Fremont journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County [Ohio]) 1853-1866, 1857-02-20
s7ariSdIaraL ana ppnllsIita



ricncr,;u-deep,plaFina fINas glad to soc
a uahl soeposed IL would NcalP out moro Jf
Tho same kind, but have been Disappointed.
Two farmers Of Ohio lose an incalculabie
amount of labor annually, by merely skim
ming over the ground and that they should
persist in this course seems strange, when
year after year they are Disappointed N
their crops, and an experiment IN deeper
tillaee would cost so little; which, once tried,
would never DO forssakeh aAO. :.
In the spring Of 1853, i bought double
Michigan steel plow, put on yoke of cat
tie and pair Of horses, and plowed twelve
acres Of sward ground. About one-half Of
il is limestone clay, to the top; the other,
the clay, forms tho sub-soiL being covered
from ten to fourteen inches in depth, with n
black loan, containing q large portion of
vegetable fiber. We ran the plow eleven
inches deep, through the whole Of it; and
although il had been plowcd at times, for
the last forty years, we undoubtedly turned
large amount Of earth that the sun had
not shone onin that time. The field lies
alongside of the public road, and great
many persons, attracted by the novel ap-
pearancc of tho plow, it being the first in
the ueighborhood, stopped to see it; and
many conservative old farmers prophesied a
failure of the crop. However, held fast
the confidence wherewith l began, unto the
end, and planted it about the 10th of the
5th mo-, in corn. The first planting was
almost entirely eaten up, kernel, sprout and
all, by insects; so that, in three weeks from
the first planting, was compelled to mark
ii out anew, and re-plant the whole Of it
This planting came up well, and grew fast,
on the black loan, but came on slowly and
had q dwarfish look on the clay. The pass
ers-by, noticed all this, and some said, and
a great many thought-"I told you so."-
We worked away at it, and when we came
to gather the corn, we found the little stinted
stalks on the ono half, had, on every one
quite respectable ear; and the othcr hall
was, considering it was planted SO late, 2
good crop, in every respect. The mex
spring, the ground seemed so very mellow
| put in single plow, with single span o
horses and stirred it up about the same
depth that wo did the year before, with Tho
double plow and team, and with just as
much case as the same force would have
plowed it five inches deep, if it had neyel
been been plowed any deeper; and abou
the 5th of the 5th month, planted it agair
in corn, in hills three and a half feet, by
four feet apart. 1t came up well, and grew
as we'll as all ily neighbors corn did in the
early part of the summer. This, it will be
recollected, was season of great drouth
After all other corn in the in the vicinity
was dried up, mine continued to grow, and
yielded forty bushels per acre; while pre-
sumo the average of the country was moi
over twenty bushels per acre.
These two crops being equal to one good
one l covered the thinncst part of the field
with barn-yard manure; and the next spring
plowed again, with single plow-the loan,
about twelve inches, and the clay, about
eight inches in depth. Iplanted the loan
in corn, in hills three and a half feet each
way; and the clay in oats, sown broadcast
When the oats were ready to harvest, owing
TO the heavy rains, with wind, for which
this season was noted, it was laying flat or
the ground, ard twisted, and swerved, in
every direction, so that l lost considerable
proportion of it, and had fifty bushels pei
acre left; the corn yielded largely; but as il
was fed without husking, ! cannot state the
exact amount. ef''f
l sowed wheatin the oat stubble and the
corn stubble with oats, and had a fair cror
of each. This brings us TO the fall of 1856
when 1 again plowed it with double pillow
an average depth of at least fourteen inch
es, and sowed it in wheat and grass seeds
and, if should live to do so, may hereafter
report the result. / choose to give my ex
perience with this field, because l have con
tinued il in grain much beyond the common
rotation ofcrops, and believe that the surface
soil is not any more exhausted than it would
have been with one crop Of corn, oats and
wheat, and shallosU plowing l shall be
very much disappointed, If it does not yelt
very heavy crop of hay as soon as it is SCI
in grass.
In the meantime, all the plowing done or
my farm, has been deep and always with
satisfactory results. In some instances, as
was the case With the clay part of the field
above mentioned, there seems to be nothing
gained the first year, but it always tells the
second; and / have always found that ground
worked deep while in grain, will, when Sc
down in grass, yield double as much as wher
subjected to the same rotation of crops
with the skinning process. .,aas +
The reasons are obvious; the plant has ;
much greater amount of earth from whenc'
to draw sustenance. During severe droutb
deep, we'll pulyerized soilabsorbs and re
tains more moisture; while an excess of we
is so distributed, as not to injure the plant.
In fact where the sub-soilis rich in salts
as it is in all parts of our State, which need
only the proper agents and chemical affini
ties, TO convert them into food for plants
those agents being, to a great extent, sinpl
light heat, and moisture-we can, by dee
tillage alone, with a proper rotation Of crops
forever preserve our SOIL rich as when th
plow-share clave its virgin bosom Wrii
ten for the Ohio Farmer, By Jas. d. LadC
Horses--Sfabies, Il 9Fr
Most stables are constructed in direct v
olation of every law of nature. They ar
made to slope from the hay rack, back