20 FARM GRASSES OP THE UNITED STATES 



The scooter-plow is unknown at the North. It is a 

 kind of shovel-plow having an oblique point. It digs 

 up the clay, but leaves it in the furrow. A great deal 

 of time and labor is wasted in this manner in northern 

 Georgia, northern Alabama, and adjacent sedtions. It 

 is argued that if this subsoil were turned up and mixed 

 with the soil it would greatly reduce the yield, which 

 is very true. The idea is to break up the hard-pan 

 which has been formed just below the furrow slice. 

 But this can be done in a far better way. By plowing 

 one inch deeper every year till a depth of ten inches is 

 reached, a ten-inch layer of good surface soil is secured 

 without at any time having a lot of unprodudtive hard- 

 pan mixed with the soil. After this depth has been 

 reached it is a good plan never to plow the same depth 

 two years in succession. Plow, say, seven inches the 

 next year, then nine inches the next, then six, then 

 ten, then eight, and so on. If this pracftice is followed 

 there will be no hard-pan to break up. There are 

 many farms on which all the plowing must be done by 

 one small mule. Ten-inch plowing is, of course, out 

 of the question in such cases. 



The preparation of good alluvial soil for grass in 

 the Middle South does not differ materially from the 

 methods required in the North, but the uplands re- 

 quire considerably more care. It is useless to attempt 

 to grow meadow-grasses on exhausted upland soils in 

 the Middle South. The soil must first be brought 

 into good heart. This may be done by sowing Southern 

 grown winter rye and turning it under about the time it 

 heads out, and by growing and turning under cow-peas 

 or velvet beans. It is very important, when any heavy 



