CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



Early spring-plowing leaves land less subject to 

 drouth than does later plowing. As the air be- 

 comes heated, the open spaces left by the plowing 

 serve to hasten the escape of moisture. If a cover 

 crop is plowed down late in the spring, the material 

 in the bottom of the furrow makes the land less 

 resistant to drouth because the union of the top 

 soil with the subsoil is less perfect, and capillary 

 attraction is retarded. It is usually good practice 

 to sacrifice some of the growth of a cover crop, even 

 when organic matter is badly needed, and to plow 

 fairly early in the spring in order that the moisture 

 supply may be conserved. 



The Land-roller. The breaking-plow is a 

 robber of soil water when used in warm weather. 

 The air carries the water away rapidly. The air- 

 spaces are large. The corrective of this condition 

 is the land-roller. It presses the soil together, 

 driving out the excess of air. Large crumbs are 

 pressed down into the mass, and are kept from 

 drying into hard clods. The roller never should 

 be used on land when fresh-plowed in a moist 

 condition, and it is not needed after fall-plowing, 

 or early spring-plowing in most instances, but land 

 broken when the season is advanced should be 

 rolled before much water evaporates. 



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