Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1871-05-11
The Benefits of Frequent Cultivation.


The chief advantage of oil tillage or
cultivation is that it impregnates or sup
plies the soil with air and carbonic acid,
agents of utmost importance in the growth
of all plants.
| The destruction of weeds and grass
which choke up the crop, and steal away
the productive elements Of the soil, is not
a more important result of cultivation than
the aeration of the soil.
Observation proves that the more
thoroughly and deeply the soil is pull
verified and kept fine and light the more
vigorous the growth of the crops and the
greater the yield. The common idea that
the soil must be kept loose for the feots
to penetrate, is very safe one; but US
ually the roots are below. the soil that the
pillow runs through, and the true advan-
tage of the cultivation is in that it keeps
the earth porous ind lets the air circulate
through it.
The oxygen of the air is the vi.alizing
and valuable agent which produces many
chemical changes in the soil, and is almost
capable of itself alone, when in sufficient
quantity, of making land productive, 1t
decomposes the mineral clements of the
soil. and brings the potash, SILICA, lime.
soda, &C., into soluble form and by aid Of
rain water fits them directly for plant
food 1t also decolnposes all the vegeta-
bic and rnimal matter that may be in the
soil and thus generates carbonic acid and
ammonia. Oxygen decomposes and des-
trogs the organic forms of all the elements
Of the soil aud produces many great changes
whiph arg unaccountable perhaps even to
chemists.
The condensation Of moisture from TIE
air is another Important result in and to
the soil, of cultivation and filth. The air
always holds water in some degree. Ia
the hottest ami dfyest Summer weather
VIC may see it condensed from the air on
The outside Of pitcher or glass filled with
fresh cold water. The earth being
cooler than the air most of the time, and
especially at night, coudenses moisture
from the air in the same manner exactly,
and therefore soil that IS porous and light
never suffers from drought as severely as
uncultivated soil.
In addition to these, there is yet another
advantage ofaeration of the soil. Ammonia
eni caybonic acid exist in the air ID very
perceptible quantity, derived from the
decomposition that goes on everywhere
and at all times, of animal and vegetable
matter, and these are absorbed by the
ear III. when in proper state to DO SO.
4 light and well-tilled soil admits the
FREQ passage of air, and the finer or better
pulverized it is the more Of these va lua-
bic elements it will be able to absorb and
retain.
The property Of absorbing and. retain
ing all the fcrtilizing gases and elements
from the air, ana the facility with which
it repews its supplies of moisture in 8
dry time by condensation from the air,
depends in large degree upon the fn e.
ness of the soil and the frequency Of
cultivation. That is to say, the mechan1-
cal condition of the soil con trolls its prod
uctiveness to great degree, and since
from this, two soils may be ideutcally
the same in constituent parts and ele-
ments, and yielding the same chemical
analysis, and yet differ very greatly in
productiveness, it follows that chemical
analysis cannot be relied on for determin-
ing the capacity of the soil, without re-
ference to the degree of tilth.-P]aateTs
Journal