Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1859-05-19
farmer's Department,
About Deep and Shallow Flowing.

Fps Rural I'm in trnuble-in fact al
most driven to despair Only think Of it hore
/ have been the last ten years-yeS for my
v hole life time in fact, under the impression
that deep blowing was oar of the essential re.
quisites of good farming. Acting upon this
impression have been for the last ten years
gradually deepening MY soil, hy powimg lit
tie deeper each time, ill have got down nile
ten and even twelve inches deep, and still going
down. have got this impression by reading
such agricultural papers and books as | could
get hold of-by listening to the teachings of
our best farmers, aud / often think Of the say
ing of Poor Richard to
"Plow deep while suggaris sleep.
And you'll have corn to sell and keep
commenced on a piece of land that had
been farmed on the skinning system, hy plow-
ing four or Eve inches deep, and, as | said be-
fore, have been plowiLg deeper and deeper.
and as my crops have been gradually improv
ing from year to year, fancied it was owing,
in measure. at least, to deeper plowing.-
Judge Of my surprise then, Mr.. Editor, on
reading the following in your issue for March
26th from as" Of TrumanSburg, \. I.:-"On
large proportion of land in our State, deep
blowing for corn is not advantageous. Expert
ence, and the we'll known fact that the roots
of corn are allr1ys found near the surface, dc.
monStrate IT,"
You may believe those two little sentences
set me to thnking-this is after | got little
over my amazement so conld think. | thought
if those sentences were true, that after all the
labor bestowed, the horse flesh wasted in plDw-
ing deep, that like enough | had been injuring
my land instead of benefiting il. | began to
think whether it was " fact that the roots
of corn are ai,Cays found near the surface" |
thought of powing up corn Stubble the other
day for oats and while so doing l stopped my
team to rest, and sat down on the plow beam
to rest myself While seated there | amused
myself by pulling up corn stubbles and exam
ining the roots, noticing how very numerous
and long they were and how they spread out
in every direction, and they descended down
even to the hottom of the furrow. That was
before / had read the article referred to, and
my conclusion then was, that there was evidence
in favor of deep blowing for those roots ran
down at least ten inches. Was my conclusion
wrong? That is the question that puzzles
me.
looked anxiouSly for the next RURAL, hop
ing to find something in it to help me out Of
my great quandary. But, alas in the next
RURAL find the following. which, instead of
helping me ont of my difficulty, serves to cast
still greater gloom over the Esprit of my
dreams"
"W. j. F." in speaking on this subject,
says: ain practice, we often see the farmer,
who inverts only the small portion of his farm
which lies near the surface, reaping larger crops
and with more profit than his neighbor who in
verts his farm good way down towards the
center. The hard subsoil, miring in winter and
and baking in summer, is not, after all, just The
right food for plants lie finds, too late, that
he has turned his farm up-sidc-dorn and lucky
is he who does not find himself turned of be
fore he can get it right side up once more"
Now, Mr.. Editor is there any hope for me?
Can You say anything to give me the least ell
couragement Is there any soil that will bear
deep plowing and if so, what kind Of soil is
it hardly dare plow any more till | hear
from w. DO write " = " and have him tell rs
what soil, if any, to plow deep. ! shall be in
perfect agony of suspense till | know. And,
by the way, | wish while you are about it.you
would urge upon your correspondents general
ly, the necessity, in relating their experience; >;
and experiments, Of giving as precisely as pos
sible. the nature and characteristics of the soil
operated upon and written about. By so do
ing readers would be much better able to Judge
whether such treatment would answer their
own case. To act on this hint, will begin by
saying that am working 6ne plain land soil
a sandy gravelIy loan what few stones there
are, are mostly c0bble stones" The subsoil
is pretty much the same as the surface soil,
except the vegetable matter
This question of deep or shallow plowing,
is one Of vast Importance to every farmer, for
no man will he fool enough to plow twelve or
sixteen inches deep, after he finds it is just as
we'll or better to plow only four. II seems to
ME that the question might be solved to de-
monStration on particular soils. | have no
idea from what little | know of " hard pan
subsOil, that crops would be particularly bene-
fted by bringing any quantity into immediate
contact with them. Nor would recommend
bringing mnch Of any kind of subsoiI up at
time. Little by little has been my motto
and practice. JouN +. OyENsHIRE
Athens, Bradford Co, Pa, 1859.