tions. If sowing is deferred for a few weeks in
the spring on such lands, or on other lands autumn plowed or early
spring plowed, a free use of the harrow ought to be made in the
interval, because of the favorable influence which this will have on the
retention of moisture. In preparing some soils for autumn sowing after
a grain crop, as in some parts of Nebraska and Kansas, it is only
necessary to use the harrow; in preparing others the disk and harrow;
and in yet others the disk and harrow and roller. In preparing other
soils, as the clays of the South, it may be necessary first to plow and
subsoil, and subsequently to use sufficiently the harrow and roller.

Evenness in the soil on the surface is important when it is so retentive
that water may collect in the depressions after heavy rain. In such
places the plants are much liable to fail, especially in the early
winter, or even shortly after they may have begun to grow, if moisture
is excessive. In order to smooth and even the land sufficiently, it may
be necessary to run over it some form of leveller. This does not mean,
however, that it will not be necessary sometimes to plow the land in
ridges, or "lands," as they are sometimes called, but it does mean that
the slope from the center of the lands toward the furrows shall be even
and gradual, in order that an excess of surface water, as in rainy
climates, shall be carried away by the latter.

Firmness in the seed-bed is necessary chiefly to prevent too much drying
out near the surface in dry weather, and the holding of too much water
in the spaces between the particles near the surface in wet weather,
followed by freezing of the soil. The less deep the stirring of the
cultivated portion when preparing it, the longer the interval between
such stirring and the sowing of the seed, and the heavier the pressure
when rolling, the more firm will the seed-bed be. The deeper the land
is plowed, therefore, the longer should be the interval before it is
sowed, but ample rainfall will shorten this period. Firmness in the
seed-bed is more important, relatively, in summer or early autumn when
evaporation from the surface soil is the most rapid. On some soils of
the Middle States which border on the Mississippi, the early sown autumn
crop will sometimes perish after the plants have grown some distance
above the ground, because of want of firmness in the soil; hence, in
such locations harrowing the surface of the ground thoroughly