The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1874-08-22

Deep Flowing as Preparation for Wheat.
From the american Farmer.

From the american Farmer.
We have always been one Of those
who advocated not only thorough pre-
paration of the land, but also its deeper
disturbance than is ordinarily practiced,
as one of the requisites for producing
good crops of cereals; and we have
considered the advice of John Taylor,
of Caroline, ever an oracle on Farming
in Virginia, long ago given his "Arator"
as founded in reason and philosophy.
He says deep blowing, in eur hot and
dry climate, tends to "the preservation
of the moisture and the inhalation of
the atmosphere" and that to these are
to be added "the deepening of the soil
and an increased pasture for the plant"
The benefits it is accustomed to describe
as proceeding from deep blowing (where
there are no injurious elements in the
soil within reach of the plow) and sub
soiling, are the facility with which sur
face water passes below the roots of the
plants in Winter thus protecting them
against Winter-killing; the ability of the
soil to withstand injury from drought;
the subsequent porosity of the soil,
which admits Of free access of air to
neutralize injurious salts existing in the
soil, &c.
Mr.. Mechi, the great farmer of Eng
land has always contended in favor OF
deep blowing, and in recent letter in
the SooTcH FARMER, he asserts with
great energy" The more l prove prac-
tically after thirty years trial, and read
or reflect, the more become convinced
that those who deprecate deeper dis
turbance of the soil, are doing great
agricultural mischief, preventing i'm
provements and profits" He says in
the article, which is worth careful
reading, after an allusion to the great
debt by agriculture to the Investigations
of Liebig:
"The root fbrils will always extend
in that direction in which they encoun-
ter the least resistance. Of the cereals,
wheat, with a comparatively feeble ram
iication of roots in the upper layers of
the soil, still forms the strongest roots,
which often penetrate several feet down
into the sub-soil. On the length of
roots few observations have been made.
In some cases it has been found that
lucerne will grow roots 80 feet, rape
about five feet, clover about 6 feet, lupine
about I feet in length. A proper knowl-
edge of the radication of roots is the
basis of agriculture x there
fore, to secure a favorable result to his
labors, the farmer should prepare the
ground in q proper manner for the
development and action of the roots.
In the second half of the period
of development, the roots of the turnip
plant having penetrated through the
arabic surface deep into the sub-soil,
absorb more potash than in the preced-
ing stage. If we suppose that the alb
sorbing spongioles of the root reach
stratum of soil poorer in potash than
the upper layer, or not sufficiently rich
in that material to yield a daily supply
commensurate with the requirements of
the plants at first indeed the plant may
appear to grow luxuriantly; yet the
prospect of an abundant crop will be
small, and the supply of the raw ma
teral be constantly decreasing, instead
of charging with the increased size of
the organs. The vigor with which
cereal plants send forth their stalks and
side shoots corresponds to the develop
ment of the root Schubert found as
many as eleven side shoots in rye plants,
with roots to feet long; in others
where the roots measured l 81 to 2 IA
feet, he found only one or two; and in
some, where the roots were but l ~
feet, no side shoots at all.
The true art of the practical farmer
consist in rightly discriminating the
means which must be applied to make
the nutritive elements in his field effec-
tive, and in Distinguishing these means
from others which serve to keep the
desired fertility of the land. He must
take the greatest care that the physical
condition of his ground be such as to
permit the smallest roots to reach those
places where nutriment is found. The
ground must not be 80 cohesive as to
prevent the spreading of the roots.
All these observations tend to show the
great Importance of the mechanical con-
ditions which impart fertility to soil
not originally deficient in the means of
nourishing plants and that compara-
lively poorer, but well-tilled soil, if its
physical condition be more avorable for
the activity and development of the
roots, may yield better harvest than
richer land" Combined with deeper
cultivation, we should have that which
it facilitates-I mean drainage Liebig
SAYS in his " Natural Laws of Hus-
bandry," p. 29O, "The influence of
proper physical condition of the soil
upon the produce can hardly be more
convincingly proved than by the facts
which agriculture has derived from the
drainage Of land, under which we COM
prise the removal of the subsoil water
to a greater depth, and the quicker
withdrawal from the arabic soil of the
portion circulating in it. A great many
fields, unsuited by their constant hu-
midity for the cultivation of cereal
plants and the superior kinds of forage
grasses, have been reclaimed by drain
age, and made fit to produce food for
man and beast. When the farmer, by
means of drainage, keeps within bounds
the amount of water in his fields, he
controls its injurious influence at all
seasons; and by the speedier removal
of the water, which soaks the earth and
destroys its porosity, path is opened
for the air to reach the deeper layers of
the ground, and to exercise upon these
the same beneficial influence as upon
the surface SOIL"
IMPROVED DAIRY STOCK.