RAKING S'l'ALKS 



W) 



PREPARATION OF THE GROUND BEFORE PLOWING. 



Small grain stubble lana wliich is to l)e plowed in the f:ill should 

 be disced thoroughly immediately after the grain shocks arc re- 

 moved. The surface will dry out less and the weeds will receive 

 quite a setback. The moisture which would have been evaporated 

 from the surface will be stopped in its upward passage just beneath 

 the sub uirface strata. The soil will remain loose and when plowed 

 later will injt turn up in lumps. 



HEAVY CORN STALK RAKE. 

 Stirs the ground move and will work where the liay rake is too light. 



Where the ground is low and sul:)jcct t(i (i\-errtow, iiften weeds grow 

 so rank after har\'est as tn necessitate their being mowed before any 

 plowing is dune. In localities which practice the short rotation of corn 

 and oats or corn and wheat the stubljle is often cijvered with 1:)arnyar<l 

 manure before plowing. The heat and moisture of autumn and the 

 freezing of winter disintegrate the soil and deci impose the straw and 

 other material to such an extent that liy planting time the follcnving 

 spring the humus thus added is thordughly luixed wih the soil." 



The rolling uplands in southern Iowa lack very much in humus, 

 hence the stalks should always be incorporated in the already sticky 

 silty soil. Corn planted the first year following sod, may produce 

 such an excessive growth of stalks as to make raking necessary. 



Where corn is cut for silage the stubble may be split up and the 

 rows leveled to advantage by discing before plowing. Land upon which 

 fodder shocks have stood all winter is better treated thus also. But 

 the greater number of fields in the corn belt are stocked with cattle 



*In case of a lic.ivy ^lowLli i.r aitp'ii'ali'Mi "i ciiaise orj^aiiic nialnial In lir plowed iimlci', it is 

 generally recufiiiizej that the inacticc nf iliseiii- is a'hisaMc 



