New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-04-02
WHAT KNOW OF FARMING
BY HORACE GREELEY.
NV.
pLOWING-DEEP OR SHALLOW.

that ourbt 70 be plowed: by which mean ina. nan
tbe land have seen may serve mankind better W
voted 10 timber than if subjected TO ull"s''
sonally know farmers who would thrive l"i -
# thew titled but half thcarea they do oe'.o"iNs
this all the labor and fertilizers they spreau o'''
whole even though thew threw the residue ih'o eo'
r o,,5 LEI, If tbere nudge that q majority OF our
farmers coud increase the recornpense OF theH 'oi
NV cultivating fewer acres than they now no
Nor do DENY that there are soils when II j. no'
advisable 10 plow deeply. Prof. Mapes ,oiu nio 10
had seen tracts in West jersey WHEREOF INC SUI
Int eight inches deep. resting on stratum " SJp
r.ras lsulphate of iron. which, oeihg up'"i"o1 -
-. Cd mingled with the soil, poisoned the
'no - 49, .Loreon. And saw last Summer, on
hointorvale of New River in the western part OF
OId Virginia many acres Of Corn which were thrifty
o,d lpvuriant in spite OF shallow plowng and IN
,ense drouth because the rich. black loan when had
,bsre l,eeu deposited by semi-annual foundations,
until its depth ranged from two TO twenty feet was so
inviting and permeabe that the corn-roots ran beIoW
the bottom Of the furrow about as readily as above
that line. do not doubt that there are many mil
lions Of acres Of such land that would produce toll
orsbly and sometimes bounteOusly, though simply
scratched over by brush harrow and never plowed
al all In the infancy of our race when there were
few mouths TO fill and when farming implements
were very rude and ineffective, cultivation was all
Int confined 10 these facile strips and patches, so
that the utility the need, Of deep tlage was not APP
parent And yet, we know that crops often failed
utterly in those days, punging whole nations into
.be mseres Of famine.
The primitive plow was fOrked stick or tree-tOp,
whereof one prong formed the coulter the other and
longer the beam: and he who first sharpened the
coulter-prong with stone Ratchet was the Whitney
or Mccormick Of his Gay. The plow in common use
to-day in Spain and Turkey is an improvement on
this for il has an iron point; STILL il is miserable
tool When, at FIVE years DID, first rode the horse
which drew my fathers pl0win furrowing for or cult
waiting his corn, it had iron coulter and an iron
share: but il was mainly composed of wood. In the
hard rocky soil Of New-Hampshire, as full of bowl
ders and pebbles as a Christmas puddingis Of plums
Glowing with such an implement was sorry business
Al best Ny father hitched eight oxen and horse
10 his pow when be broke up pebbly green-sward
md found an acre Of IL very good days work.
hardly need add that subsolng was out of the ques-
ton and that sixnches the average depth Of has
furrow.
Judge that the best Steel Flows now in do
twice the execution that his did with like expendi
ture Of power-that we can, with equal power. pillow
twelve inches as easily and rapidly as he plOwed
SIX Ought we 10 do it, Win it pay?
first farmed for myself in 1916 on plat Of eight
acres in what was then the open country skirting
the East River nearly abreast the lower point of
Blackwelrs Island. near Tiitieth-st., little in
dentaton Of the shore known as Turtle Bay. None
Of the Avenues east Of Third was then opened above
Thirtieth-st; and the neichborhood though now per-
forated by streets and covered with houses was as
rural and secluded as heart cOuld wish. One fine
Spring morning a neielbor called and offered to
plow for IS my acre Of tlace not cut up by of
box and other shrubs; and told him to 20 ahead.
came home next evening Just as he was finishing the
sob, which contemplated most ruefully. His plOw
was pocket edition; his team a single horse; his
fuToWs at most five inches deep. paid him. but told
lin plainly that would have preferred to give the
money for nothing. He insisted that be had powed
for ne as he plOWed for Others all around me. II
will tell YOU" l rejOined exactly how this Will
work. Throughout the Spring and early Summer
we shall have frequent rains and moderate heat :
Sims far my crops viii DO well. But then viii come
hot weeks. with little no rain; and they viii
dry up, this shallow SOL and every thing planted
thereon"
The result signally justified my prediction. We
had frequent rains and cloudy mild weather till the
st Of July when the clouds vanished, the came
out intensely hot, and we had scarcely sprinkle till
che lst Of September. by which time my Corn and
Potatoes had about given up the ghost Like the
Sewer that which had planted had withered away
because there was no root :" and my prospect for
harvest was utterly blighted, where. with twelve
inches of loose, fertile, well pulverzed earth at
their roots my crops would have been at least re-
zpectable When became once more farmer in
small way on my present place, had not forgotten
che lesson, and tried TO have plowed deeply and
thoroughly so much land as / had plowed at all
My first Summer here llS53) was very dry one, and
crops failed in consequence around me land all over
the country yet mine were at least far; and was
largely indebted oI them 10 relatively deep blowing
have since suffered from frost ION my low land.
from the sitting of seed III the ground from the raw
ages of insects, &c: but never by drouth and am
entirely confident that Deep Flowing has done me
excellent service. Ny only trouble has been to get
It done for there apt to be reasons-haste, late
in the season. Actor blowing shallowly for
just this time" with full intent to do henceforth
better.
close this paper with statement made TO me by
intelligent British farmer living at Maidstone,
south of England lie said:
"A few years ago, there came into my hands a
field Of twelve acres, which had been ali orchard !;
but the trees were hopelessy in their dOtage They
must be cut down then their roots must be grubbed
out resolved TO make clean job of it, and give
The field a thorough trenching. Choosing a time in
Autumn or early Winter when labor was abundant
and cheap had it turned three spits "a inches
deep; the first being merely reversed the second re-
Versed aud placed at the bottom; the third being
reversed and placed above the second. The soil
strong and deep, a. that Of an orchard should be
planted the field TO Garden Peas and my first picking
was very abundant About the time that meas
usually begin TO wither and die, the roots of mine
struck the rich soil which had been the first
stratum but was now the second, and at once the
stalks eyinced a new Afe-threw out new blossoms
which were followed by pods and so kepf on blos-