Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1868-10-02
farm aud HnitsshnIa.
Shall We Pillow In the Fall?

Shall We PlOw In the Fall?
sFEw questions have been longer or
more ably discussed than the comparative
merits of fall or spring blowing, alone or
in conjunction. That opinions of expert
mentors differ very widely on the subject
is probably owing to the fact that thew
have conducted their investigations on
very dissimilar soils, and with view to
raising different crops. That fall blowing
Injuries the fertility of land that is to be
returned in the spring, we are unwilling
to admit; and the arguments we have read
on that side of the question are probably
drawn from experiments of shallow plow-
ing in the fall, which is followed by deep
blowing in the spring. If farmers have
the leisure to pillow their land twice, the
deeper blowing should precede the shall
lower, as the. main object of bringing soil
to the surface is to expose it to the COM
bined action of the light and frost, and thus
to prepare it to properly retain moisture
and the gases Merely skimming the soil
with the pillow in the fall, when the land
may be in Indifferent condition, and then
throwing up deep furrow of soil that
never saw the light or felt the heat of the
sums rays, proves nothing in relation to
the benefit or injury of fall blowing.
All soils which are inclined to be clayey,
or otherwise stubborn, are very much anne
liorated by the process of weathering or
exposing to the action of alternate freez-
ing and thawing. Jack Frost can do more
toward pulverizing and disintegrating
field of compact clay, during a Sc
we're winter, than the most industrious Ia
borer can do with the aid of team and
farm implements during the summer. In
all potteries and in most brick manufac-
tories, the clay is exposed to this winter
weathering, which is found to do more to
prepare the material for molding,
than the best crushing and mixing
machines can possibly do. In fact,
many of the best varieties of potter's clay
can only be pro6tably worked after
such exposure; and the perfection of our
choicest wares owe their extreme beauty,
as we'll as their great strength, to this anne
liorating influence of freezing. Going
further back, we find THAT clay and sand
earths are the results which cold and
moisture have produced on feldspar and
silicious rocks. A further mixing and re.
peated freezing will carry the operations
one step in advance, and we shall have a
most productive loan.
Some object to blowing land both in fall
and spring, for the reason that it leaves
the ground in too loose condition to be
either retentive of moisture, or retentive
of the roots of plants. Those who use
this objection in their argument, probably
do not use roller in their farming. Plow-
ing is an aid to pulverizing the soil, but it
is only an aid. To give it the requisite de-
gree of porosity, and at the same time to
give it suitable compactness, pressure
must be applied to the loosened mass.
The pillow stirs and loosens; the roller pull
verizes and renders sufficiently compact.
Most have noticed the fine condition of
the soil which comes from blowing up an
old highway, or common farm road, or
even a footpath. Instead of the soil be-
ing heavy here, it is ordinarily in the best
condition of any in the field.
Apart from the advantage gained by
weathering soils that are to be re-
plowed in the spring, there is great econ
omy in blowing lands in the fall which
are not so treated. Some of the best corn
crops in this Stste the past season were
produced on land plowed with the Michi.
gan pillow last fall, and only worked with
a harrow or cultivator previous to putting
in crop this spring. Such method Of
treating sod lands for wheat, we have pre-.
viously noticed, and there are few crops
that do not succeed well on land fall
plowed in this manner.
The spring is always busy time with
farmers who have as much land to prepare
for crops as we have on our Western
farms, and if we can have some of our
broad acres in state OF preparation the
season previous. we are just so much in
advance of the times.
The air in the falPis usually cool and
bracing, and the team Injured to labor will
do more work, with less fatigue, than in
the spring. The ground, too, particularly
that which is low. is liable to be in better
condition in respect to moisture.
We believe it is advisable to plow all
the land we can in the fall, and have it in
good condition to form seed bed; then il
it has become badly washed or is compact
it can be plowed again in the spring But
in most kinds of land, and in the great
majority of seasons, this blowing will not
be necessary. and the farmer, with half OF
his farm ready for the harrow, will be able
to get in his crop in advance of his neigh
bors, and not be under the necessity OF
crowding his work, or over working his
teams, as is too often the case. Beside
these advantages, his crops will be ma.
tured earlier in the fall, and he will have
the benefit of the enlarged price which
early crops usually bring, beside being
much more likely to escape the droughts
of summer and the frosts of autumn
Prairie Farmer.