100 SOILS 



by the thoroughness with which the land is fitted. 

 It is one of the common remarks at farmers' insti- 

 tutes that too little attention is paid to the "tillage 

 of preparation," as it is sometimes called; that 

 farmers content themselves with plowing and then 

 harrowing the soil once or twice before seeding, 

 when perhaps three or four harrowings and one or 

 two turns with the clod crusher would have paid. 

 Seeds will not germinate readily if they are placed 

 between three or four large lumps of soil. No 

 matter how moist the lumps are, the seeds dry out 

 fast because they do not touch the soil on all sides. 

 If the lumps are broken into fine soil and the seeds 

 are planted in this, they have an even and constant 

 supply of water. It is as impracticable and un- 

 profitable to sow seeds upon lumps as to spread 

 fertiliser upon lumps. 



The number of times that it will pay to harrow 

 when fitting a seed bed depends entirely upon its 

 texture; a sandy loam soil may be as mellow and 

 friable after one turn around the field as a clay 

 loam is after three turns. Moreover it is impossible 

 to make some soils mellow, even with a dozen 

 harrowings. The trouble lies deeper it may be 

 lack of humus or poor drainage, which must be 

 corrected in other ways. But up to a certain 

 point tillage does fine, loosen, drain, aerate, and 

 warm the soil and fit it for growing a profitable 

 crop. Some soils respond to this tillage of prep- 

 aration better than others; a good farmer soon 

 finds out, by experimenting and observing, how 

 thoroughly it pays to fit his land. He may 

 be surprised to find that one or two extra 

 turns with the harrow will pay him much more 

 when harvest time comes than the cost of the 

 labour. 



