WORKING THE SOIL
IMPORTANCE OF PLOWING
[Illustration: Figure 132.--Heavy Disk Plow. A strong four-horse disk
implement for breaking stumpy ground or to tear tough sod into bits
before turning under with a moldboard.]
Plowing is a mechanical operation that deals with physics, chemistry,
bacteriology and entomology. The soil is the farmer's laboratory; his
soil working implements are his mechanical laboratory appliances. A high
order of intelligence is required to merge one operation into the next
to take full advantage of the assistance offered by nature. The object
of plowing and cultivation is to improve the mechanical condition of the
soil, to retain moisture, to kill insects and to provide a suitable home
for the different kinds of soil bacteria.
There are aerobic and anaerobic bacteria, also nitrogen-gathering
bacteria and nitrifying bacteria which are often loosely referred to as
azotobacter species. Few of us are on intimate terms with any of them,
but some of us have had formal introductions through experiments and
observation.
[Illustration: Figure 133.--Sulky Plow. This is a popular type of riding
plow. It is fitted with a rolling coulter.]
THE MECHANICS OF PLOWING
_Walking Plow._--The draft of a walking plow may be increased or
diminished by the manner of hitch. It is necessary to find the direct
line of draft between the work performed and the propelling force. The
clevis in the two-horse doubletree, or the three-horse evener and the
adjusting clevis in the end of the plow-beam with the connecting link
will permit a limited adjustment. The exact direction that this line
takes will prove out in question. The walking plow should not have a
tendency to run either in or out, neither too deep nor too shallow. For
the proper adjustment as to width and depth of furrow, the plow should
follow the line of draft in strict obedience to the pull so that it
will keep to the furrow on level ground a distance of several feet
without guidance from the handles. In making the adjustment it is first
necessary to see that the plow itself is in good working order. All
cutting edges such as share, coulter or jointer must be reasonably sharp
and the land slip in condition as the makers intended.
[Illustration: Figure 134.--Disk Plow. Less power is required to plow
with a disk, but it is a sort of cut and cover process. The disk digs
trenches narrow at the bottom. There are ridges between the little
trenches that are not worked.]
[Illustration: Figure 135.--Three-Horse and Four-Horse Eveners. This
kind of evener hitches the horses closer to the load than some others
and they are easier to handle than the spread out kinds. The four-horse
rig requires the best horses in the middle.]
All plows should have a leather pocket on the side of the beam to carry
a file. A 12-inch bastard file with a good handle is the most
satisfactory implement for sharpening the cutting edges of a plow in the
fields. A good deal depends on the character of the soil and its
condition of dryness, but generally speaking, it pays to do a little
filing after plowing a half mile of furrow. If the horses are doing
their duty, a little rest at the end of the half mile is well earned.
The plowman can put in the time to advantage with the file and the next
half mile will go along merrily in consequence. No farmer would continue
to chop wood all day without whetting his axe, but, unfortunately,
plowmen often work from morning till night without any attempt to keep
the cutting edges of their plows in good working order.
_Riding Plow._--The riding plow in lifting and turning the furrow slice
depends a good deal on the wheels. The action of the plow is that of a
wedge with the power pushing the point, the share and the moldboard
between the furrow slices and the land side and the furrow bottom. There
is the same friction between the moldboard and the furrow slice as in
the case of the walking plow, but the wheels are intended to materially
reduce the pressure on the furrow bottom and against the land side. Plow
wheels are intended to relieve the draft in this respect because wheels
roll much easier than the plow bottom can slide with the weight of the
work on top. The track made in the bottom of the furrow with the walking
plow shows plainly the heavy pressure of the furrow slice on the
moldboard by the mark of the slip. To appreciate the weight the slip
carries, an interesting experiment may be performed by loading the
walking plow with weights sufficient to make the same kind of a mark
when the plow is not turning a furrow.
One advantage in riding plows in addition to the relief of such a load
is less packing of the furrow bottom. On certain soils when the moisture
is just sufficient to make the subsoil sticky, a certain portion of the
furrow bottom is cemented by plow pressure so that it becomes impervious
to the passage of moisture either up or down. The track of a plow wheel
is less injurious.
[Illustration: Figure 136.--Three-Section, Spike-Tooth Harrow. The
harrow is made straight, but the hitch is placed over to one side to
give each tooth a separate line of travel.]
[Illustration: Figure 137.--Harrow Sled Long Enough to Hold a
Four-Section Harrow.]
Plow wheels should stand at the proper angle to the pressure with
especial reference to the work performed. Wheels should be adjusted with
an eye single to the conditions existing in the furrow. Some wheel plows
apparently are especially built to run light like a wagon above ground
regardless of the underground work required of them.
[Illustration: Figure 138.--Corn Cultivator. A one-row, riding-disk
cultivator. The ridges are smoothed by the spring scrapers to leave an
even surface to prevent evaporation.]
Axles should hang at right angles to the line of lift so accurately as
to cause the wheels to wear but lightly on the ends of the hubs.
Mistakes in adjustment show in the necessity of keeping a supply of
washers on hand to replace the ones that quickly wear thin.
In this respect a good deal depends on the sand-bands at the ends of the
hubs. Plow wheels are constantly lifting gritty earth and dropping it on
the hubs. There is only one successful way to keep sand out of the
journals and that is by having the hubs, or hub ferrules, extend well
beyond the bearings. Plow wheel hub extensions should reach two inches
beyond the journal both at the large end of the hub and at the nut or
linchpin end. Some plow wheels cut so badly that farmers consider oil a
damage and they are permitted to run dry. This is not only very wasteful
of expensive iron but the wheels soon wabble to such an extent that they
no longer guide the plow, in which case the draft may be increased
enormously.
[Illustration: Figure 139.--A Combination Riding and Walking Cultivator,
showing fenders attached to protect young plants the first time through.
The two bull tongues shown are for use in heavy soils or when deeper
digging is necessary.]
_Scotch Plows._--When the long, narrow Scotch sod plows are exhibited at
American agricultural fairs they attract a good deal of attention and no
small amount of ridicule from American farmers because of the six or
seven inch furrows they are intended to turn. In this country we are in
too much of a hurry to spend all day plowing three-fourths of an acre of
ground. Intensive farming is not so much of an object with us as the
quantity of land put under cultivation.
Those old-fashioned Scotch plows turn a furrow about two-thirds of the
way over, laying the sod surface at an angle of about 45 deg. to the bottom
of the furrow. The sharp comb cut by the coulter and share stands
upright so that a sod field when plowed is marked in sharp ridges six or
seven inches apart, according to the width of the furrow. Edges of sod
show in the bottoms of the corrugations between these little furrow
ridges.
When the rains come the water is held in these grooves and it finds its
way down the whole depth of the furrow slice carrying air with it and
moistening every particle of trash clear to the bottom of the furrow.
Such conditions are ideal for the work of the different forms of
bacteria to break down plant fibre contained in the roots and trash and
work it into humus, which is in turn manipulated by other forms of soil
bacteria to produce soil water which is the only food of growing plants.
_Jointer Plows._--American plow makers also have recognized the
necessity of mixing humus with soil in the act of plowing. To facilitate
the process and at the same time turn a wide furrow, the jointer does
fairly good work when soil conditions are suitable. The jointer is a
little plow which takes the place of the coulter and is attached to the
plow-beam in the same manner. The jointer turns a little furrow one inch
or two inches deep and the large plow following after turns a
twelve-inch or fourteen-inch furrow slice flat over, throwing the little
jointer furrow in the middle of the furrow bottom in such a way that the
big furrow breaks over the smaller furrow.
If the work is well done, cracks as wide as a man's hand and from three
to five inches deep are left all over the field. These cracks lead air
and moisture to rot the trash below. This is a much quicker way of
doing a fairly good job of plowing. Such plows loosen the soil and
furnish the conditions required by nature; and they may be operated with
much less skill than the old-fashioned narrow-furrowed Scotch plows.
Good plowing requires first that the soil be in proper condition to
plow, neither too dry nor too wet, but no man can do good plowing
without the proper kind of plow to fit the soil he is working with.
PLOWING BY TRACTOR
Under present conditions farm tractors are not intended to replace horse
power entirely but to precede horses to smooth the rough places that
horses may follow with the lighter machines to add the finishing
touches. Light tractors are being made, and they are growing in
popularity, but the real business of the farm tractor is to do the heavy
lugging--the work that kills horses and delays seeding until the growing
season has passed. The actual power best suited to the individual farm
can only be determined by the nature of the land and the kind of
farming.
In the Middle West where diversified farming is practiced, the 8-16 and
the 10-20 sizes seem to be the most satisfactory, and this is without
regard to the size of the farm. The preponderance of heavy work will
naturally dictate the buying of a tractor heavier than a 10-20. The
amount of stationary work is a factor. In certain communities heavy farm
tractors are made to earn dividends by running threshing machines after
harvest, silo fillers in the fall and limestone crushers in the winter.
Here is a classified list of jobs the medium size farm tractor is good
for:
Clearing the Land--pulling up bushes by the roots, tearing out hedges,
pulling stumps, grubbing, pulling stones.
Preparing Seed Bed and Seeding--plowing, disking, crushing clods,
pulling a land plane, rolling, packing, drilling, harrowing.
Harvesting--mowing, pulling grain binders, pulling potato digger.
Belt Work--hay baling, corn shelling, heavy pumping for irrigation,
grinding feed, threshing, clover hulling, husking and shredding, silo
filling, stone crushing.
Road Work--grading, dragging, leveling, ditching, hauling crops.
Miscellaneous--running portable sawmill, stretching wire fencing, ditch
digging, manure spreading.
Generally speaking, however, the most important farm tractor work is
preparing the seed-bed thoroughly and quickly while the soil and weather
conditions are the best. And the tractor's ability to work all day and
all night at such times is one of its best qualifications.
To plow one square mile, or 640 acres, with a walking plow turning a
twelve-inch furrow, a man and team must walk 5,280 miles. The gang-plow
has always been considered a horse killer, and, when farmers discovered
that they could use oil power to save their horses, many were quick to
make the change.
It requires approximately 10 horsepower hours to turn an acre of land
with horses. At a speed of two miles, a team with one plow in ten hours
will turn two acres. To deliver the two horsepower required to do this
work, they must travel 176 feet per minute and exert a continuous pull
of 375 pounds or 187.5 pounds per horse.
One horsepower equals a pull of 33,000 pounds, moved one foot per
minute. Two-mile speed equals two times 5,280 or 10,560 feet per hour,
or 176 feet per minute. Sixty-six thousand divided by 176 equals 375
foot pounds pull per minute. One horsepower is absorbed in 88 feet of
furrow.
Horse labor costs, according to Government figures, 12-1/2 cents per
hour per horse. On this basis ten hours' work will be $1.25, which is
the average daily cost of each horse. An average Illinois diversified
farm of 160 acres would be approximately as follows: Fifty acres of
corn, 30 acres of oats and wheat, 20 acres of hay, 60 acres of rough
land, pasture, orchard, building and feed lots.
This average farm supports six work horses or mules and one colt.
According to figures taken from farm work reports submitted by many
different corn belt farmers, the amount of horse-work necessary to do
this cropping would figure out as follows:
Fifty acres of corn land for plowing, disking, harrowing, planting,
cultivating and harvesting would amount to a total of 1,450 horsepower
hours. Thirty acres of wheat would require a total of 330 horsepower
hours. Twenty acres of hay would require 110 horsepower hours. In round
figures, 1,900 horsepower hours at 12-1/2 cents would amount to $237.50.
Elaborate figures have been worked out theoretically to show that this
work can be done by an 8-16 farm tractor in 27-3/4 days at a cost for
kerosene fuel and lubricating oil of $1.89 per day. Adding interest,
repairs and depreciation, brings this figure up to about $4.00 per day,
or a total of $111.00 for the job. No account is kept of man power in
caring for either the horses or the tractor. The actual man labor on the
job, however, figures 12-1/3 days less for the tractor than for horses.
We should remember that actual farm figures are used for the cost of
horse work. Such figures are not available for tractor work.
The cost of plowing with a traction engine depends upon so many factors
that it is difficult to make any definite statement. It depends upon the
condition of the ground, size of the tractor, the number of plows
pulled, and the amount of fuel used. An 8-16 horsepower tractor, for
instance, burning from 15 to 20 gallons of low grade kerosene per ten
hour day and using one gallon of lubricating oil, costs about $1.90 per
ten hours work. Pulling two 14-inch plows and traveling 20 miles per
day, the tractor will plow 5.6 acres at a fuel and an oil cost of about
30 cents per acre. Pulling three 14-inch plows, it will turn 8.4 acres
at a cost for fuel and oil of about 20 cents an acre.
The kind and condition of soil is an important factor in determining the
tractor cost of plowing. Comparison between the average horse cost and
the average tractor cost suggests very interesting possibilities in
favor of tractor plowing under good management.
Aside from the actual cost in dollars we should also remember that no
horse gang can possibly do the quality of work that can be accomplished
by an engine gang. Anxiety to spare the team has cut a big slice off the
profits of many a farmer. He has often plowed late on account of hard
ground, and he has many times allowed a field to remain unplowed on
account of worn-out teams. Under normal conditions, late plowing never
produces as good results as early plowing. Many a farmer has fed and
harnessed by the light of the lantern, gone to the field and worked his
team hard to take advantage of the cool of the morning. With the
approach of the hot hours of midday, the vicious flies sapping the
vitality from his faithful team, he has eased up on the work or quit the
job.
In using the tractor for plowing, there are none of these distressing
conditions to be taken into consideration, nothing to think of but the
quality of work done. It is possible to plow deep without thought of the
added burden. Deep plowing may or may not be advisable. But where the
soil will stand it, deep plowing at the proper time of year, and when
done with judgment, holds moisture better and provides more plant food.
The pull power required to plow different soils varies from about three
pounds per square inch of furrow for light sand up to twenty pounds per
square inch of furrow for gumbo. The draft of a plow is generally
figured from clover sod, which averages about seven pounds per square
inch. Suppose a plow rig has two 14-inch bottoms, and the depth to be
plowed is six inches. A cross section of each plow is therefore 14 by 6
inches, or 84 square inches. Twice this for two bottoms is 168 square
inches. Since, in sandy soil, the pressure per square inch is three
pounds, therefore 168 times 3 pounds equals 504 pounds, the draft in
sandy soil. 168 times 7 pounds equals 1,176 pounds, the draft in clover
sod. 168 times 8 pounds equals 1,344 pounds, the draft in clay sod.
The success of crop growing depends upon the way the seed-bed is
prepared. The final preparation of the seed-bed can never be thoroughly
well done unless the ground is properly plowed to begin with. It is not
sufficient to root the ground over or to crowd it to one side but the
plow must really turn the furrow slice in a uniform, systematic manner
and lay it bottom side uppermost to receive the beneficial action of
the air, rain and sunshine.
The moldboard of a plow must be smooth in order to properly shed the
earth freely to make an easy turn-over. The shape of the shear and the
forward part of the moldboard is primarily that of a wedge, but the roll
or upper curve of the moldboard changes according to soil texture and
the width and depth of furrow to be turned. Moldboards also differ in
size and shape, according to the kind of furrow to be turned. Sometimes
in certain soils a narrow solid furrow with a comb on the upper edge is
preferable. In other soils a cracked or broken furrow slice works the
best. When working our lighter soils a wide furrow turned flat over on
top of a jointer furrow breaks the ground into fragments with wide
cracks or openings reaching several inches down. Between these extremes
there are many modifications made for the particular type or texture of
the soil to be plowed. We can observe the effect that a rough, or badly
scratched, or poorly shaped moldboard has on any kind of soil,
especially when passing from gravelly soils to clay. In soil that
contains the right amount of moisture, when a plow scours all the time,
the top of the furrow slice always has a glazed or shiny appearance.
This shows that the soil is slipping off the moldboard easily. In places
where the plow does not scour the ground is pushed to one side and
packed or puddled on the underside instead of being lifted and turned as
it should be. A field plowed with a defective moldboard will be full of
these places. Such ground cannot have the life to bring about a
satisfactory bacteria condition necessary to promote the rapid plant
growth that proper plowing gives it.
Cultivated sandy soils are becoming more acid year after year. We are
using lime to correct the acidity, but the use of lime requires better
plowing and better after cultivation to thoroughly mix the trash with
the earth to make soil conditions favorable to the different kinds of
soil bacteria. Unless we pay special attention to the humus content of
the soil we are likely to use lime to dissolve out plant foods that are
not needed by the present crop, and, therefore, cannot be utilized. This
is what the old adage means which reads: "Lime enricheth the father but
impoverisheth the son." When that was written the world had no proper
tillage tools and the importance of humus was not even dreamed of.
Not so many years ago farm plows were made of cast iron. Then came the
steel moldboard, which was supposed to be the acme of perfection in plow
making. Steel would scour and turn the furrow in fluffy soils where cast
iron would just root along without turning the ground at all. Later the
art of molding steel was studied and perfected until many grades and
degrees of hardness were produced and the shape of the moldboard passed
through a thousand changes. The idea all the time was to make plows that
would not only scour but polish in all kinds of soil. At the same time
they must turn under all of the vegetable growth to make humus, to kill
weeds and to destroy troublesome insects. Besides these requirements the
soil must be pulverized and laid loose to admit both air and moisture.
These experiments gradually led up to our present high grade plows of
hardened steel and what is known as chilled steel.
Besides the hardness there are different shapes designed for different
soils so that a plow to work well on one farm may need to be quite
different from a plow to do the best work in another neighborhood. The
furrow slice sliding over a perfect moldboard leaves the surface of the
upturned ground as even as the bottom of the furrow. By using a modern
plow carefully selected to fit the soil, gravel, sandy, stony or muck
soils, or silt loams that contain silica, lime, iron and aluminum oxide
can be worked with the right plow to do the best work possible if we use
the necessary care and judgment in making the selection.
One object of good plowing is to retain moisture in the soil until the
growing crop can make good use of it.
The ease with which soils absorb, retain or lose moisture, depends
mostly on their texture, humus content, physical condition, and surface
slope or artificial drainage. It is to the extent that cultivation can
modify these factors that more soil water can be made available to the
growing crop. There are loose, open soils through which water percolates
as through a sieve, and there are tight, gumbo soils which swell when
the surface is moistened and become practically waterproof. Sandy soils
take in water more readily than heavier soils, hence less precaution is
necessary to prevent run-off.
Among the thousands of plows of many different makes there are plenty of
good ones. The first consideration in making a selection is a reliable
home dealer who has a good business reputation and a thorough knowledge
of local soil from a mechanical standpoint. The next consideration is
the service the plow will give in proportion to the price.
DISK HARROW
For preparing land to receive the seed no other implement will equal a
double disk. These implements are made in various sizes and weights of
frame. For heavy land, where it is necessary to weight the disk down, an
extra heavy frame is necessary. It would probably be advisable to get
the extra strong frame for any kind of land, because even in light sand
there are times when a disk may be used to advantage to kill quackgrass
or to chew up sod before plowing. In such cases it is customary to load
on a couple of sacks of sand in addition to the weight of the driver.
When a disk is carrying 300 or 400 pounds besides its own weight the
racking strains which pull from different directions have a tendency to
warp or twist a light frame out of shape. To keep a disk cultivator in
good working order it is necessary to go over it thoroughly before doing
heavy work. Bolts must be kept tight, all braces examined occasionally,
and the heavy nuts at the ends of the disk shafts watched. They
sometimes loosen and give trouble. The greatest difficulty in running a
disk harrow or cultivator is to keep the boxings in good trim. Wooden
boxes are provided with the implement. It is a good plan to insist on
having a full set of eight extra boxes. These wooden boxes may be made
on the farm, but it sometimes is difficult to get the right kind of
wood. They should be made of hard maple, bored according to size of
shaft, and boiled in a good quality of linseed oil. Iron boxings have
never been satisfactory on a disk implement. Wooden ones make enough
trouble, but wood has proved better than iron. On most disk cultivators
there are oil channels leading to the boxings. These channels are large
enough to carry heavy oil. The lighter grades of cylinder oil work the
best. It is difficult to cork these oil channels tight enough to keep
the sand out. Oil and sand do not work well together in a bearing. The
manufacturers of these implements could improve the oiling device by
shortening the channel and building a better housing for the oil
entrance. It is quite a job to take a disk apart to put in new boxings,
but, like all other repair work, the disk should be taken into the shop,
thoroughly cleaned, repaired, painted and oiled in the winter time.
Some double disk cultivators have tongues and some are made without.
Whether the farmer wants a tongue or not depends a good deal on the
land. The only advantage is that a tongue will hold the disk from
crowding onto the horses when it is running light along the farm lanes
or the sides of the fields with the disks set straight. Horses have been
ruined by having the sharp disks run against them when going down hill.
Such accidents always are avoidable if a man realizes the danger.
Unfortunately, farm implements are often used by men who do very little
thinking. A spring disk scraper got twisted on a root and was thrown
over the top of one of the disks so it scraped against the back of the
disk and continued to make a harsh, scraping noise until the proprietor
went to see what was wrong. The man driving the disk said he thought
something must be the matter with the cultivator, but he couldn't tell
for the life of him what it was. When farmers are up against such
difficulties it is safer to buy a disk with a tongue.
_Harrow Cart._--A small two-wheel cart with a spring seat overshadowed
with a big umbrella is sometimes called a "dude sulky." Many sensitive
farmers trudge along in the soft ground and dust behind their harrows
afraid of such old fogy ridicule. The hardest and most tiresome and
disagreeable job at seeding time is following a harrow on foot. Riding a
harrow cart in the field is conserving energy that may be applied to
better purposes after the day's work in the field is finished.
KNIFE-EDGE PULVERIZERS
A knife-edge weeder makes the best dust mulch pulverizer for orchard
work or when preparing a seed-bed for grain. These implements are sold
under different names. It requires a stretch of imagination to attach
the word "harrow" to these knife-edge weeders. There is a central bar
which is usually a hardwood plank. The knives are bolted to the
underside of the plank and sloped backward and outward from the center
to the right and left, so that the knife-edges stand at an angle of
about 45 deg. to the line of draught. This angle is just about sufficient to
let tough weeds slip off the edges instead of dragging along. If the
knives are sharp, they will cut tender weeds, but the tough ones must be
disposed of to prevent choking. The proper use of the knife-edge weeder
prevents weeds from growing, but in farm practice, sometimes rainy
weather prevents the use of such a tool until the weeds are well
established. As a moisture retainer, these knife-edge weeders are
superior to almost any other implement. They are made in widths of from
eight to twenty feet. The wide ones are jointed in the middle to fit
uneven ground.
CLOD CRUSHER
The farm land drag, float, or clod crusher is useful under certain
conditions on low spots that do not drain properly. Such land must be
plowed when the main portion of the field is in proper condition, and
the result often is that the low spots are so wet that the ground packs
into lumps that an ordinary harrow will not break to pieces. Such lumps
roll out between the harrow teeth and remain on top of the ground to
interfere with cultivation. The clod crusher then rides over the lumps
and grinds them into powder. Unfortunately, clod crushers often are
depended on to remedy faulty work on ordinary land that should receive
better treatment. Many times the clod crusher is a poor remedy for poor
tillage on naturally good land that lacks humus.
[Illustration: Figure 140.--Land Float. Clod crushers and land floats
belong to the same tribe. Theoretically they are all outlaws, but some
practical farmers harbor one or more of them. Wet land, containing
considerable clay, sometimes forms into lumps which should be crushed.]
As ordinarily made, the land float or clod crusher consists of from five
to eight planks, two inches thick and ten or twelve inches wide, spiked
together in sawtooth position, the edges of the planks being lapped over
each other like clapboards in house siding. The planks are held in place
with spikes driven through into the crosspieces.
FARM ROLLER
Farm rollers are used to firm the soil. Sometimes a seed-bed is worked
up so thoroughly that the ground is made too loose so the soil is too
open and porous. Seeds to germinate require that the soil grains shall
fit up closely against them. Good soil is impregnated with soil
moisture, or film moisture as it is often called, because the moisture
forms in a film around each little soil grain. In properly prepared
soil this film moisture comes in contact with the freshly sown seed. If
the temperature is right the seed swells and germination starts. The
swelling of the seed brings it in contact with more film moisture
attached to other grains of soil so the rootlet grows and pushes out
into the soil in search of moisture on its own account. A roller is
valuable to press the particles of soil together to bring the freshly
sown seeds in direct contact with as many particles of soil as possible.
Rolling land is a peculiar operation, the value of which is not always
understood. The original idea was to benefit the soil by breaking the
lumps. It may be of some benefit on certain soils for this purpose, but
the land should always be harrowed after rolling to form a dust mulch to
prevent the evaporation of moisture. Land that has been rolled and left
overnight shows damp the next morning, which is sufficient proof that
moisture is coming to the surface and is being dissipated into the
atmosphere. In the so-called humid sections of the country the great
problem is to retain moisture. Any farm implement that has a tendency to
dissipate soil moisture is a damage to the farmer. Probably nine times
out of ten a farm roller is a damage to the crop it is intended to
benefit because of the manner in which it is used. It is the abuse, not
the proper use of a roller, that injures the crop.
[Illustration: Figure 141.--Iron Land Roller Made of Boiler Plate.]
[Illustration: Figure 142.--Wooden Land Roller.]
CORN-PLANTER
Corn-planters are designed to plant two rows at once. The width of rows
may be adjusted from about 32 to 44 inches apart. When seed-corn is
carefully graded to size the dropping mechanism will feed out the grains
of corn regularly with very few skips. This is one reason why most
farmers plant corn in drills. There are other cultural reasons which do
not properly belong to this mechanical article. Hill dropping is
considerably more complicated and difficult. After the feeding mechanism
has been adjusted to the size of seed kernels to be planted so it will
drop four kernels in a hill then the trip chain is tried out to see if
it is right at every joint. Dropping in hills is a very careful
mechanical proposition. An inch or two out of line either way means a
loss of corn in cultivating.
In setting the stakes to go and come by, a careful measurement of the
field is necessary in order to get the stake lines on both sides of the
field parallel. If the ring stakes are driven accurately on the line,
then the first hill of corn must come at the same distance from the line
in each row. Likewise in starting back from the far side of the field
the first hill should measure exactly the same distance from the stake
line as the first hills on the opposite side of the field. This is
easily managed by counting the number of trips between the stake line
and the first row of corn hills. If the two lines of stakes on the
opposite sides of the field are exactly parallel it is not necessary to
move either line in order to get the proper distance to start dropping,
but it must be adjusted by measurement, otherwise the corn hills will be
dodged. If the corn hills are to space three feet apart then the first
row of hills should come nine or twelve feet from the stake line. Stakes
may be measured and set a certain number of inches from the line to make
the distance come right. This careful adjustment brings the hills in
line in the rows.
When the field is level or gently sloping there is no difficulty in
making straight rows so far as check rowing is concerned. When the field
is hilly another problem crops up. It is almost impossible to run corn
rows along the side of a hill and keep them straight. The planter has a
tendency to slide downhill. Also the distance across a field is greater
where the rows pass over a hill. To keep the rows straight under such
conditions allowance must be made for the stretch over the hill as well
as for the side thrust of the planter. Where a chain marker is used it
hangs downhill and a further allowance must be made for that. A good
driver will skip an inch or so above the mark so that the rows will be
planted fairly straight. This means a good deal more in check rowing
than when the corn is planted in drills. The greatest objection to hill
planting is the crowding of four corn plants into a space that should be
occupied by one plant.
A great many experiments have been tried to scatter the seeds in the
hill, so far without definite results, except when considerable
additional expense is incurred. However, a cone suspended below the end
of the dropping tube usually will scatter the seeds so that no two seeds
will touch each other. They may not drop and scatter four or five inches
apart, but these little cones will help a good deal. They must be
accurately adjusted so the point of the cone will center in the middle
of the vertical delivery tube, and there must be plenty of room all
around the cone so the corn seed kernels won't stick. The braces that
hold the cones in place for the same reason must be turned edge up and
supported in such a way as to leave plenty of clearance. The idea is
that four kernels of corn drop together. They strike the cone and are
scattered in different directions. They naturally fly to the outsides of
the drill mark which scatters them as wide apart as the width of the
shoe that opens the drill. The advantage of scattering seed grains in
the hill has been shown by accurate experiments conducted at different
times by agricultural colleges.
GRAIN DRILL
To know exactly how much seed the grain drill is using it is necessary
to know how many acres are contained in the field. Most drills have an
attachment that is supposed to measure how many acres and fractions of
acres the drill covers. Farmers know how much grain each sack contains,
so they can estimate as they go along, provided the drill register is
correct. It is better to provide a check on the drill indicator. Have
the field measured, then drive stakes along one side, indicating one
acre, five acres and ten acres. When the one-acre stake is reached the
operator can estimate very closely whether the drill is using more or
less seed than the indicator registers. When the five-acre stake is
reached another proof is available, and so on across the field. Next in
importance to the proper working of the drill is straight rows. The only
way to avoid gaps is to drive straight. The only way to drive straight
is to sight over the wheel that follows the last drill mark. Farmers
sometimes like to ride on the grain drill, which places the wheel
sighting proposition out of the question. A harrow cart may be hitched
behind the wheel of the grain drill, but it gives a side draft. The only
way to have straight rows and thorough work is to walk behind the end of
the drill. This is the proper way to use a drill, anyway, because a
tooth may clog up any minute. Unless the operator is walking behind the
drill he is not in position to see quickly whether every tooth is
working properly or not. It is hard work to follow a drill all day long,
but it pays at harvest time. It costs just as much to raise a crop of
grain that only covers part of the ground, and it seems too bad to miss
the highest possible percentage to save a little hard work at planting
time.
SPECIAL CROP MACHINERY
Special crops require special implements. After they are provided, the
equipment must be kept busy in order to make it pay. If a farmer
produces five acres of potatoes he needs a potato cutter, a planter, a
riding cultivator, a sprayer that works under high pressure, a digger
and a sorter. The same outfit will answer for forty acres, which would
reduce the per acre cost considerably. No farmer can afford to grow five
acres of potatoes without the necessary machinery, because hand labor is
out of the question for work of that kind.
On the right kind of soil, and within reach of the right market,
potatoes are money-makers. But they must be grown every year because the
price of potatoes fluctuates more than any other farm crop. Under the
right conditions potatoes grown for five years with proper care and good
management are sure to make money. One year out of five will break even,
two years will make a little money and the other two years will make big
money. At the end of five years, with good business management, the
potato machinery will be all paid for, and there will be a substantial
profit.
WHEEL HOE
In growing onions and other truck crops, where the rows are too close
together for horse cultivation, the wheel hoe is valuable. In fact, it
is almost indispensable when such crops are grown extensively. The best
wheel hoes have a number of attachments. When the seed-bed has been
carefully prepared, and the soil is fine and loose, the wheel hoe may be
used as soon as the young plants show above ground. Men who are
accustomed to operating a wheel hoe become expert. They can work almost
as close to the growing plants with an implement of this kind as they
can with an ordinary hand hoe. The wheel hoe, or hand cultivator, works
the ground on both sides of the row at once, and it does it quickly, so
that very little hand weeding is necessary.