150 Irrigation and Drainage 



direct result of a thorough preparation of the seed- 

 bed, which has always led the most successful farmers 

 to insist upon the importance of a good seed-bed. 



Let it be remembered that it is the early stirring 

 of the soil, rather than the early planting of the seed, 

 which is the all -important point to be insisted upon. 

 Nothing is gained by putting seed in a soil which is 

 too cold ; but several days may often be saved in bring- 

 ing the soil to the right temperature by stirring a suf- 

 ficient depth of it for the seed-bed, and getting rid 

 of the surplus water which it contains by cutting it 

 loose from the wet soil below, and at the same time 

 concentrating the heat from the sun in this stirred 

 layer, because loosening it has made it a poor con- 

 ductor to the unstirred cold soil below it. 



Even when ground is not to be planted until quite 

 late, as in the case of corn and potatoes, it is a far 

 better practice to plow as early as other labor will per- 

 mit, than to leave it unstirred until near the planting 

 time, because the early fitting develops plant -food and 

 gets it in readiness for the crop ; because it saves 

 moisture ; because it prevents clods from forming, and 

 insures a more perfect tilth, and because it allows one 

 and sometimes two crops of weeds to be killed before 

 the planting. This last advantage is a very important 

 one, because weeds can be killed much more cheaply 

 and effectively when there is nothing on the ground 

 in the way, and because it is a very wasteful practice 

 to permit weeds to start in a field, to use up both the 

 moisture and the plant -food which will be needed by 

 the crop. It is much better to plant late, and take 



