The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1873-09-19
Fall Flowing.

The object of all blowing is either to
kill weeds, cover manure, or the trash
of previous crops, pulyerise the soil,
and render it open to the inf1unces that
are constantly working by which it may
be disintegrated and made permeable to
gates. Frost is one of the prime agen-
cies, in connection with moisture, in
breaking down the cohesion of stiff
soils disintegrating and rendering them
liable and permeable to the air, the
oxygen of which is the great destroyer
and at the same time the great regener-
ator. A soil, sour and infertile through
putrefaction or other agencies, is hereby
oxygenated and rendered fertile; for
when the putrefaction is changed to an
Oxidating process, carbOnic acid, one of
the prime constituents Of plants, is rem
dered available; this only one of the
chemical changes produced by the &C
ton of the air upon soils.
What we call mechanical changes in
soils are fully as important as the cheIni-
cal ones although the mechanical
charges are but few in number. BY
mechanical conditions of SOILS" in
nearly every case, it is simply meant to
convey the idea of a want of, or locking
up of chemical action; as, for instance,
a soil plOwed wet becomes baked
through thermic force, or heat, and dry
ing winds, and is thereby rendered in
fertile. The mechanical action con-
nected Herewith is simply the turning
of the soil. If dry, it is rendered per-
meable to the action of the air, chemi-
cal force. If wet, it bakes through
chemical force and becomes dry and in
fertile. But, if plowed in the fall
other action is again set up through
freezing and subsequent thawing, and,
through chemical action, the soil is
again disintegrated and fitted for the
sustenance of crops.
That system of blowing which will
leave the soil in the toughest state will
naturally suggest itself to the observing
mind as the most fit for winter exposure.
Therefore blowing into lands, leaving
the burrows as rough as possible, has
long been adopted. Observation has
shown it to be the best, it being the re-
suit eff experiment. Man has been led
on to other experiments which have re-
suited in the demonstration of facts
that leave no doubt of the great benefit
of fall blowing on heavy loans and stiff
clay. Cogent conclusions have been
drawn as to the real cause of the bene-
fits so resulting.
In determining the depth of fall
blowing, every farmer must decide for
himself. The mistake most usually
made is that land may be plowed to an
indefinite depth in the fall when. in
fact, there is no question which will
allow a more careful study than the
depth to which soils may be plowed.
surface soil be light and spongy, as is
sometimes the case with some of our
prairie soils, and clay lie at such a dis
lance under the surface that it may be
reached by the pillow and thin slice
can be thrown on top to give cohesion
to the surface, well and good but the
indiscriminate blowing to great depth
of our prairie land would only result in
injury to the soil for many years.
The Western Rural in its articles on
surface drainage and blowing, hereto
fore has held the necessity of blowing
into lands all lots subject to saturation
with water at certain seasons of the
year. If these articles have been care
fully read and considered, the ideas en-
braced in the present one Will be appa-
rent. The real value of fall blowing
COuS4SJS uISO III lO1uS d C6Ettln amount
of work, that may be done as well or
better in the autumn as in the spring.
1t is not the absolute ightness of the
soil, which might better be rendered as
hufiness, that constitutes fertility, but
it is permeability. This permeability
may be just as marked, in a soil fall
plowed, as in one spring plowed: for
more so if the spring plowings have
been accomplished when too wet, as is
often the case. A soil may be rendered
infertile if left, when plowei, too soft
or mellow. Hence the practice of roll
ing such land, to compress it. The
effects of fall blowing are scarcely I'M
derstood by many good farmers, but its
advocates will increase as the true
causes which are brought to bear in the
operation are more carefully considered.
| Western R1Gr0t.