18 PRACTICAL CORN CULTURE 
standard makes of gang plows on our farms, and the one 
with the shortest twist is doing the best work. We cannot 
see but that it pulls as easy as the others. Since we have 
never tested out the drafts of different twists of moldboards 
we will quote from Prof. Roberts as follows: 
“* About 35% of the power necessary to plow is used up by 
the friction due to the weight of the plow, and 55% by the 
severing of the furrow slice and the friction of the landside. 
If, after having done nine-tenths of the work, the plow allows 
the furrow slice to escape without the greatest possible amount 
of disintegration, great loss is sustained because the bolder 
and more efficient moldboard may add but two or three per 
cent to the draft.’’ 
Fatt PLowIneG 
We cannot recommend fall plowing of ground in Central 
Illinois, except in the case of heavy sods which require the 
erosion during the winter months to disintegrate the soil 
sufficiently to work into a seed bed. Fall plowed ground 
leaches badly unless plowed very late. Without a cover of 
any kind, soil will wash during the early spring months, 
even on land that is considered fairly level. To fall plow hill- 
sides is to invite the formation of deep gulleys which will soon 
make the field fit only for pasture land. 
There are, In our opinion, just two good reasons for fall 
plowing: First, the work is done at the slackest time of the 
year when both men and teams might otherwise be idle. 
Secondly, if the plowing is done late, it affords a splendid 
opportunity to kill cutworms and other insects while they 
are lying dormant in their winter quarters. During the last 
five years we have fall plowed about ten per cent of our corn 
ground and have winter plowed about five per cent. We 
do not hesitate to plow clover sod in the winter time if the 
