CHAPTER III 



PRINCIPLES OF PLANTING AND CULTIVATION 



Preparation of the soil. The thoroughness with which the soil 

 is prepared for planting determines, to a large extent, the cost of 

 the after cultivation of the crop. It not only determines the cost 

 of the cultivation of the crop but it also predetermines, to a very 

 considerable extent, the stand of plants which will result from the 

 use of good seed. Good seed upon poorly prepared soil will give an 

 unsatisfactory and uneven stand of plants, while good seed upon 

 thoroughly prepared land should give a perfect stand of plants. 

 The time of germination is also governed by the thoroughness 

 with which the seed bed is prepared. If the soil is only partially 

 fined and compacted, the seeds will be much longer in absorb- 

 ing the necessary amount of water to cause them to germinate ; 

 but with thoroughly fined and compacted soil, the process of con- 

 ducting the water to the seed begins immediately. These remarks 

 tend to show the importance of properly preparing the soil in 

 connection with the stand of the plants. The after cultivation of 

 a thoroughly fitted area is much easier than that of one whick 

 has been only partially prepared. Soils which have been carefully 

 handled previous to planting have a smaller percentage of noxious 

 weeds than those carelessly prepared, for the reason that the oper- 

 ations of plowing, harrowing, compacting, and preparing the seed 

 bed follow one another in succession, giving an opportunity for 

 weed seeds to germinate between the successive steps, those which 

 have germinated being killed, naturally, by the later operations. 

 This of course destroys a considerable percentage of the weed 

 seeds in the layer of soil which comes under the influence of im- 

 plements of cultivation. 



Plowing. The first and one of the most important operations 

 in the preparation of soil is deep stirring, accomplished by either 

 plowing or spading. In most farm operations the deep stirring of 



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