Campbell's 1902 Soil Culture Majs^ual. 



23 



Winter wheat will not winter-kill in firmed, moist soil, while in loose 

 soil it frequently thins out or kills out entirely. 



A fine, firm root bed, with a loose surface or mulch, is a condition 

 that will withstand the extreme dry periods longest without any injury 

 to the plant. 



Study well the question of thoroughly pulverizing and packing the 

 lower portion of the plowing: a full understanding of its importance 

 means many dollars, because it means a larger crop result. 



Sub-surface packing increases the moisture in the lower portion of 

 the plowed ground and induces decomposition of the weeds, stubble, or 

 manures that have been turned under, thereby adding humus, the all im- 

 portant soil ingredient for rapid plant growth, as well as enabling the 

 plant to withstand drought. 



If you would get your soil to a condition of fineness and firmness, 

 do all your work to that end when the soil is just slightly moist, for it 

 then plows better, packs better, and cultivates better. Do not go to work 

 on plowed ground that is dried to the bottom, whether plowed in good 

 condition or not, and expect in any way to get the lower portion of the 

 furrow in good condition. You may improve it. The closer you keep to 

 the plow the better you can pack the under portion. 



THE DISC HARROW, ITS USE AND 



ABUSE. 



To my mind there is scarcely an agricultural implement more im- 

 portant to the western farmer than the disc harrow. Its usefulness however, 

 from its first conception to the present time, has been more or less misunder- 

 stood by the farmer. Thousands of acres of wheat have been put in by the 

 use of the disc harrow alone, that has not turned the farmer any profit, and 

 many times a loss of not only his labor but seed. The great value of the 

 disc harrow lies in its adaptability to the protection of moisture, and the 

 preparation of the surface soil for the encouragement of rapid percolation 

 of the rain water. It has been used on thousands of acres in lieu of plow- 

 ing, when it should have been used to precede the plow. We have quoted, 

 under the heads of Evaporation and Cultivation, instances where the early 

 use of the disc for the sole purpose of preventing evaporation and preparing 

 the surface to receive and utilize further rains, has resulted in giving the 

 farmer increased yields of corn as high as twenty bushels to the acre. 

 Think of twenty bushels of corn per acre for only 50 cents of extra expense ! In 



