Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-04-16
GOOD PLOWs AND DEEP FLOWING.

GOOD FLOWS AMI DEEf fLON1NU.
Editor Norfolk Journal Nothing connect
ed with the cultivation of the soil is, and al
ways has been, more imperfectly understood
than blowing; and nothing has been more
strongly contested than deep plowing. The
practical agriculturist, as well as the theoret-
ical essayist, has expended his arguments
against deep plowing, not only when the prep
aration of the soil and its manures were less
understood than now, but at this period the
resistance is now as determined as ever. With
your permission, it is suggested that few
hints on this subject be introduced.
At first, and for many centuries, the plow
was the rudest implement of the farm. BY
degrees it was improved from the crooked
stick drawn by an OK; piece OF iron at.
tached to piece of wood with tongue and
handle was introduced, and thus step by step
the improvement advanced until the light,
well-balanced, graceful instrument of to-day
was invented, and in the course of the last
years several hundred patents have been OBJ
tanned in this country on Improvements in
this utensil.
The most perfect pillow must be Of easy
draft, steady and light, turn perfect furrow,
pulverize the soil, and afford all the advan-
tages possible for after tillage. But few plows
combine all these requirements. Some plows
are made to pillow shallow, others deeply, some
to plow a great deal, and others to run easy.
The combination of all is the plow.
Let us now look at what is required. All
plants take up their food in the form of So
luton. Every manure must be dissol lived be-
fore it can be taken up absorbed by the root
lets. Carbon, slick, sulphur, and every other
element must be dissolved before it can be of
any service to the plant. Let not this fact be
forgotten, and it will account, in great meas
ure, for the action Of manures. Sulphate of
lime or plaster, one of the most easily dis
solved minerals, requires about four hundred
times its weight of water to dissolve it.
The chief object of blowing should be to
pulverize the soil, so as to allow the rootlets
to penetrate every part of it, and the water
to permeate it equally throughout. If there
are solid Jumps in the soil the rootlets cannot
penetrate them; if cells or holes, the water
will collect in a body there and drown the
rootlets. No matter what kind of soil is cul-
tivated, it should be completely manipulated,
if may so call it; and if this pulverization
is complete, the deeper it is done the better;
but if the plow merely "cuts and covers" or
casts dead, compact furrow, the less depth
the better. We expect and hope the best
plows only will be introduced. We write
only for such machine, whether it be for one
horse or six for single furrow, or for the
sulky plow, with it's halfdozen furrows. The
deeper the pulverization, the more room the
roots will occupy. Many plants will send
their roots down as deep as you plow-corn,
beets, and clover, particularly, are of this
class; and as drought comes on, it is interest
ing to find how rapidly the roots descend; but
if the soil is not pulverized, but lies in Jumps
and holes, when an abundance Of rain pene-
trates the ground, the roots are often des-
troyed by the water. But deep blowing SUBJ
serves another purpose, and an important one
in our level lands-it allows the over supply
of water to descend into the subsoil and not
drown the roots of plants. The deeper the
soil is thus plowed, the more universally the
water will be disseminated, and the more
complete will be the laboratory of nature for
its chemical operations in reducing the man
ures and constituents of the soil into the food
for plants. We have often witnessed the
most sterile soils, when excavated and put into
railroad embankments, covered on the slopes
with luxuriant vegetation. Pulverization
and drainage was the cause. We have seen
fields plowed badly, with very worthless
plow, ruined by deep plowing; but the same
kind of soil, we'll plowed and subsoiled with
good plows, was brought into high product
iveness by green manuring alone.
REQUIREMENTS OF A SUCCESSFUL FARMER.
A man must know something about farming
before he can become successful. He may
desire to become farmer or gardener; but
before he becomes one he has something to