U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
There is a growing opinion among farmers in the part of Chester 
County where these records were taken that midsummer plowing 
should not be done, but the preparation for wheat, for alfalfa, and 
for timothy and clover seeded in August should be with disk and sur- 
face harrows only. This opinion is backed up by demonstrations 
from a number of farmers. They reason (1) that it is very hard to 
compact the soil after plowing at this season of the year so as to obtain 
good moisture conditions for seeding; and (2) that by plowing the 
farmer turns under roots, stubble, and other humus material and 
brings up soil containing less humus, which makes the field more apt 
to wash badly during the winter and early spring season. If disk 
harrowing is done at the proper time there is very little difficulty in 
working under stubble or manure and obtaining a firm, fine seed bed. 
There is little difference, however, between the two systems in the 
amount of labor required. 
When fertilizer is applied for corn it is distributed broadcast more 
often than in the planter; on the other hand, fertilizer for potatoes 
is seldom broadcasted, but applied in the row at the time of planting. 
The practice of applying lime once during the rotation is increasing. 
Years ago farmers used burned lime freely, and many farms in the 
county still show abandoned lime kilns. Then the practice of using 
commercial f ertilizers gradually replaced the general custom of apply- 
ing lime until the soils got into such a condition that the practice of 
liming the soil had to be resumed. The application of caustic lime 
in the form of burned stone lime, slaked, and applied by hand is 
gradually being superseded by the use of ground stone lime, prepared 
hydrated lime, or finely ground limestone. This is undoubtedly due 
to the fact that burned or stone lime must be slaked before applying 
while the pulverized forms of lime or limestone can be handled more 
conveniently by a distributor. In fact, it was impossible to obtain 
sufficient labor data for handling lime by hand, as the lime spreader 
is generally used. Lime is usually applied at the time of preparation 
for wheat, for clover and timothy, or for alfalfa in order to obtain a 
good stand of these legumes. 
While these farmers grow from 1 to 5 acres of potatoes, or an 
average of about 4 acres, this crop, as a rule, has not given profit- 
able yields; the average yield on the farms visited was only 84 bushels 
per acre. The cause of this low yield is not easily determined, and it 
might well be made the subject of investigation and experimental 
work. Very little spraying is done for blight; what spraying is done 
is usually to apply poison for the potato beetle. The potato planter is 
generally used among the larger growers, but digging is more often 
done by the potato plow type of implement than by the elevator type 
of machine. 
