The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-04-06
GheGateILiqs4te
What I Know Of Farming.
pY HORACE GREELEY.


rare; anu they VINO MnSlnc lIlab IllSlSl
on blowing aII lands deeply are wrong
for I hold tllat much land should never
be plowed ut all. In fact, have seen IN
my life nearly US large IN area that ought
not as I have thought to be plOwed
by which mean that half the land
| l hive seen may serve mankind better II
devoted 10 timber than If subjected 10 til
lagc. l personally know farmers who
would thrive fur better If they titled but
half the area they do, bestOwing on this
all the labor and fertilizers they spread
over tho whole, even though they threw
the residue INTO common and LEFT It there,
l Judge that majority Of our farmers
could increase the reCOmpensc Of their
toll by cultiyating fewer acres than they
now 10. G U-~ = y.
Nor do / deny that there are soils
which 1t is not advisable TO plOw deeply.
Prof NIapcs told inc he had seen tracts In
West jersey whereof the soil was but
eight inches deep, resting on stratum OF
COpperaS tsulphRte Of IRON, which, being
uptumed by the plOw md mingled with
the soil, poisoned the crops planted there
on. And l saw, last summer, on the inter-
vale Of New River, in tue Western part
Of Old Virginia, mHny acres Of corn
which wGro thrifty and luXuriant in spite
of shallow plOwing and intense drOuth,
because tho rich, black loan which had
there been deposited by scmi.Hnnual inun-
iatiOns, until its depth rangcd from two to
twenty feet, WIS so inviting and permeN.
BILE that tho corn.roots ran lelotS the bot
tom Ot the ltirrOw about It's readily us
above that line. do not doubt there are
many millions Of acres Of such land that
would produce tOlcraOly, and sometimes
bountcOusly, though simply scratched
over BY brush harrow and never plowel
al all. In tho infancy Of our r1lcc, when
there were few mouths TO fill anil when
farming implements were very rude and
ineffective, cultivation was all but con-
fined TO these facile strips and patches, so
that the utility, the need, Of deep tillage
was not apparent And YET, we know
that crops often failed utterly in those
days, plunging whole nations into the
mfsCrics Of famine.
Tho primitive pillow was fOrkCd stick
or trGc:tOp, whereof one prong formed the
SOuIleI1 LuC OluCE Htlu lOhSCL buS bSAAiV
and he first sharpened the cOulter.prong
with n stone Ratchet was the Whitney or
Mccormick OF his day. The pillow in conf
mon Use to-day in Spain ind Turkey Is an
Improvement on this, for II has an iron
point: still, II il u miserable tool. When,
ut five years old, first rode the horse
which drew my fathers pillow in turrow-
ing tor or Culttvating Ills corn, It had IN
iron coulter and M iron share; but il was
mainly composed Of wood. In the hard,
rocky soil Of New Hampshire, rs full OF
boul1crs and pebbles as u Christmas pud'
ding is Of pluIns, blowing with such I'M
implement was II sorry business ut best.
Ny father hitCEcd eight oxen and u horse
to his pillow when Ilc broke up pebbly
grccn.swarl, and found IN acre Of 1t u
very good days work. | hardly need add
that suIIsOiling was ont Of the question,
and that six inches was the average depth
OfliS ttlrrOw.
Judge TINT the best Steel PlOWB now
in llse do twice the execution that his did
with like expenditure Of pOwcr-tl'at
We can, with equal power, pillow twelve
inches rs easily aMd rapidly us he plOwed
six. Ought We 10 do It! win II payY
first iurIncd for myself in 1915 on II
plat OF eight acres, in what was then tho
open country skirting the East River near
" abreast the lower point Of BlackwelFs
lslund, near Fiflieth street, OH a little in
lentatiOn of the shore known US Turtle
Bay. None Of the Avenues cast Of Third
was then opened above Thirtieth street,
and the ncig hbOrliOod, though now pcrtO-
ratcd by streets and covered with houses,
WIS us rural and secluded rs heart c9p4d
wish. One fine Spring morning, u neish.
Dor cAlled-antl Offered TO pillow for s. my
acre Of tillagc not cut up by rows OF box
and other shrubs; and told him to 30
ahead. Ecamc home next evening, Just
as he was finishing the job, which | con-
templated most ruCfully. His pillow was u
pocket edition; his team Il single horse !;
his Iur1Owsat most five inches deep. l
paid lin, but told. lin plainly that |
would have preferred to give tho money
tor nothing. lie insisted that he had
plOwcd for ME rs he plowcd for others I'LL
around nc. II will tell YOU" | rcjOincd,
"Cxactly how it will work. Throughout
the Spring and early Summer, VIC shall
have frequent rains and moderate heat ;
thus iar, my crops will do well. But then
will come hot weeks, with little or no
rain; md they will dry up, this shallow
soil md every thing planted thereon"
The result signuIly justified my prcdlc.
ton. We had frequent ruins and cloudy,
mild weather, till the LIST Of July, when the
clouds vanished, the sun came ont intense.
" hot, and we had scarcely sprinkle till
the list Of September, by which time my
Corn und Potatoes haddbOut given up the
ghost, Like the seed which fell on stony
ground in tho Parable Of the Sewer, tint
which had planted had witlerCd away
"bcCausG there was no root i" md my
prospect fora harvest WIS utterly bliEhtCd,
where, with twelve inches Of loose, fertile
well pulvcrizcl Garth ut their roots, my
crops would hive been ut leaSt rcspcctH'
bic. When became once more u GARNER
in small way on my prcSt mt place, had
not forgotten the lesson, and tried to have
plnwrd deeply and thoroughly SO much
land MS had plOwcd ut all. My first
Summer here 1853 WIS very dry ono
and crops failed In consequence around
me and all over the country; yet mine
were ut least fair and was largely in
tlcbtcd for them 10 relatively deep plOw'
ling. have since suffered from frost Tor
my low land, from the rotting Of seed Ii
tho ground, from the ravAges Of insects
&C.; but never by drouth; and | an
entirely confident that Deep Powing has
done me excellent service. My only trOu
bic has been to get II done; for there art
apt to be reasons haste, latCness In thu
j nI.,nn,, Go \ Inn MANNING alInlln,rlu EilI