6. Is a good seedbed the only factor providing proper germination of seed?
6. Name all the seedbed preparation operations that you know in English.
7. Read and translate text B without a dictionary. Identify the meaning of highlighted words according to their Russian equivalents and to the context.
Text В
Tillage
After seedbed preparation and the planting of the crop, the young plants start to grow in a few days. When row crops such as corn, soybeans, and cotton are grown, farmers have to cultivate to control weeds. Cultivation includes some tillage operations. One of the purposes of tillage is to maintain good soil tilth, that is the physical condition of the soil providing normal plant growth. A soil with a good tilth will be mellow, friable and easily worked.
These conditions are necessary for the roots to absorb nutrients, water and air needed for plant development.
Tillage at the due time and with the proper machines will produce desirable soil tilth. However, too much tillage in preparing the seedbed or cultivating crops may be undesirable.
Nowadays the traditional tillage practice is increasingly replaced by minimum tillage, its main advantages being better soil protection from erosion and lower soil compaction. Under minimum tillage the crop yield is usually as good as under traditional cultivation, while the number of operations is reduced. Farm equipment used now can prepare the soil, apply fertilizers, and plant the seed in one operation.
Vegetable and small fruits can sometimes be grown with no tillage after planting the crop, weeds being controlled with herbicides. Yields of potatoes, carrots and some other crops grown under such system are sometimes even higher than yields when cultivation is practised.
8. Look through text B and:
а) find and define «soil tilth»;
b) name in Russian the main advantages of minimum tillage.
9. C omplete the following sentences .
1. When no tillage is practised, weeds are...
2. Under traditional cultivation yieds may be as high as under....
3. Minimum tillage better protects the soil from ....
Listening and Speaking Focus
Watch the video and answer the questions:
1. Why do some farmers have angled tillage in a square field?
2. What does a farmer do if there is a hill in the field?
3. What can a farmer do to reduce erosion?
https://youtu.be/HxMXE6q7PGo
UNIT 11. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES
| In this unit you will learn: | Grammar focus: - Functions of Infinitive (revision). - No as a modifier. - Conjunction “whether”. Vocabulary focus Reading and comprehension focus: - Text A. Agricultural practices. - Text B. Drainage and irrigation. Listening and speaking focus |
LESSON 11.1. AGRICULTURAL PRACTICIES
Grammar Activities
1. Revise the Grammar Focus sections of Units 8 and 10.