TTOME AND FA RM MAGAZINE SECTION
com paratively shallow rooted grain
crops. T heir roots strik e steadily deeper
and deeper and draw upon th is deeply
stored m oisture directly and indirectly
(Special to th e F arm M agazine.)
I ev ap o ratio n , a g re a te r exhaustion o f|th ro u g h the lesser d istan ce th a t capil
H IK E PB A ( TICAT.T.Y all farm ers th e p lan t foods in the su rface layers lary action m ust carry th e more deeply
th a t m ake any claim to progree- an<I»
course, g re a te r su fferin g in the stored m oisture to them . As a m a tte r
’— hot
v - , w
-----,1.—
i
t n;_ _
js not uncommon to fin d a
siv e ag ricu ltu ral p ractices are 'Ivy»
eath er _ when
fillin g x..__
tim e
portion of th e roots of the w heat p lant
aw are o f th e im portaneo of deep stor- comes.
ago of m oisture in dry fan n in g , the ■ “ In p roperly handled soils in re- p en etratin g to a d epth of eig h t or ton
im;>ortance of deep storage reaches f u r - . gions of 10 to 15 inches rain fall, the feet, although th is does not occur, of
th e r th an m erely a ffo rd in g a larg er ' m oisturo m ay be carried to depths of course, except w here m oisture has pene
supply o f m oisturo for th e dry seasons 9 and 10 fe e t and a t th is depth it is tra te d th a t far, fo r root pen etratio n
an d n a tu ra lly im plies conditions th a t by no m eans beyond reach of even the follow s only in th e p ath of m o istu re.”
lead to a deeper rooting system of the
w
growing crops.
A
‘ ‘ T h u s,” says P rofessor Seudder, the
Oregon A g ricu ltu ral College agronom
is t, ‘ ‘ the crop roots have a g re a t area
WAS alw ays called a cran k on the I hitch in g were done in there. I f it was
of soil from w hich th ey o b tain stored
care of farm im plem ents. W hat a cold m orning in early spring, the
m oisture and p la n t food. The deeper
th ey m eant w as th a t X took more horses mueh p referred to go in th ere
sto red m oisture w hich can n o t reach
ik .
i.
7
7
7,
7 tim e th an w as p ro fitab le to care for the to drink th an at th e outdoor ta n k , and
th e upper layers of soil rap id ly enough* , ,
. , ,
_
_
,
.,
t
thronirh
pleasure
when “ it w as h o t In show ery
th rough cap illary action to supply t . t h , e i toola;
r “" ’ bQt to raa 11 wa8 mora F
« " « " I th
- - e - « sam
» • e "<>«*
needed sustenance, can be utilized bv ‘° ™
°JLU ° ‘„ th a “ “ T
T a th e r- when w orking in th e field,
th e deeply rooted p lan ts as th e hot w eath erb eaten or ru sty a ffa ir, aside he doors were le ft open a t one end or
r
from th e q u ality of th e w ork done w ith th e other, w hichever geomed the most
w eath er approaches and th e g rain fill
it
favorable from the elements; then if
in g period comes. I t is th is su b so il
The harrow w as th e only tool th a t I we had to m ake a home ru n to b eat
m oisture w hich acts as the d ry fa rm
u nhitched from in the field, it being th e shower, ev ery th in g w as favorable
e r ’s reserve and p erm its him to pro
too inco n v en ien t to tak e in. Then the fo r it.
duce a good crop p ractically w ithout
q u ality of th e w ork it would do In
The horses th a t took th e plow out to
rain .
eith er case could h ard ly be tak en i n t o ; th e field in th e m orning brought it
‘ ‘ G ettin g th e m oisture in to th e soil
co n sid eratio n ; so th a t harrow was back again a t noon. The plow m ust be
5s alm ost as im p o rtan t as is its con
cleaned and well painted once in two sharpened every noon when in use. It
serv atio n a fte r it gets there. I t is at
years, and it was out in th e w eather took about 18 m inutes to ta k e o ff the
le a s t of firs t im portance, fo r m oisture
ab o u t six w eeks every spring. I t cost plow share, ham m er it out cold on the
c an n o t be conserved u n til it is taken
$18 and I used it 30 years.
s n ’ril and p u t it on again. Then a fte r
in to the soil reservoir.
There w as a w aterin g place in th e d inner it seemed to draw 30 per cent
Inducing Deep Storage.
m achine shed, and h itching up and u n easier when fresh sharpened. W hile
‘ ‘ To induce deep sto rag e th e surface
Boil m ust be m ain tain ed in an absorp
tiv e , sponge-like condition throughout
th e p recip itatio n period as fa r as pos
sible, as already described, by plow
in g or disking, in creasing th e humus
co n ten t, etc., so th a t p recip itatio n will
strik o in and be carried to the subsoil
im m ediately, n o t only by pereolation
b u t by capillary action dow nward.
‘ ‘ Indeed, one of the most im portant
fu n ctio n s of capillary action is to carry
m oisture dow nw ard into th e lower, :
d rie r areas a fte r pereolation has ceased.
H ere again a m oist subsoil is of great
e it im portance, fo r a fa r reaching cap il
la ry m ovem ent dow nw ard is hastened
w here th e soil p articles are already
m oist, “ slic k in g ” the w ay fo r a more
rap id passage of fu rth e r moisture.
H an d lin g Properly.
“ W here th e surface soil is le ft hard |
and com pact over w in ter and early
spring, not only loss from su rface wash
in g occurs, b u t m oisture does not pene
tr a to in to th e subsoil. I t rem ains
larg ely in th e su rface layers. T his re
su lts in shallow rooting o f th e crop
p la n ts and a consequent larg er grow th
of leaf and sta lk , a la rg e r loss by ,
T "
*
*
r
8
j I '10 sharp plow would run deeper, the
plow would run shallower. A t
night th e plow was brought in. T h e *
aa the end of a shelf sat a tom ato caa
w ith some m achine oil and a p ain t
brush in it, and it was a pleasure ra th e r
than a task to grease all the bright
parts of the plow. Then If there
m e dam p w eather and the plow was
not used for a few days, th ere was ne
question b u t w hat it would do its p a rt
satisfacto rily w hen w anted.
The sam e w ith the p la n te r; it was
handier to tak e out some corn on the
p lan ter than any other way. And with
the cultivator, the mower, the tedder
or hay rake, the horse or team th a t
took them to the field brought th e n
back again before they were unhitched.
A nd even the binder th e sam e; at
m orning and noon when the binder was
in use th ere w ere 15 m inutes or mors
; spent on the binder w ith w rench, plie
oil hole cleaner, oil can, etm, and I
thought it was tim e well spent.
W hen the season's use of each toed
was over, it wae cleaned, all b rig h t
p a rts greased, then p a t aw ay in its
place. I t was arranged to ta k e tools
a p a rt b u t little ; all heavy p a rts put
back on ground floor, all lig h te r parts
put overhead. I f any repairs wore
needed on tools when p u t aw ay, not»
was made of it, and then a t some eatt-
venient tim e it w as attonded to. This
to some looked like lots of needless
work, but to me it was a pleasure, or
the poetry of farm ing. A nd it was
p rofitable, fo r the tools lasted about
tw ice as long.
<
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