THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



121 



DISCING BEFORE PLOWING 



By F. D. BLAKE 

 Deere & Co.. Moline, 111. 



Notwithstanding the fact that the disc harrow 

 trade has been growing rapidly, the disc harrow is 

 not being put to as 

 many uses as it 

 should be. 



Careful study 

 of the following 

 will show that there 

 are enough profit- 

 able ways to use 

 this implement, 

 which are not now 

 being practiced, to 

 double the disc har- 

 row trade. 



Many practical 

 experiments, and a 

 good deal of scien- 

 tific study, just re- 

 cently, has proven 

 the advisability, and, 

 in fact, the absolute 

 necessity, from an economic standpoint, of properly 

 preparing the soil before plowing. 



Nature stores moisture in the subsoil which is 

 brought up to feed the plants by capillary attraction. 

 Capillarity is only perfect when the soil is well 

 pulverized and compact that is, the land must be 



free, from lumps and pulverized so that there will be 

 no large air spaces to retard the process of bringing 

 the moisture from the subsoil to the seed bed proper. 

 Stubble, heavy layers of manure, corn stalks or 

 rubbish turned under by the plow is a hindrance 

 and the capillary water stops at the break made at 

 the bottom of the furrow, consequently the plants 



suffer because they 

 must depend en- 

 tirely on the water 

 in the seed bed 

 proper- they can 

 not get the mois- 

 ture from the lower 

 subsoil. 



This condition 

 is obviated by disc- 

 ing before plowing. 

 The disc not only 

 pulverizes the 

 ground, thereby 

 making a compact 

 contact between the 

 furrow slice and the 

 bottom of the fur- 

 row, but all vegeta- 

 tion, manure and 

 trash that was on the surface is cut up and thor- 

 oughly worked into the seed bed. 



During seasons of scant rainfall discing im- 

 mediately after cutting the grain forms a dust or 

 fine mulch on the top of the land. It will then ab- 

 sorb water, as well as prevent the escaping of what 



(Continued on page 123.) 



Cut Down Your Reclamation Costs 

 With a BUCKEYE OPEN DITCHER 



<I This illustration shows the Buckeye 

 Open Ditcher in actual operation in the 

 Everglades of Florida, where it has already 

 reclaimed vast tracts of waste land at a 

 great saving in cost over hand labor. 



<I The Buckeye has enabled contractors 

 and land owners to cut their reclamation 

 costs down to the minimum because it 

 does the work better, faster and cheaper 

 than the obsolete hand labor method. 



T It is a machine that is built to handle 

 the most difficult kind of reclamation 

 and irrigation work. It is equipped with 

 broad apron tractions that carry it over 

 the softest and soggiest kind of ground. 



'. The Buckeye is made in a number of 

 sizes, cutting ditches from 2 l /2 to 12 feet 

 at the top. It digs every ditch uniform 

 size and perfect to grade. 



Write today for catalog No. 26 



It explains in detail the simplicity, effici- 

 ency and economy of the Buckeye. 



The Buckeye Traction Ditcher Co., Findlay, Ohio 



