The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1856-10-02
Improve your Flowing"

Very sensible. indeed, upon this much dis
regarded subject Of GOOD FLOWING. talks the
Praiie Farmer in the following editorial:
What do you pillow fort What earfhly
purpose do you expect to subserve by tramp
ing all day long to and fro across that field
after team and plowl Why don't you
throw your grain on, harrow the ground, and
spare yourself and team2'
The first and paramount object i'll blowing
is to effect minute division of the soil. In
this state it is not only more easily penetrat-
ed by the tender roots of grain and grasses,
but more permeable to air and moisture
Look at the never failing fruitfulness Of our
river bottoms. These aliuvial soils have
been made by the long continued OVERLOOKING
Of turbid or muddy waters, which have de
posted the earthly PARTICLES they held in solu-
sion-so finely divided, so completely dis
solved and mixed as to form a kind of paste
--layer after layer, until some of them are
of great thickness These lands owe their
extraordinary and enduring fertility TO this
finely divided state and thorough and com
plete intermixture, and not, rs has been gene
rally supposed, to an nexhaustible supply
of fructifying ingredients. For according to
the analyses Of some Of these "bottom lands"
in Ohio, by Prof. Wells, they were found
to differ only slightly from the sterile soils
Of New England. Their great productive
ness, therefore, must be attributed mainly to
their extremely fine division Now, the
nearer we bring our common, arabic soils to
The same condition, as tomechanical texture,
the more fruitful will they be; and this is to
be done by careful blowing. rolling, harrow
ing &c.
Second: Flowing admits the easy descent
and escape of surplus water; of the free cir
-, Of Nv hich tho natural
the soil are greatly stimulated, and the growth
Of plants promoted. The presence of the
oxygen Of the air in soils. and its frequent
emoval by blowing, constitute one of the
.hief conditions of the productiveness of the
and. Seeds do not terminate when placed
beyond the reach of oxygen, and manures
will undergo no change by which crops are
benefited. Oxygen, when it can freely
enter a soil, untes with it's organic matter
and forms carbonic acid, which the roots take
~p. The more complete the oxidation Of
sell, the more fertile does it become; but
small supply of oxygen cannot be obtained
unless the soil is kept open for the free adj
mission If air.
The :cration of the soil Is held by some to
be the prime object of plowing, There are
some soils which contain weak oxides of iron
and of manganese, which are poisonous TO
vegetation by turning UP THESE SOILS anu
exposing them to the free admission of air, ,
the further production of these oxides is pre-
vented, and those existing are rendered harm
less by the absorption of an additional guam :,
tity of oxygen. |
Again: All soils contain greater or less
prop ortion Of compound mineral substances
their debris of crystalline rocks-such as
hornblend, mica, felspar, etc, etc. in a state
Of degradation. 1t is by the continued de-
of these minerals that exhausted
fields by lying in fallow, or unoccupied. be-
come renewed and produce again with youth
.ul vigor. Plants derive new supplies of
food which before was locked up. This pro-
cess OF decomposition is wonderfully increas-
ed by the act of blowing whereby air and
,arbonic acid come in contact with the par
ticles
AL these purposes obtained by blowing
are the more perfectly won as the operation
Is the more carefully and thoroughly done.
The whole body of soil should be cut up and
.urned over. and TO effect complete pulver-
ization the burrows should be narrow and eS
act in width Westyn Farm .Iowndi