Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1861-04-22
AarIrnIInrnL


P1owma LAND ron OoRsy--The Baitimers
Rprat Rsgistsr contains . very valuable ar
tiels on the culture Of corn, its length pre-
cludea our publishing II at once, but We
give this week his views upon the manner
in which land should be plowed for this
crop, and shall follow up the subject here
after; 'nJ 9ai ioas9i1, oi fl4mif alaii H
As an almost universal practice the
preparation Of our corn lands, and the plant-
he thereof, are turned off in too much Of q
hurry to be well and thoroughly accom-
plished and, ss we intend our few remarks
70 apply rather 10 The culture than 10 the m.-
nurfa preparation Of the soils, we Will sup
pose that 70 have been properly accom-
Tlished, and give our attention first TO the
plow.
mistaken policy, to skin over the surface,
turning burrows FIVE inches deep, and place
the main dependence on commercial fertili.
zeTs for the production Of satisfactory
crop. Under all favorable circumstances,
The foreign manures may realize our ex-
peetations for one year; provided we have
not set them at a too extravagsnt figure.
But let Spring floods and Summer drouths
intervene, and we find that not all the mer-
camille manures in the market are Of them
selves guarantee against failure. Proper
culture is the only certain preventive
against such dispensations; and this in
order to be in every sense effectual, must
commence with the FIRST furrow turned, and
be continued systematically until the crop
is made and housed. If every proprietor of
the soil would bear constantly 10 mind the
fact that he is not simply a superficial land
owner, but that his possessions extend to the
very center Of the earth, and that he has got
soil well worth the searching after, lying
only few inches below the sole OF bis boot
as he tramps along his six-inch furrow, he
might the more readily be induced TO hook
his drag. chain a notch or two higher in the
clepis, and send his plow point downward
in search of that virgin soil that cultivation
never yet has energiZed. rt ..
As nearly all our lands in this region are
upderlaid at a moderate depth, with sub
soil of hard, stiff clay, impervious to water,
the result of heavy and continued rains,
which very generally follow the planting of
our corn. fields, is either the drowning of the
seed OF young corn, on all low, level fields,
or the washing it away, along with most Of
the manure, and q large per centage of the
| land itself, on all fields having q sufficient
| inclination to allow the water to run freely.
| Deep blowing in both cases would almost
invariably secure the embryo crop against
such discouraging results. Ii our corn
lands we're thoroughly broken up TO the
depth of eleven inches, they would absorb
about four times the quantity of water they
do as ordinarily plowed, and still leave the
snIfaee comparatively dry, even after a
severe and long continued Spring rain. AS
for the s0dshiHgs, of which there is now such
general complaint we should hear very
little of them nor of the failure of the crop
from drouth either, as the four. fold capacity
of the soil as reservoir would afford sup
ply of moisture that would outlast all ordi-
nary droughts. 1t is true that the mole
soluble portions of the manures might find
their way down to depth just below their
sphere of immediate action but they would
rot be lost, and their deposit there would be
more satisfactory than the knowledge that
they ad floated away to parts unknown.