Abstract: A years’ experiment of conservation tillage has shown the advantage in soil water conserving and crop yield increasing, but also exposed some problems like poor planting quality， thus the surface tillage treatment was conducted in 1996. Through comparison of different treatments on corn stalk cover, soil temperature, soil moisture content, crop emergence and yield, it preliminarily showed that the surface tillage could control stalk cover rate, improve ground condition and increase soil temperature and yield. It is drought and cold in winter of northern China， which makes the stalk decompose difficultly， thus the surface tillage should be employed in conservation tillage system, and combined with planter improvement to solve the problem of poor planting quality caused by stalk accumulation．