EXPERIENCE DEPARTMENT
SOIL.
What   Causta Soil   to Become   Hard,
Cloddy and Dry?   The Remedy.
lit Premium.—Our virgin toll contain*
a large amount of organio matter, that
for yeara haa been accumulating from
the decay of roots and vegetable growth.
Kor the lirst few years ln cultivation
the toll usually contains an abundant
supply of humus, which naturally makes
lt loose and mellow and easy to keep In a
good mechanical condition. Continuous
cropping and cultivation exhausts the
original supply of humus ln the soil so
that lt easily becomes compaot and cloddy, and as the evaporation from a hard or
cloddy soil ls much greater than from a
mellow soil the natural result is that a
toll that is hard or cloddy dries out
badly. Therefore I consider thatthe lack
of humus in the soil is the principal
cauteofthe tendency of the soil to become hard cloddy and dry.
other causes, the results of which are
more immediately disastrous, are, allowing the soil to be tramped by stock when
soft, plowing or working the soil whon
wet, and allowing the surplus water to
run off 01 evaporate from the surfsoe,
Instead ot providing for its removal by
underdrainage. These the principal
causes tor the soil becoming hard and
dry, may all be prevented by proper
management, and a crop of clods is utu-
ally the result of a bad method of farming.
The remedy for a soil that Is inclined
to become hard and dry, from a lack of
humus, ls to supply the soil with plenty
of vegetable matter, which as it decays
will furnish |the much needed humus
that tends to keep the soil loose and mellow. This is a very important Item in
keeping np the fertility of the soil that
cannot be supplied by any commercial
fertilizer. ThU vegetable matter should
be supplied by a more general use of
green manuring and by saving and applying more barn yard manure. For
this purpose more bedding should be
used in the stables and barns, they
should be looked on not merely as a
place to feed and shelter stock but as a
kind of fertllizor factory also.
If your soil hts become hard and cloddy from the tramping of stock, let this be
a lesson to you and don't do lt again. We
can never obtain the highest results from
the cultivation of our toil as long aa we
continue to pasture our  cultivated field*.
If the soil is liable to become hard and
cloddy from having water stand on lt too
long, and thus delay'cultlvatlon.it should
be thoroughly underdrained. With good
management lt ls ls never necestary to
plow or cultivate land that is thoroughly
underdrained when too wet to work well.
My experience is that where none of
these causes are allowed to exist the
soil will stand a drouth well, and Is easily kept in a good mechanical condition.
For a case in point, Jaet observe any well
drained and well cultivated garden or
truck patch, where the soil is not too
sandy or gravelly, that Is occasionally
covered with a coat of barnyard manure,
and where no stock is ever allowed to
trespass, and yon will see tbat a soil
treated thus will never become seriously
hard, cloddy or dry.
Kush Co. Am .a Blacki.idoe,
2d Premium—The chief cause of soils
becoming hard is the lack of vegetable
mold. In its original stats the earth's
aurface was a solid mineral. The action
of sunshine and tbe elements caused ita
surface to crumble and become the fit
habitation for vegetable life. For ages
Vegetation continued to grow and decay,
«aixing its mold with the original mineral- That we call "new ground,"—that
which  has not yet been cnltivatetlr-is
full of vegetable mold formed by decaying plants. This makes the ground loose,
mellow, and easily pulverized. Contln-
nour cropping and removing the humus
eventually exhausts the supply of original vegetable matter in the soil, and the
mineral products ln the soil adhere very
closely and tenaciously to one another,
and we say it ls hard or cloddy.
Another fertile source of hard and cloddy ground is tramping and working ll
when too wet. Tbis presses lt together
ln a moro compact form, and when it
dries it ls hard like a brick molded from
wet mud and allowed to dry in a hot sun.
Tho remedy for the first evil Is to restore to tbe soil Its original amount of
vegetable mold by a liberal use ot clover
and returning to. the soli all the straw,
corn stalks and manure possible. Clover
is the best for this purpose, because itt
roots, ln addition to Its tops, furnish an
abundance of vegetable deposit The
second evil may be remedied by working
the ground only when not too wet, and
by allowing no stock at any time to run
on the tillable land. W. Wai.t.aik.
Henry Co.
3d. Premium.—Clods are formed by
working the ground when there ls not
sullicient moisture In it to cause the individual soil particles to move over each
other. The resistance to the breaking or
mellowing of the soil as lt passes from
the mold board of the plow ls due to the
surface tension.
"Surface tension" ls a term applied to a
physical action of soil grains due to unequal evaporation. In excessively wet
periods, the unevenness of surface, or
physical texture due to variations ln per
cent ot humus, may cause rapid drying
ln somo spots, while others remain filled
with water. The particles of soil to dry
first cause touching particle to join tbem
nntil an equal resistance is met ln another spot of rapid evaporation, where the
two forces meet in equal strength, cracaa
form as the water leave the soil.
Heavy raint or plowing the gronnd
when too wet, may retult in clod forma
tlon. Thit produces what is known as
puddling the soil, and forms the most injurious and troublesome clods. This differs only in degree from the puddling
with the hoe for the mason's mortar.
Perhaps plowing or cultivating crops
when too wet ls the mott common caute
of formation of clods, which Itaves its
evil effects on the proper mellowing of
toil in future years.
Remedy: Plow tbe ground when tbe
layers crumble over each other while
leaving tbe mold board. Never plow too
wet. In dry falls, when ground must be
plowed too dry, mellow the soil mechanically. If tbe ground la in a cultivated
crop where the seed bed has received
proper treatment, tbe ground should not
be cultivated when wet. If heavy rains
tend to puddle it, clod formation can be
checked by running a scratching Implement, as a weeder or barrow, over the
surface as soon as the horse will not
make more than one and one-half inches
of foot print in the plowed land. This
scratching checks the surface, divides
surface tension, producing a greater
number of small clods, but preventing
the formation ot largo ones. This scratching also tends to equalize evaporation,
checking the tendency to form clods beneath the surface. As soon as the soil ls
sufficiently dry to allow of one or two
Inches of cultivation, nse a shallow implement that completely removes the top
crust to a new area.This method destroys
surface tension, creates a mulch to check
rapid evaporation from below, making a
rearrangement of soil particles necestary
btfore clods can be formed. This should
be done after avery rain, if all the mols-
tnre is needed for plant growth. Many
of the Implements now ln use make it entirely practical for the farmer, even on
heavy clays, to prevent clod formation.
The sodding of the surface ln grass,
manuring and liming the soil, all aid in
Improving Its physical texture.
If tbe ground It a level clay, with hard
pan tubtoil, and no drainage, "puddled
out" ln attempting to raise cultivated
crops, perfect underdraiuage mutt precede all other remedies named.
Tlppecance Co. W. 11. A.
Hard and cloddy toll ls caused by
plowing, pasturing, working and hauling over the ground when it ls too wet,
Jnst at many farmers are doing in this
county this spring. Year before laat 1
broke .4 acres of oorn ground and sowed
it ln oats. In the fall I sowed lt to wheat,
and when I went out to plow 1 oould not.
I was turprlted. My neighbor was plowing in an adjoining Held ot wire grass
tod, I went to the other side of my field
and could plow right along. This side of
the field was worked dry ln the spring
while the other side was worked wot.
This solved the problem. I will not
plow wet again when I can help 11
Working and tramping It wet will
mako It hard and the moisture soon rises
to tbe surface, and is evaporated by the
wind and sun.
In this case we can apply tbe old
adage, "An ounce ot prevention ls worth
a pound of cure."
But when we get our ground in this fix
we are bound to apply a cure, whioh will
be found by plowing nnder a coat of
crimson clover, cow peas or common red
clover. A crop of either of thete plowed
under will Insure a loose, mellow soil.
I prefer clover to plow down, because
It obtains itt nitrogen from the air, while
rye, oats, etc , obtain their nitrogen from
theground. AFahmkiu
Harriton Co.
The main cautet of a .11 becoming hard
cloddy and dry, are the tramping ground
while soft, especially in the spring while
the frost is leaving it,or breaking lt when
the ground Is too wet. The remedies I
would prescribe are: keep your stock off
the ground while soft, and don't plow
when too wet. Never plow when the
ground, after being turned ovtr, look,
slick. Better go fishing, or find other employment. If yon have been careless
about tbe two things above mentioned,
and have clods, my remedy would be to
harrow as soon as tbe ground works
nicely after a good rain. Then follow
with a roller as soon as the roller will
work nicely. He careful and do your
work at tbe proper time, as one lick at
tbe proper time ls worth many after the
ground bas become dried out. Itis my
experience in handling a bad piece of
cloddy ground that a stitch in time may
save ten, or even more. I prefer a good
harrowing first, as you can harrow about
one day sooner after a rain, than you
can roll or drag. A drag does nice work
lt the ground Is loose and mellow, but for
cloddy ground I prefer a roller.
Bartholomew Co. A. Reader.
Soldi with the large traction engines, it
the field is to be plowed soon It will be '
time and labor tav»d, if the road is
plowed immediately aud harrowed until
well pulverized. Plowing when too wet
will caute lt to become hard and cloddy
ami allow It to dry out much fatter than
when plowed in good condition. Pulverize well in bold moisture. When land is
eloddy il will dry out much fatter than
when It ls well pulverized because the
air will circulate more freely than when
it it made fine, witli tbe barrow and roller.
Warren Co. J. I.. O.
Tbe caute of soil becoming hard, cloddy
and dry 1* allowing stock to tramp and
run over It and driving anywhere
through fields, when the ground ls wet
from rain, or before lt has settled after
thawingoutin the spring. My remedy
ls to keep stock yarded, when the ground
ls not ln condition to bear them up, and
drive as carefully as possible and not go
where It ls not necessary when the
ground is soft. Allowing the soil to become poor is another cause of its becoming hard and cloddy. If you will notice
when plowing where the land Is ricb,lt
Is loose and mellow and ls easily pulverized. Therefore, it is a suggestion
which deserves more than a passing notice, that If we keep the soil well fertilized with clover and manure, and keep
the stock off when too wet, we shall
have no trouble about hard and cloddy
land.   When lt ts necessary to cross the
Thero are four very marked causes for
dry, cloddy soil: Tramping when tret;
plowing when wel'impropcrundtrdraln-
lng, and poverty. We assume when writing on a subject like tills tbat we write
according to our respective location*. I
have been thinking of Iale lhat It would
bo a good plan for ut to try Mrs. Meredith's Idea, ot using the blggor part of the
farm for permanent blue-grass pasture,
because It teems very hard for us to pasture here without sometimes pasturing
wet, and I believe our ground It Injured
by tramping whenever the footprinu are
made, even though we have a goodly
stand of clover and timothy. 1 had cause
to notice this more closely In plowing a
field where 1 had hauled corn fodder to
the shredder in the early part of winter
when the ground was soft not frozen. I
oould trace the wagon tracks after plowing. Of courso we have what we call elm
black soil that does not compact so easily
tut our hickory black,or beech; white or
yellow clay knobt we call them. Our
nearett neighbor got ln a hurry and said
the spring was late and we would have to
buttle; to he plowed when wet, uting
three hortes, and plowing pretty deep.
After the tun bad shone on lt for two or
three days, be walked across to where I
was at work, and said we would have tbe
hardest timo we've had for a long time to
get our ground ln order. Now thesefaots
are not so marked ln a soil well nnder
drained, nr rich. A rich soil is light and
porous, and a soil not naturally light can
be made comparatively so, and tulliclent-
ly porous, by admixture with decomposed
vegetable matter. This brings us back to
the thought expressed by Mrs. Meredith,
whether this couldn't bo best remedied
by using a small portion of tbe farm, say
enough to furnish tbe writer's provision
for tbe rotation of crops, not letting •
hoof on It, and using the balance for permanent blue-grass paatnre. The stook
would fertilize the pasture, and bltie-
gratt nndoubtedly Is the best pasture in
the world for growing and fattening
stock. This would give ut all the manure and decaying vegetable matter back
on this smaller portion; and not allowing
any stock on it, It would be like our garden. Who would think of turning stock
Into the garden to tramp It all up. It
tbey get In, as they sometimes do, we
huttle tbem out ln a hurry. T. M. S.
Hamilton Co.
BBVIKW.
Once in a while a topic Ukethitone has
a few well defined answers. In such
cases many of the .articles, kindly prepared by writers, are almost verbatim
repetitions of each other.
Will our correspondents bo so kind as
to appreciate the situation to-day, and
allow us to publish only a part of tbe
representative articles ont of the large
number forwarded. This does not often
occur.
It is pleasant to see how clearly all
agree as to causes and disastrous results
of cloddy seed beds. I believe that a
large body of farmers are awake to these
conditions, because last winter there was
no question more anxiously asked than
how to get a stand of clover In a dry season. I,mi spring gronnd broke mellow
and nice, bnt this spring when we mnst
i lath