PLOWING THE SOIL. 197 
as danger of hard freezing is over, say by April 10, 
when the land is dry enough to be fit to till, we go 
afield with disk harrows. The cutaway double disk 
harrows suit us very well for this purpose. Fol- 
lowing the disk harrow goes the slant-tooth smooth- 
ing harrow, which levels the land quite well. 
After the smoothing harrow goes the plank drag. 
This makes a smooth surface, free from clods. The 
drag is made of three planks, about 2x12, lapped 
together like shingles and bolted together. The 
drag makes drilling easier and a better seed-bed. 
Sometimes the fertilizer is sown before the land is 
dragged, sometimes afterward. This point is not 
very material. As already described, we commonly 
sow acid phosphate of about 16 per cent grade, be- 
eause it is cheaper with us than bone meal or any 
other carrier of phosphorus. We sow no potash 
except on black peaty soils, once beds of swamps. 
Lime we have applied earlier; it is best to have it 
incorporated with the soil some weeks or even 
months before sowing the seed when this is pos- 
sible. 
Seeding with Drill—After the drag comes the 
drill. We use a drill with grass seed attachment 
that sows both barley and alfalfa seed. The alfalfa 
seed is sometimes set to fall in front of the drill 
and sometimes to fall behind, depending somewhat 
on the nature of the soil. On stiff clay land it will 
not do to bury alfalfa seed very deep. On lighter 
looser soils they will come up through an inch of 
soil. 
