The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1856-02-12

cy of ours.
| In Great Britain a country where there is
no such climate as this to ripen grain, and
where, when one full average crop~fn five
years is secured, farmers think themselves
fortunate, the average amount Of wheat grown
per acre is 27 bushels ana, | believe last year
it exceeded this, and reached TO over so bush
els per acre. There is no good reason why
you should { have as large an average crop
from your wheat fields as this of Great Britain.
In climate you have every advantage; and
in soil, doubt if in the whole of Great Brit
ain there are to be found and four counties
which possess as much ofsuch super-excellent
wheat soil as that which lies outsprcad before
us. When the great aiuyial drift, which
geology points out rs having at some period
swept over this whole peninsula, was deposi-
ted and became the surface, the portion which
formed this county was singularly well mixed
with calcareous and other matters, forming
sol peculiarly adapted to the growth Of wheat.
Yet this soil, rich as it is, may be, and l fear
too frequently is, inisused, Chief among
the abuses from which it suffers is shallow
plowing; and it is an abuse which calls loudly
for reform among great majority of our far
are reforming in this respect, but it is certain
that no general improvement can be felt till
there is greater and more general demand
for implements that will enable them to stir
the soil to a depth yet unrcached by the shall
low burrows that mark yourfelds. Ordinarily
the plows most in use will not turn furrow
moro than six or eight inches in depth, and
even at many of our plowing matches it is
with difficulty that some of them can be made
to run deeper than six inches. This is by no
means deep enough, especially when we con-
slider that the climate is such that our crops
need all the protection the soil is capable Of
| giving them against its drouth. Where far
mers are found who do practice deep plowing
it is almost invariably the case that their
ncighbors point to them as men who arc in
the habit of rasing large and profitable crops.
Is not this sign, as significant as any reason
able man ought to ask for Of the benefits of
deep plowng? l think myself that subsoil
ploainE might be more generally introduced
with advantage, than it has yet been but as
to whether it would be profitable If practiced
on large SCALE in this state, am not pre-
pared to say, being without data or reports
from agricultursts who may have made
experiments in that line. On your deep,
loose loamy grayelly subsoil, which is rich
in all the mineral elements which render
soil valuable, think il would do good SER
vice. Some Of my friends have recently pur-
chased stbsoil plows, and have promised to
report the result of their trials and experiments
for the benefit Of the public. One of these is
in possession of a farm which has been SO
cultivated by its old French proprietos that
the last one had to give it Up as completely
worn out; and now my friend has taken hold
of it and he tells me that at the depth of three
or four inches below the surface there is
hard layer of soil over which the plow
had been run until it appeared as though an
indurated crust has been formed like that of
a road bed, below which it was impossible
for the roots of any plant to penetrate. Thi;
crust he was about to break up, and as each
furrow was turned he would follow the break
ing up and pulverizc some five to six inches
of soil which the first passing plow could not
reach.
The necessity of deeper plowing, and
more thorough pulyerizaiion Of the earth than
has been heretofore piacticed, will be readily
acknowledged, if we will only consider The
services which the soil is required to perform.
Now not only does the soil snstain tile crop,
but it has also to gather and digest n great
part of the food with which the plant is fed,
not only from the inanures which may be
buried in it, but from the rains that fall upon
it is permented. Within q few years past ex-
aininatibns have been made into tho proper
ties Of the soil, and It's qualities and capaci-
ties, by very able agricultural chemist en-
ployed for the purpose by the Agricultural
society of England. From his researches it
appears that the soil possesses many properties
of which it was not before suspected, and
amongst these one of the most important is
the power of separating from the air and lay
ing up large supplies ofammoniacal compounds
which are of the utmost importance in the
growth and maturing of nitrogenous plants.--
1t also has the power Of decomposing other
compounds which contain potash, magnesia,
and, reconstructing them in such subtle
forms that they easily enter into the compo
sition of plants. But to do al this the earth
must be stirred efficiently and thoroughly
A single crop of thrty-ive bushels of wheat
taken from an acre of ground, with two tons
of straw at the same time will take from the
field where it was grown two hundred and
seventy seven pounds of mineral substances in
the following proportion; silica 10 fbs.,
phosphoric acid 80 ibs.. sulphuric acid ibs.,
lime, l6 lbs, magnesa 10 Tbs, potash 40 h.,
soda TBS. Now ten crops Of the same grain
" ould carry off over ton of these valuable
minerals from the field, while, according to
tho usual plan Of cultivation not a ponnd
would have been added to it; and no effort
having been made by increasing the depth of
the soil, or otherwise, to make up for the loss
by putting it in condition TO be acted upon
by the elements, is it strange that we SO often
hear Of farms which once produced thirty five
or forty bushels of wheat per acre, being now
worn out, and their posscssors moving away
in search of new land to which the depicting
process has not yet been applied, but which
they are quit competent to commence and
carry on nd infiaitum. al,4 asl
Tho rrorrrtv Of the soil In rec,,pernte ifsolf