Studies on the relation between cultivation implements, soil structure and the crop II. The effects of the Fowler “Gyrotiller” on the soil

Extract

A general account is given of four experiments in which the action on the soil of the Fowler “Gyrotiller” has been compared with that of the traditional cultivation implements. The gyrotiller has produced well-marked changes in the soil on both heavy and light land. These changes have been demonstrated and recorded by tests of the compactness, the resistance, the degree of comminution and the permeability of the soil.

On the heavy land, the initial effect has been to produce a very loose and open soil. This has gradually settled down until, after the end of the first winter, no difference in compactness was demonstrable by means of the revolver test. But the resistance of the soil, measured by a special recorder and by plough drawbar tests, has remained demonstrably lower on the gyrotilled plots than on the controls for a considerable time after this, and a method of soil fixation has shown that small cavities persisted for more than a year. In one experiment, differences in resistance have been shown to exist up to 19 months after gyrotilling.