American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-08-10
CHE farmers department.
Stirring the Soil.

the cuhiyatiou ofth soil which is of the
highest Importance to every farmer,
and not nearly so well understood or
appreciated as it ought to be.
Nature requires assistance in the
production of crops, or the growth of
weeds will far outstrip that of the
cultivated plant. 1t is not simply
sowing and planting, which are so
generally considered as constituting
the farmers busy season, that will
insure large returns to the husband
man, but the persistent disturbance
of the surface and sub-soil, so as to
accomplish their thorough and contin-
uous @ration until the growing plant
has attained such a condition of ma
turity as to take care of itself In
deed, if there is period in the du-
ration of the "busy season on the
farm, which demands superlative in
dustry as the condition of successful
agriculture, it is the month or two
which Immediately succeeds the GER
mination of seeds, when innumerable
weeds spring into vigorous growth es-
pecially upon such rich soils, and the
intense heat of the sun bakes and
hardens the surface of the ground
until it becomes literally the agricult-
ural pie-crust, which the air, charged
with fertilizing dews, cannot pene-
trate and from which the moisture
so necessary to the sustenance of
plants and their appropriation of the
soluble constituents of the soil and of
manurcs, has been abstracted by a
dense growth-of weeds and grasses.
For it must be observed that the
latter, in addition to the consumption
of plant-food, are inveitcrate dcvour-
ers of all the moisMre within reach,
so that the soil overgrown by weeds,
however rich in manures, is unfit for
the nourishment of plants, on ac-
count of the drouth prevailing be-
meath the surface. This fact may be
readily proved by examining spot
of fallow ground in comparison with
one sustaining luXuriant growth of
vegetation. In one case, the fallow
ground appears dry and dusty: in the
other the refreshing greenness of the
grass leads us to infer that there the
soil is moist and inno danger of drouth-
But the contrary is the fact for on
disturbance the surface of the bare
spot of soil, we shall find it full Of
moisture, while underneath the grass
plot not a sign of water will usually
be discovered in a dry time. This
plainly shows that in order to afford
crops the moisture necessary to per-
feet their growth, we must not allow
weeds,to spring up and supplant them
during any stage of their progress
and to insure the destruction of weeds,
the hoe and horse implements, espe-
cially the latter, must be brought in
to constant requisition.
b From the above remarks, the OBJ
servant reader will draw two impor-
tant conclusions. The constant cul-
tivation of crops is necessary both
for the destruction of weeds and grass
es, and also the admission of air
throughout the texture of the soil,
whereby the water always resident in
the atmosphere may be deposited in
the form Of dews, and carried by
capillary attraction from the roots of
plants throughout their entire organ
ism. This result cannot be achieved
except by the mration of the soil
through its constant disturbance by
the hoe, the cultivator and the sub
soil plow. The hoe and the culiva-
tor, striking a few Inches below the
surface. break the crust which OBJ
structs the admission of air, and thus
not only destroys the incipient growth
of weeds, but obyiates the effects of
drouth, while the soil is enriched by
the fertilizing gasses with which the
atmosphere is ever laden. The sub
soil plow acts still more efficiently
in the same direction. Running to
the depth Of ten or twelve inches be-
tween the rows of corn, potatoes,
turnip or other row crops, it lifts the
soil continuously several inches from
the bottom altering the mechanical
relations of all its particles, and leav-
ing it in loose and friable condition,
easily penetrated by the roots of
plants and erated through all its ex-
tent by OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES.
Briefly, therefore, it may be said
that the incessant cultivation and
eration of the soil between the rows
or hills of growing crops is of equal
Importance to supplying them with
manure. In fact manures may be
dispensed with for years-though to
the ultimate injury of the soil-pro-
vided cultivation is sustained without
dangerous interregnums, during the
growth of plants, and the prepara-
tion of soil for subsequent crops an
swers the requirments Of the case.
Without the last named requisites,
the application of manures, however