Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-02-10
AQritnltnral.
q e.
DEEP FLOWING.
By Horace Greeley.

L. y large portion OF the eartn sur
face should never be plowed at all No wet
lands should lie pIowed until thoroughly,
permanently drained; blowing them while
still wet, or certain to become so after
rains, i5 throwing labor away. A very
large area, consisting of swamps, marshes,
boys. fens, sea, lake, river or brook mar
gins or intervales frequently submerged or
sodden, should never be plowed until
drained or embarked.
H. Then great proportion of the
rocky hiilsides or crests, which consists
mainly of rocks thinly covered by and
often protruding through the soil, should
never be plowed, but should be kept always
in forest from which lumber is taken from
time to time, but never to such an extent
as to reveal its ruggedness. Westchester
County alone has thousands of acres, now
denuded and devoted to grazing, which
should never have been cleared Cut off
the timber, if you are not content with
cutting out, but keep such rough land
always In wood It's cultivation can new
er pay its grass is burnt up by suItry
week while stripping it of timber tends
to render our springs and streams scanty
and capricious. There is nothing worse
in our rural economy than this uncover
ing of rocky sleeps that ought to remain
timbered eYermore.
III. There are, moreover lands too ste
rile to be cultivated with profit. at least so
much good land lies idle and useless. These
lands are often level enough, and not too
stony; but it will cost more to bring them
to proper state of fertility than they
will be worth Some of these might be,
and probably ought forthwith to be, sowed
with nuts and tree seeds, and so covered
with timber; probably the pillow might be
adVantageously used in the process; but
it would be unwise to subject them to the
other culture for ages yet if ever.
" Then there are lands which have
good though shallow surface soil but
covering poisonous subsoil, which must
not be disturbed Prof Mapes found
such tract in West Jersey, where a
stratum of sulphate of iron (copperas) lay
but eight inches below the surface. To
pillow into this, and mix it with the surface
soil, arrested vegetation altogether
Y. And again there are soils, mainly
allusial, at once SO mellow and SO fertile
that the roots Of the cereals, and of most
plants, will permeate and draw sustenance
from them though they are never destroy
ed by the p ow. | presume the annually
flooded intervals of the Nile areof this class.
judge that the valley south of Marys
vile, California, annually covered many
feet deep by the turbjd floods Of the
Yuba, Feather, and American rivers, is
much the same. There are portions of
The intervale Of the Illinois where the
muck is sixteen feet deep. very loose and
rch. l was told in California that the
grape, though it had t. be watered spar
agly during its first two summers, need
ed no irrigation thereafter in the valleys
Of that State, though they are dried up
IN summer to a depth of several feet
The roots strike down through the rich
loan below till they find moisture that they
can appropriate and thrive upon. /
Judge TAT the valley Of the Sacramento
and lss main tributaries is often parched
to depth Of four or FIVE feet.
! have thus fully conceded that deep
pioWinS IS not everywhere requisite. Now
lei me- Snow where It is needed:
!. 1t has been abundantly demonstrat-
ed here that the roots Of plants are often
found alta distance of several feet from
the stem. Any of us may have seen
that this Is as true of Indian Corn as of
Canada ThIstles; with a microscope and
true Patience, the roots of wheat NAV be
traced from Jour to SIX feet. OF course
these roots seek nourisnment and find it.
Nature, IN the broad view, makes no abb
or5Ive, at least Wanton, effort Roofs
wander IN search Of food not otherwise to
De found.
l.. Our Subsoils are usually compact
ana repellant. Wherever a digcher
would naturally use a pick; there few
roots can make their way, except very
slowly and by wasting effort Few or no
cereals or edible roots can feed or flourish
on the penetration Of such subsoils And
while our sands and looser gravels are
more easily travrsed, they seldom contain
the plant food whereof the roots are in
search. They either remain unpenetrat-
cd, or the effort is unrewarde1 by any
gam OF nutrition to the plant.
III. Gar summers and autumns are
peTaistenty hos and dry. The contiau,
ousiy torrld sans which this year destroy
60 naif The crops of Europe, are here en-
eountered as often as every third year
Drouth IS one OF the foremost causes Of
the failure of our crops. Our ancestors
mainly emigrated hither from the British
Isles, from Holland, and the coasts OF
Northern and Yves ern Eu: ope; where
humidity Is tn rule protracted droGth
the exception Sixte inches of soil in
our climate is hardly equal, as an antidote
to drouth, to six inches ia Ireland OF
Holland. And yet the best farmers of
those countries. agree IN commendingdeep
er blowing.
". What we advocatc is not he bury
ing Of the vegetab lie mold or natural sur
FACE soil under several inches of cold
lifeless clay, sand, or gravel. 1.-THE suit
soil is not to be enriched, it may better
remain the sub.soil; but chat does not
prove that t ought not to be lifted, stir
red, aeTateu, pUiYegIzed The right