneously, 

 so that there would be an interval for drying between 

 each cultural operation. 



