330 



THIRD ANNUAL SESSIONS 



Sub-Surface Packer. 



The plan of the packer, which was partly displayed to you here, 

 is simply i-n the form of wedges. They are five and three-eighths ihches- 

 from centers, seven-eighths of an inch thick at the thickest point. Each 

 wedge goes down into the soil and gives a downward and lateral pressure, 

 crowding the soil together, not pounding it together, and seems to secure 

 the ideal condition, providing your ground is in proper condition when it 

 is plowed. 



Soil Treatment. 



Now let me go back to the experiment at Holdredge. Why did the 

 center of the field I mentioned give only 20 bushels while the balance 

 gave more than twice as much? For this reason: The weeds growing 

 there during a period when there was very little precipitation had sapped 

 the moisture from the soil to that degree that when the plow went over 

 it, it broke up in little lumps. The air spaces were too large. The propor- 

 tions of air and water were not in the proper relation, consequently there 

 was not a development of fertility. When the outside of the field was 

 plowed the soil was in ideal condition, when the plow turned it over, rt 

 went all to pieces and the packer following up, made a fine, firm seed 

 bed. With that firm condition there is a complete system of roots. 

 The whole strata is permeated with little laterals and veins, while in 

 the coarser soil the root system was very much less effective. 



Special Machinery. 



In my early work I started out with the idea of drilling the grain 20 

 inches apart and cultivated it. Something like sixty machines were built 

 the second winter and put up and we produced, with that plan, some very 

 marked results, but the' work was too expensive for the average farmer. 

 At that time farmers didn't ha,ve very much money, and it was apparent 

 to me that some plan must be formed that would not require this extra 

 machinery which the average farmer could not take hold of. I will now 

 tell you how I got on to this summer tillage idea. 



Summer Fallow. 



A piece of ground was fitted for winter wheat. It was put in and 

 in the spring, just as it was up nicely and just before heading, a hail- 

 storm laid it flat. I do not know why I did it, but I went on and listed 

 that growed and kept it cultivated through the summer and again put 

 it into crop in the fall. The results were wonderful. In 1900 I started out 

 with the idea of oarrying out that plan, thinking then, it might be neces- 

 sary to, in the more arid sections, summer-till every other year only giv- 

 ing a crop once in two years, after proving that the results from these 

 fields were equivalent to three, four or five ordinary crops. 



Conserving Moisture. ^ 



We have found that it is not necessary, and think probably, in a rain- 

 fall of 15 inches, it will not be necessary to summer-till every year. If 

 you follow out this plan by trying to prevent this evaporation of moisture 



