CHAPTER V 



THE BENEFITS OF TILLAGE 



TILLAGE stirring the soil is the simplest 

 and commonest operation on the farm. Pos- 

 sibly this is why it is understood the least. 

 There are a hundred farmers who can explain per- 

 fectly the theory of a balanced ration to a dozen who 

 know all the benefits of the ordinary soil-stirring 

 that occupies their time more than any other 

 farm practice. This is largely due to the fact that 

 there are two perfectly obvious benefits of tillage 

 the ground must first be stirred to make a mellow 

 seed bed, and it must be stirred to kill the weeds 

 that dispute with the crops for possession of the 

 land. The necessity for stirring the soil to ac- 

 complish these ends is so apparent that many have 

 looked no further for the benefits of tillage than 

 those that appear on the surface. 



The Present Emphasis on Good Tillage. During 

 the past twenty-five years there has been a marked 

 change in the attitude of farmers toward tillage. 

 Probably no other farm operation has advanced 

 farther in the quarter century, not only in a better 

 understanding of its purpose, but also in the effi- 

 ciency with which it is performed. During the last 

 quarter of the ninteenth century emphasis was 

 placed most emphatically on tillage "good tillage," 

 "thorough tillage," "better tillage," and similar 

 captions were the subjects for more articles in 

 farm papers and more talks at farmers' institutes 

 than any other operation of farming. The results 



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