Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1857-01-15
Agritulturd,
4 few words about deep Culture
and Drought.


and Drought.
In the region oi country in which | live,
we had drought of the greatest severity, IN
the summer oil 1854 by means of which
onr crops OF corn. hemp, small grain and
grass were reduced TO very small fraction
of their common ayersee, and immense los
ses inquired. Ny farm suffered about as
much as any around me; and in casting
obout for some method o. avoiding, as far
ss could by tillsge, the evils of similar
visitation, conc uded 10 make no change
in the cross themselves, but TO make fair
trial of deeper culture of the soil. | ought
to cav, that nv land is oil the finest quality
of limestone land, snd had been in cuItiya-
tion for more than sixty years, during the
latter half o: which it had been very care
fully ameliora,ed, as far as that could be
done 5y q generous rotation Of crops, in a
four fold shift, by fair cul,ure-by keeping
it clean, uuirodden where bare, and so on.
In the autumn of 1854, procured from
MilleR and Wingate, of Louisville. KY,
two Of their suo-soil pluws; and with the
help of good common Plows; and these sub
soil pIows following them,I broke up. by
The middle of the following March. about
ighly acres or clover, aud planted corn IN
il, early in May. The common p,ows turn
ed orer the top soil, about FIVE Inches deep;
the sub-soii pluws vent in the furrow about
eight inches deeper, merely breaking and
stirring the ground, but not bringing it 10
the surface-msking about thirteen inches
in all. The result was a crop of abcu:
seventy bushels to the acre-the year 1850
being very fine season for c,rn, and The
common Weld o. the ground being shout
sixty bushels. In 1856, this ground was
put in oats, about the LIST Of April, and sown
u bushels to the acre. This year (lS56)
has been also year of severe drought, in
this region. My oats crop was about half
an ordinary crop. but was considerably bet
ter than any other oat crop in my neighbor-
hood. am almost afraid to say, ] have
heretofore raised over a hundred measured
bushels of oats to The acre; but as nine or
ten of my ne:ghbors measured the land aud
the oats. and | got premium from one OF
our largest Societies for them, | hope your
readers will try to believe it. Let me say,
that cast iron points TO sub-soil plows are
extremely troublesome, and that unless
can get them with steel points, will not
use them any more. However, ought 10
add, that in deep soils they are no, the best
Instrument, any how; but should suppos e
they were invaluable in rich, thin and light
soiks, were the sub.soii is DeAr the surfuce,
and not SO good as the top soil. So, not
being altogether satisfied with the sub-soil
piows, and thinking l. would Ike to have
some Of the rich under soil. on the top, as
well as to have deeper tihh, | procured
through friend, in the fal! of 1855, from
Chicago, large plow, known with US as
the Illinois Prairie Piow. 1t is, essentially ,,
two plows on one beam, the hinder plow sci
deeper one. Ittakes three very stout horses
flour would be beiter) to use the plow. In
or land, it " i'll cut and turn upside-down, !,
furrow about l2 inches square; and with
one of them turned over fifty acres of
clover sod, during last fail, winter and spring,
and planted the ground in corn, about the
10Th OF May last. The corn stood badly !,
AID much OF it had TO be re-Planted. This
summer has been zone of very protrac,ed
drought. The result is this: my 6fty-acre
field did not look well in the fore part of
the season; ny other corn looked better;
the corn OF some of my neighbors looked
better. But as the season passed on, and
the drought fell on US more and more intense
ly, this corn held its own, and even seemed
10 gain little, while other corn, that prom
ised far bettor, in early appearance, grad
uaily succumbed to the hot. dry season. At
last, the rains came, and then, when other
corn was past redemDtiun, my Illinois pluw
corn lifted up its head brightly and vigorously
Its product will lie about forty-fve bushels
to the acre-the average product OF my
neig h5orhooI not reaching probably twenty
five bushels. Ii seems to me, therefore,
that as far as these experiments 60, they
prove clearly, that deeper cultxre than we
have been satisfied with, is partial remedy
against drought, aid is great advantage
even in coed SEASONS; and that, in deep soils |
the cheapest and most effectuai method OF
this, is not sub-soil.ng but 4onsst deep pIow-
ing. And, perhaps, " hen | add, that except
the implements have myself, and except
tho experiments have herein spJken of,
there are neither such implements, nor such
proceedings. anywhere abuu, me. yon will,
at least hold me excused for making SO many
words over what little have done in the
matter during three seasons.
The recurrence of these terrible droughts
are a nea and most important feature in
our agricultural affairs, in the central States,
OF the West. We must t-y to provide
against the ruin which Sill follow in their
train, either BY totally changing the staples
of our industry, or by adc ptlng methods OF
cultuhe which will enable our present sta
plies to endure them better. Anything has,
therefore, some value, that affUrds to pra,ical
farmers a reliable hint even, in either
direction. PHILo-AGRIcoLA.
n. I