Raftsman's journal. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1854-1948, 1859-05-18
VOL. 5.---NO. 50.
DEEP FLOWING.

{ DEEP FLOWING.
/ THEORY or PLowING.-Why not put the seed
on the ground Because one OF the surround
/ inrs Imoisturcl necessary 10 vegetable life
would be wanting. Why not dig holes large
enough only for the seed, and cover them ?
Because disintegration of the soil is necessa-
~ to facility OF penetration by the roots OF the
plant To produce that disintegratIon, be-
yond what is done by freezing and thawing,
in the most expeditions manner, We plow.
Why need the roots penetrate the soil To
sustain the tops of the plant IN an upright po
sition, and give sustcnance to the plant a
large portion of the nutriment which is assim
Hated by life, is drawn from the soil, as well
as the air BY means of the leaves.
DEEP PLowING.-We have now universal
key TO the true solution of the much-mooted
question OF deep plowing. Plow as deep as
the material OF sustcnance can be found in re-
munerating quantity. If this proposition seems
general-too wide for rule-it is neyerthe-
less the only one. We must regard then:
l. LENGTH OF Roor.-The roots of plants
run. as general rule, rather deeper or longer
than the tops of plants rise above the surface
of the earth. In the case of small plants then,
no matter what the soil, il would not be neces-
sary to plow deeper than the height of the
plant. Again, the roots of plants do not de-
scend vertically, but at an angl of various in
clinatiOn to the horizon-generally filling out
their greatest length laterally. The reason OF
IDlS Is Tie law OF projecting roofs
within the range Of the ssyital foTces.''
=. THE VITAL FoRcEs.'-The leading vital
forces are five: water, heat, air, electricity and
light. Roots seem, therefore, to run Just low
enough to insure moisture, and enjoy heat
and air. We know less OF electricity. Deep
blowing, then, favors the largest application
of the vital forces to the expansion of the
plant, and therefore the greatest growth, 9TH
er things being equal.
8. How DEEP IF the vital forces were the
only surroundings of the plant, the only limit
to the depth of plowing would be the length OF
the plants, under the most favorable circum-
stances-fifteen feet deep for Indian corn
would not be too deep! But then the mine
raj and vegetable remains-the nutriment of
plants-must be considered. Ii there is ono
foot of nutrimental soil resting upon sand or
| lime stone, then plow one foot. So of pipe
clay, or other substances not capable of adding
to the nutriment OF plants; leave them at the
base of the blowing; don't turn them to the
top, because it would be putting the innutrit:-
ous elements in contact with the vital forces,
to the exclusion Of the nutritious.
4. SUBsOuING.-But after you have turned
up and disintegrated all the productive ele-
ments of the soil, subsoiling may be used as
means of prov iding reservoir of water for
the roots in dry weather, nothing more and
when the upper soil is very thin in the crust,
it is especially necessary, TO prevent the wa
ter from washing away the soil when under
draining is not used.
5. DEEPENING THE Son.-lt sometimes hap
pens that the nutritious soil may be increased
by exposing the subsoil TO the action of the
vital forces and the influence of freezing
That is especially the case with the limestone
lands of Kentucky. The red clay of the cen
trail parts OF this State, taken ten feet below
the surface, and exposed to the frost and tho
action of the vital forces, will produce a very
nutritive soil. A soil may be deepened then
by turning up all the nutritious, and a little of
the subSoil each year, and thus there will be
no limit to the increased productiveness, but
the want of physical means of disiptegrstion.
We are now prepared to account for the con
ficting testimosy of farmers about deep pIow-
ing. One plows up deep nutritious soil 2
foot or fifteen inches, and produces most cx-
traordinary crops. Another submerges under
impenctrabic clay or innutritious gravel, the
thin crust OF nutritious earth, the same depth
as the other-the roots never are able to
reach through the innutritious to the netSitI-
Gus soil, and the crop perishes! Forthwith
he reads the community jeIemiad against
sideep plowing."
From all this it will be seen that Farming is
both a.science (and most broad and Intricate
science) and an art, calling for the highest hu-
powers of observations combination and
analysis. G. II. CLAY.
Yhitehaii, Madison Co., Ky.