CHAPTER III. 



SOIL TILLAGE. 



■" I J II/I/AGE is the working or stirring of the land in 

 ■*• order to improve it for agricultural purposes. The 

 term cultivation is sometimes used but tillage is a techni- 

 cal term and is to be preferred. The fundamental practice 

 in farming is tilling the land. 



The modern ideas of tillage dates from 1733, when 

 Jethro Tull published a book on Horse-Hoeing Husbandry. 

 While his theory was not correct as to the manner that 

 plants take food, he was the first in England to advocate 

 tilling the soil. His idea was that particles were made so 

 fine that the small roots could take them in as food. It 

 was only in the latter part of the century just closed that 

 the real reasons for tillage became popularly understood 

 in this country. 



THE OBJECTS OF TILLAGE. 



Tillage improves the land in many ways. It pul- 

 verizes the soil, allowing air to enter and make available 

 the plant food. It gives the roots a wider pasture. It 

 saves moisture. It is practiced to prevent the growth of 

 weeds and other vegetation not desired upon the ground. 

 To place beneath the surface, manure, stubble and other 

 organic matter where it will not be in the way, and where 

 it may be converted rapidly into humus. Tillage will 

 develop various degrees of openness of texture and uni- 

 formity of soil and conditions suitable to the planting of 

 seeds and the setting of plants. 



The first requirements in the growing of plants is pro- 

 per and thorough tillage. It is more important than the ap- 

 plication of fertilizers. By thorough and careful tillage 

 good crops can be raised on semi-arid regions of the west 

 which have a rainfall of only a little more than one 7 third 

 our average rainfall. 



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