The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1870-05-06


not actually ON the ground; so they
fenced their farms into patches of two
or ten acres, and thought they had there
BY increased their vaiuei That was q
sad miseaiculation. Weeds, briars and
bushes were sheltered ahd nourished by
these walls weaseis, rats and other de-
structive animals, found protection and
impunity therein 3 wide belt ON either
side was made useless, or worse; while
blowing was rendered laborious, diff
cult and inefficient, by the necessity of
turning after every few hundred steps.
We are growing slowly wiser, and bury
ing part of these walls, or building
them into concrete barns or other USE
full structures; but they are still far too
plentiful, and need to be dealt with
more sternly. o squatter on q wide
prairie, on the bleak plains, or in a broad
Pacific valley, where wood must be
hauled for miles, and loose stone are
rarely visible, thank God for the be-
nignant dispensation which has pre-
cluded you from half spelling your farm
by multiplicity of obstructing, de-
forming fences, and SO left its soil free
loosened, permeated, by the renovating
pillow.
PLowING-GooD AND BAD.
There are SO many wrong ways to do
thing to but one right one that there
is no reason in the impatience too often
evineed with those who contriYe to
swallow the truth wrong end foremost,
and thereupon insist that it won't do.
For instance: A farmer hears some
thing said of deep blowing, and, with
out any clear understanding of or firm
faith in it, resolves to give it a trial. So
he buys great pillow, makes up strong
team, and proceeds to turn up field
hitherto ploWed but six inches to a
depth of foot: in other words, to bury
its soil under six inches of cold, sterile
clay, sand, or gravel. On this he plants
or sows grain, and is lucky indeed if he
realizes half a crop. Hereupon, he re-
ports TO his neighbors that deep plow-
ing is humbug, as he suspected all
along; but now he knows, for he has
tried it. There are several other wrong
ways, which I will hurry over, in order
to set forth that which l regard as the
right one.
Here is a middling farmer of the old
school, who walks carefully in the foot
steps of his respected grandfather, but
| with inferior success, because sixty an
nual harvests, though not particularly
luxurient, have partially exhausted the
productive capacity of the acres he in
herited. He now gamers from fifteen
to thirty bushels of corn, from ten to
| twenty of wheat, from fifteen to TWEEN
| ty of rye, from twenty to thirty of oats,
and from a tun to a tun and a half OF
hay, as the season proves more or less
propitious and contrives to draw from
his sixty to one hundred acres decent
| subsistence for his family blowing, as
| his father and grandfather did, to q
depth of five to seven inches: what can
deep blowing do for him?
l answer-By itself, nothing whatev-
er. IF in every other respect he is 10
persist in doing just as his father and
his grandfather did, doubt the expedi-
ency of doubling the depth of his fur.
rows. True, the worst effects of the
change would be realized at the outset
and l feel confident that his six inches Of
| subsOil, having been made to change
places with that which formerly rested
upon it, must gradually be wrought upoI
by air, and raid, and frost, until con.
verified into tolerabIy productive soil
through which the roots of most plant!
would easily and speedily make theil
way down to the richer stratum which
originally surface, has been transpose6
into subsoil. But this exchange of po
sitions between the original surface anG
subsOil is not what 1 mean by deeI
| HOT 4Ih0 w Hat
do mean is this:
Having thoroughly underdrained {
field, so that water will not stand upoT
any part of its surface, no matter how
much may there be deposited, the mex
| step in order is to increase the depth O.
the soil. To this end, procure a regu
lar sub-soil pillow of the most approved
pattern, attach to it a strong team, anG
let it follow the breaking-plow in it.
furrow, lifting and pulverizing the sub
soil to a depth of not less than si1
inches, but leaving it in position exact
ly where it was. The surface pillow
turns the next furrow upon this lOseneG
sub-soil, and so on till the whole field i,
thus pelverized to depth of not les!
than twelve inches, or, better still, fit
teen. Now, please remember that yOI
have twice as much soil per acre to fer
tilize as there was before hence, that i
consequently requires twice as mucl
manure, and you will have laid good
foundation for increased crops. 1 de
not say that all the additional OUTLAY
will be returned to you in the increase
of your next crop, for / do not believe
anything of the sort but do believe
that this crop will be considerably lar
ger for this generous treatment, espec
tally if the season prove remarkably
dry or uncOmmonly wet; and that yoI
will have insured better crops in thu
years to come, including heavier grass
after that field shall once more be IaiC
down and that, in case of the planting
of that field to fruit or other trees, they
will grow faster, resist disease better
and thrive longer, than if the soil were
still plowed as of old. Il shall insis
hereafter on the advantage and import
ance of subsoiling orchards.)
Take another aannaf-thQt of EHhSnll
ing hiil-sides to prevent their ebrasioI
by water:
have two bits of warm, graVelly hill
side, which bonntifnlly yield corn
wheat and oats, but which are addicted
to washing. 1 presume one of thes'
bits, at the southeast corner of M!
farm, has been plowed and planted mo-
less than one hundred times, and that a
!, least half the fertilizers applied to i
have been washed into the brook, ant
hence into the Hudson. To say tina
81 900 have thus been squandered OIL
: that patch of ground would be far with
in the truth. And, along with the fer
tilizers, large portion of the finer anC
! better elements of the original soil hav
thus been swept into the brook, and 81
lavished upon the waters of our bay
But, since / had those lots thorough,
, subsoiled, all the water that falls upol
them when IN tlilage SINKS into the SOIL
: and remains there until drained ava.
by filtration or evaporation aud new
, er saw particle of soil washed from ei
! Their save once, when a thaw of one o
: two inches on the surface, leaving tn
: ground solidIy frozen beneath, being
quickly followed by pouring raiT
: washed away few bushels of the loos
4 ened aud soden surface, proving that tn
: law by virtue of which these fields wer
t formerly denuded while in cultivatio
5 is still active, and that deep blowing
: an effective and all but unfailing anti
!, dote for the evils it tends to ineite.
We pillow too many acres annual!
5 and do not plow them SO thoroughly d
s we ought. In the good time coming
a when steam shall have been so harness
n to gang of six to twelve plows tina
q with one man guiding and firing, it wi
: move as fast as man ought, steamin
l on and thoroughly pulveriziBg froI
r twelve to twenty-five acres per day,
believe we shall pillow at least two fet
# deep, and pillow not less than twice bt
i fore putting in any crop whatevel
: Then we may lay down field In tfl
# confident trust that it viii yield froI
p two and a half to three tuns of goo
J, hay per annum for the next ten c