Crawford County, Robinson, Illinois | I found no tool perfect. In the 1950's, a tool called a Soil Surgeon was used by my Dad to break up clods during that dry year. It was basically a metal pan, with long thin blades bolted to it. We filled the pan with dirt for weight, and it did help break up clods--not perfect--but enough to make a seedbed. In the 1970's, a crowsfoot front and a regular back roller on a Cutlimulcher was used. It had field cultivator teeth in the middle that not only worked the soil, but helped give downpressure to make the packer break up clods. Don't ever get next to moist soil, took a day to dig out the crowsfoot with packed mud, and you know how I remember that! Then I got a Landoll Till-all, with three bar harrow that worked about the best in my experience. Again, it wouldn't always bust up all clods, but was about as close to perfect as I have found. The tool worked almost too good in regular soil, it made seedbeds so fine that they were almost too perfect. Thing I liked best about that tool was incorporating herbicide, back in the "old days" of Treflan and the like. We had 7 acres of heavy black soil that only worked well one hour out of one day in the year. When you caught it right, it mellowed into a fine seedbed. All the rest of the time, there were always clods. FIL liked to say that one hour of one day a year usually occurred when he was eating lunch. |