The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette., April 23, 1910, Page 303, Image 3

About The progressive farmer and southern farm gazette. (Starkville, Miss.) 1910-1920

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$500 More a Year Farming: How to Get it
BY USING THE RIGHT IMPLEMENTS IN CULTIVATING
THE CROPS.
By Tut Butler.
|T 18 NOT POSSIBLE, In a
short article of this sort, to
more than mention a few of
the Implements which we regard as
most needful on Southern farms.
There are a number of these which
«re essential to good cultivation, and
w hich are not generally found on the
small farms of the South. It Is of
some of these that we wish to write
In this article.
At a meeting of farmers In Alaba
ma recently, the writer asked what
proportion of the farms of that State
had a smoothing harrow, or any sort
of a harrow used for pulverising the
soli, and was assured that not over
one lu ten, If that many, had such
an Implement. Professor Duggar,
the Director of the Alabama Experi
ment Station, and our special corres
pondent In that State, regards the
smoothing barrow as the one Imple
ment now most needed on the farms
of the South.
The Harrow m* Seceeaarjr aa the How
The writer believes every farm
should have a good smoothing bar
IUW, lur uo M'RaiUB iv an urvrimai j
good cultivation aa the plow. In
fact, It la Inconceivable bow anyone
can, or la willing to attempt to do
farming without a first-elans modern
smoothing harrow. After the land
la once well brokeu two horses and
one man. with s good smoothing bar
row, can do more good work In pre
paring the land for seeding and In
cultivating the crops than four men
and four horses now do with the lit
tle one-horse plows and cultivators
In general uae by the small tanners
of the South.
We are frequently asked what
make of harrow la beet, but such a
question cannot be answered, and no
fair-minded man will attempt to do
so. The Implement Blue Book lists
something over 200 different sorts of
harrowi, not counting the numerous
disk harrows on the market. Any
one of the leading manufacturers of
agricultural Implements has satis
factory smoothing harrows on the
mirk«t and It Is slmnlv a choice be
tween good Implements.
Davidson and Chase, In their book
•A Farm Machinery, classify smooth
ing harrows as follows:
Kinds of teeth—Straight, fixed
toeth. Square and round teeth. Cul
tivator teeth.
Kind of frame—Wood frame. Pipe
frame. Channel or U-bar frame.
Adjustment of teeth—Fixed teeth.
Adjustable teeth. Lever harrowa.
It must be remembered that this
doe* not Include the weeders or
sprlng-tootb harrows, the knife-tooth
harrows or pulverisers, nor the va
rious sorts of disk barrows.
The Kind of Harrow to CleC.
The site of the smoothing harrow,
or the number of sections to be used,
will depend on the freedom of the
fields from Mtumps, open ditches and
other obstructions and the amount of
team power available. The larger
the smoothing harrow; that is, the
greater number of sections used, the
better work It will do, because the
weight and spread of harrow keepH
It to the ground better. For this
reason a smoothing harrow Is not
generally used with less than two
horses; they are better with a larg
er harrow, and lu the Northwest they
use a spread of SO to 40 feet of har
row with eight horses to form the
team, all driven by one man on
horseback.
In selecting a harrow, the follow
ing points are to be considered: The
connections between sections of the
evener should be reinforced or they
may wear out quickly. The tooth
should have a head so It will not
drop out and be lost if the fastener
becomes loose. Square teeth are
preferable and their number and
size should be determined by the
conditions under which the harrow
is to be used. Iron frames are best,
and the set of the teeth should be
under the control of a lever.
In this connection we are disposed
to pass over the weeder and the
curved knife-tooth harrows or pul
verizers, because of the frequent ref
erence which has already been made
to their use in this series of articles,
and devote Just a few words to in
sisting on the use of the disk har
row on every farm where the horse
power Is available to pull it. And
right here let us again insist on the
uHD-nurw utriuer oeconnng a iwo
horse farmer. No one can help the
one-horse farmer to do the best
farming until he helps himself to
another horse or two.
The Disk Harrow's Special Place.
The disk harrow has a work to do—
and does it admirably.—which camot
he done so well or so economically
by the plow or the smoothing har
row. if only one disk harrow can be
afforded, we advise the full-bladed
reversible harrow, with 16- to 20
inch disks, preferably the latter. The
penetration of the disk blades Into
the soil and consequently. In a meas
ure, the draft, depends on the fol
lowing conditions: The angle of the
gangs; the curvature of the disks;
the weight of the harrow; the
sharpness of the blades, and the con
dition of the soil. Disk harrows pull
hard because they do a lot of work.
The disk harrow will pulverise
land which it would take much more
work to pulverise with the smooth
ing harrow; especially cloddy land
or that with large numbers of grass
root tufts or sods. It is also of great
value when run over land before
plowing, In cases where the land Is
■a has/l itisf It uf ill Piiu Lr sin In lamu
——- — - — — - ■» ” — ~r
clods when plowed without disking.
The disking of such land one way
and then at right angles to the direc
tion of the first disking, will reduce,
very greatly, the siae of the clods,
which other wise result from plow
ing land when dry and hard.
The chief use of the disk harrow Is
In pulverizing the land after plowing
preparatory to seeding, and right
here Is probably the weakest point in
our preseut cultural system. The
running of a disk harrow, and that to
be followed by a smoothing harrow,
after the land Is broken and before
planting, will do more to economize
the labor of after cultivation and to
Increase the yield of the crops than
anything else we can suggest. The
reversible disk harrow will also save
much time and money in the making
of the beds to which our planters are
so thoroughly wedded. If the beds
must be made, why not make them
with one trip across the field In
stead of with four?
Of course, there are cutaway-disk
harrows and spadlng-disk harrows,
which are excellent tools, but aa atat
ed, If only one disk barrow la to be
used on the farm, we prefer the fu^
bladed disk harrow.
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Genasco
Ready Roofing
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and endurance that prevents cracks, breaks, and leaks.
You can’t afford to guess or run risks. You want
the roofing that proves it is proof.
Ask your dealer for Genasco. Mineral or smooth surface. Don’t goby the
looks of roofing; insist on the hemisphere trade-mark. A written guarantee—if '
you want it. Write for samples and the Good Roof Guide Rook.
THE BARBER ASPHALT PAVING COMPANY
Largest producers of asphalt, and largest
manufacturers of ready roofing in the world.
I New York San Francisco Chicago
I Cross*section, Genasco Smooth-surface Ready Roofinf
1 \ Trinidad Lake Asphalt
I Asphalt-saturated Wool Felt |
i Trinidad Lake Asphalt ||
"■ r : - — —— ■ " '
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I
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