2 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



insect larvae to freezing and thawing which results in their 

 destruction. For this reason the plowing should be done rather 

 late in the fall. In the second place the freezing and thawing 

 of the plowed land has a very beneficial effect upon its physical 

 structure making it much more mellow than freshly plowed land. 

 Another very important reason is that fall plowing enables the 

 grower to plant his grain much earlier in the spring. 



At Highmoor Farm just as soon at the land is dry enough in 

 the spring so that it will not "puddle" it is gone over with a 

 disk harrow. Usually once is enough but if not, it is disked 

 twice and finally it is gone over with a smoothing harrow. This 

 makes a loose mellow seed bed. Some soils will require more 

 and some less working to produce the same kind of a seed bed. 

 On Aroostook Farm we have usually found it sufficient to 

 harrow the field each way with a springtooth harrow. This 

 produces a fine deep seed bed and nothing would be gained by 

 going over the land again. In each case the amount of harrow- 

 ing should be judged by the condition of the seed bed and not 

 by any rule of thumb. 



Plant Early. 



Of the several recommendations which we have to make 

 there are none more important than this. The v/riter has fre- 

 quently seen oats sown in the southern part of the State the 

 last of May or even in June. The farmer who cannot plant his 

 land before that time will do well to grow some other crop than 

 oats. The oat plant is a native of cool northern climates. To 

 do its best it must get most of its growth before the hot weather. 

 Oat should he planted just as soon as the ground can he worked 

 in the spring. This should be taken literally, for even a few 

 days difference in planting will sometimes make a difference 

 of bushels in the yield. The sofl of Highmoor Farm is under- 

 laid by a stiff clayey subsoil which prevents rapid drainage. In 

 no sense of the word is it an early soil, yet we have always 

 been able to sow our oats either the latter part of April or the 

 very first days of May. In Aroostook the land is ready to 

 plant just as soon as the frost is out, which in some years is 

 as soon as the snow is off. This ordinarily varies from the 15th 

 to the 25th of May. 



