Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1868-09-03

At recent meeting of what is called the
American Institute Farmers q Id, Of New
York, an organization whose sessions often
elicit much interesting and valuable infor-
nation, a communication, written by David
Petit, of Salem, N. j., on the subject OF
blowing, was read. We extract the follow
ing:-
inches deep and yet our crops have increas-
ed rapidly for the last thirty years, so that
our productions are now more than double
what they were then, and our farm lands
have advanced in market value in much
greater ratio. None of our best grain
farms can be purchased now for 5000 per
acre. This, too, under a system of plough
ing rather under five inches. The Commit
tee of your Club who visited this county
last summer can testify to the iourshing
state of our agriculture then, and il You will
visit us again between this and wheat har-
vest, you may see thousands of acres of
wheat and grass quite equal, if not superior
in growth to that OF any section where deep
| ploughing has been practiced. Your repor-
| ter says ii. Greeley decidedly said that
farmer should start with eighteen inches of
fertile soil as u capital, and expressly dis
claimed advocating turning up barren sub
| soil to the surface. If ii. q. means that we
shall pulverize and manure our land at the
depth of eighteen inches before cropping, or
even after, the idea to practical farmers here
is simply ridiculous, for no land here will
pay in farm crops the extra cost Of manuring
and pulverizlng To that depth, or the half OF
1t, if our crops should be largely increased
thereby but all experiments here of deep
ploughing and subsoiling to increase our
crops have proved failures and been aban-
doned;
Of what possible use can IL be to resort to
deep ploughing and pulverizing to increase
our crops, (if it would so increase them)
when we grow crops already larger thar
!, they can stand and mature under the shal
low and cheap system Of ploughing. Thu
advocates Of deep ploughiag say 1t will pre-
vent our crops from suffering with drcugh
! by enabling the roots OF plants to penetrat
deeper TO find food and moisture. Is thi
true? DO the roots of our grain crops pen
citrate to the debth Of nine inches, a foot, o
eighteen inches, or more? What cvidenc
of II is there 2-Who has shown that th
, roots of our grain crops do so penetrat
tDhere the soil has been deepened? Go in
to a cornfield when well grown, after
: drought and after heavy rain, when tn
wash has carried the soil away in places
= the depth of two, three or four inches, an
you will find complete network Of fin
corn roofs laid bare by the wash; not at th
3 extreme depth Of tho shallow ploughing, BIT
/ al the very surface; and after day or tw
of wet, damp weather 1t is not uncommon
see the ends Of new roots entirely abov
. the ground where there has been no wash
o thus showing that even in dry times as we
: as at other times the roots seek food an
+. moisture near and at the surface.
Every practical farmer ought to know tn,
Q In dry times moisture rises from one, twt
o three, and even four feet deep according I
O the hardness of our soil and subsidy to I'll
surface, before it can pass off by evapori
ton all of which moisture must necessari
l. pass by, or, in contact with these fbro,
i roots as it is drawn up by the heat of Il
/ sun. The poorer the soil Is the harder
becomes; and the deeper the drouth WI
penetrate. There are certain amounts
), vegetable matter and other fertilizers in 0
J. soils. The thinner the soil Is, provided