Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-01-26
,artiality. Ills the interest of US all to

par1aliCy. It's Inc lnterest OF US al 10
do 30.
The method which / shall advocate is
virtually undertaking. The object OF
this method is to drain off most of the
rain water under the surface. This
practice is not new. 1t has been adopted
extensively IN Europe and parts of the
United States. There are two methods
of draining water off under the surface.
One is called su6soiling and the other
undertaking. Subsoiling consists in
running very deep burrows, with a pillow
made for the purpose, directly up and
dOoOn hiU. Undertaking consists in
digging bitches directly up and doDn
hiU, three or four feet deep, and plae-
ing tubes or pipes in the bottom of the
bitches, and then filling up the bitches
over the pipes. Both Of these modes are
often put in practice in the same piece of
ground, and then the undertaking is
perfect Put the latter practice is quite
expensive, and will not be soon brought
into general use here while our country
is new. But subsoil blowing is not ex-
pensive, and therefore can be, and ought
to be soon put into general practice.
What is subsoil plowingl 1t is this.
During the winter or early spring you
break your ground with two horse plow
by running directly up and doo0n hiu;,
and behind this pillow, with another strong
team, you run subsoil plow in the fur
row, down to the depth of twelve or
twenty-four inches. The blowing must,
in all situations of the field, be directly
up and doaO1l hill 1t is best to take no
lands, but always to run down hill by the
side of the last furrow up the hill. Then
every down hill furrow will be deep
under drain, which will carry the water
down hill at its bottom, as fast as it falls,
and therefore the water will never accu.
mulate on the surface to wash off the
loose soil.
There will be no baking of the ground;
because the rain water will never tarry
long enough to wet the loose soil, so as
to make mud of it, and therefore it will
not be hard VIXEN it gets dry.
The soil will never get very dry in hot
weather, SO as to make the growing crop
suffer seriously. Because the soil on the
surface will be too loose TO conduct the
heat of the sun down to the bottom of
the subsoil burrows to evaporate the
water. As far down as the subsoil plow
penetrates, it will prevent the formation
of compact subsoil or hard pan. The
soil will retain its fertility much longer;
because the ram water viii not delay in
the loose soil long enough to dissolve the
soluble constituents. Most of the con-
stituents of the soil which feed the farm
crops dissolve quite slowly in water, and
therefore will dissolve but little in water
which runs off as fast as it falls.
The soil will be enriched to the whole
depth of the sub soil blowing. Where a
sloping field has lodges of rocks on the
hillside above it, the rain water will wash
down their crumbling materials into the
field; and while the water runs off at the
bottom of the subsoil burrows, the rocky
materials will be filtered out and retained
in the loose soil above to enrich it. And
the atmosphere can penetrate to the whole
depth of the loose soil, and deposit IT'D
freight of carbonic acid and ammonia tc
enrich the soil .,-.
The corn crop may be planted ten day.
earlier in the spring, because the soil be,
ing well drained, will be warmer and
dryer, and therefore will not rot or sol
the seed-corn.
The corn crop will mature ten days
earlier, and yield more than if the field
had not been SUBSIDIZED.
And finally, the corn grows off so ra
pidly in the spring that it defies the raw
ages of cut-worms and grub-worms. Its
luxury can spare food for the worms and
still the corn will not be damaged.
When a field has been once well sub
soiled, the deep burrows remain open al
the bottom for many years, and continue
to under-draiR the land. Therefore
when sowed in small grains and grasses
the field will not wash into gullies, be
cause the rain-water still passes mostly
off under the surface. Even the poor
knobs and CALLED spots will cease to wash
away, and will take on stand of grass
to enrich them. F. H. GORDON.
Jennings FORK, Smith Co., Tenn.