Nature studies on the farm; soils and plants
Charles Albert Keffer
Paperback
(RareBooksClub.com, May 14, 2012)
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1907 Excerpt: ...drills in the seed. In this way he gets a firm seed bed, and if the land is rich and clean this is a good plan. One advantage of sowing small grain on corn land is that the cultivation necessary to make a good corn crop has killed the weeds, so that much of the work for the grain crop is done while the corn is growing. All the old picture books show us a picture of the farmer with a sack of seed slung from his shoulder, walking across a plowed field, sowing the seed by hand. But a much better way is to plant with a press drill, which sows the seed in regular rows and presses the soil firmly upon it, so that it will sprout quickly and from the first make a good growth. Broadcast sowing must be covered with a harrow, which neither covers the seed evenly nor firmly presses the soil upon it. The drill is made so that fertilizers can be sown with the grain. Grass or clover can also be sown, and the machine measures exactly the amount of seed that is sown per acre. Often the small grain is harrowed and rolled after it is up, but when the plants have tillered, nothing more can be done for them; the last harrowing is the last hoeing they will get. During the winter, the small grains may be grazed lightly without harm, and rye is often sown purposely for winter pasture. In the spring, especially if frost has raised the plants, a good rolling will help them, and thereafter the field must be left until harvest time. The farmer can not control the weather, and much of his success with cereals depends upon the moisture content of the soil and the weather. But there are things which he can do that will help to make a good yield. He can run his seed wheat through sieves that will separate the large from the small grains, and use only the large grains for planting. He can ...