Studies on the relation between cultivation implements, soil structure and the crop: III. Rolls: an account of methods employed in a study of their actions on the soil.

Extract

An account is given of methods which have been employed in laboratory and field studies of the actions of rolls on the soil. These studies have revealed little that is remarkable or unexpected concerning the actions of rolls on the soil, but they have clearly demonstrated that the exact actions of rolls differ widely according to the circumstances in which they are employed. When rolling is carried out in field experiments, it is necessary to perform tests to measure the exact effects produced on the soil. In this way it should gradually become more apparent when and how rolling is likely to be beneficial.

Of the methods which have been described, the last two, viz. tests of the consolidation, moisture content and tilth by means of a sampling tube, and of the mechanical resistance to the penetration of a probe with the automatic “resistance” recorder, are well adapted to use in field experiments. These methods are being used in many field experiments involving cultivations, and it is hoped that it may at some time in the future be possible by such methods to relate cultivations and crop yields through a knowledge of the soil structure.