Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1875-08-06
Summer Following.

In ancient tunes summer fallOWlng
meant merely the abandonment of the
land for the purpose of crop-raising for a
season or series of years, during which
weeds were permitted to grow and return
to the soil as fertilizers. In some por-
tons of Europe this barbarous custom
still prevails, as though life was endless
and land of little or no value.
Modern agriculture, however, considers
summer following in very different light,
and our husbandmen look upon the fall
low as merely the cleaning and fertiliz-
ing of land by season OF pulverization
and special exposure to natural chemical
action and not as period of necessary
rest. The celebrated chemist, Baron Lie
big, says: g Fallow, in its most extended
sense, means that period of culture during
which soil is exposed to the action of
the weather for the purpose of enriching
it in certain soluble ingredients; in a
more confined sense, the time or fallow
may be limited to intervals in the cultiva-
ton of cereal plants, for the magazine of
soluble silicates and alkalies is an essen
tial condition to the existence of such
plants" Prof. Rennie holds that light also
is quite important in benefting land dur
ing the process of following, and as the
grass bleacher must keep his linen wetted
and moist to insure the full effects of the
suns light in whitening his cloth, so must
the farmer have his plowed land some
what moist to insure the full effect of the
suns light in rendering the soil paler in
decomposing the dark, excrementitious
matter.
We fear however, that many of our
farmers consider mere rest as beneficial,
hence their neglect to pillow, harrow and
otherwise pulveriZe and aerate the soil as
much as possible during the season OF
summer following. In addition to the dis
Indignation OF the soil, by bringing two
particles together which never touched
before, and thereby provoking chemical
action, the destruction of weed8is an i'm
portant object in summer following. With
every plowlng and narrowing weed seeds
are brought to the surface. where heat and
moisture cause them to terminate, and the
young plants are destroyed the next time
the soil is moved. Where land is filled
with noxious plants, such as Canada this
ties, coco grass and similar pests, which
are very tenacious of life, the benefit from
frequent blowing and narrowing can
scarcely be overestimated. Every PLAN
killed adds so much to the fertility of the
soil, and the larger the quantity and bulk
of such materials the more important be
comes the perfect subjugation and decom
position.
If noXiOus weeds are not DESTROYED dur
ing the season of summer following they
will not only crowd and decrease the crops
of grain sown among them, but increase
rapidly during the ensuing years. The
increase of such plants as Canada thistles,
cocklebur, horse nettle and stramonium
are mainly owing to the neglect of thor.
ough summer following of our best wheat
lands.
Without charging further upon the i'm
portance of thoroughly following land
which is to be sown with grain this fall
we hope no farmer who reads the Sun will!
think it possible to stir the soil too thor
oughly or frequently in preparing it fol
the reception of winter grain.
Subsoil blowing is another operation ex
ceedingly beneficial to all tenacious, com.
pact soils. 1t differs from ordinary deep
blowing, as only the subsoil is broken up
and allowed to fall back into place, and
not brought up and mixed with the surface
mold. Its effect is to increase the depth
and porosity of the soil, permitting the
roots of plants to go deeper in search OF
food and moisture, besides in degree fur
nishing an outlet for surplus water which
may fall during the prevalence of heavy
showers. Plants will not suffer as much
on a deep soil in time of drought as on a
shallow one, because the roots can pene-
trate deeper and the capacity of the soil
for holding a certain amount of moisture,
and no more, is increased in proportion to
its depth. The benefits to be derived from
subsoiling are about as we'll known as
those Of stirring the surface soil; still our
farmers, as a rule, are slow to avail them
selves of so simple and cheap a process.
Thousands of acres of wheat are annually
winter-killed," as it is termed, misfor-
tune which might have been avoided
might be prevented-by the use of the sub
soiler once in four or five years.
The best time to subsoil wheat lands is
during tie time of summer following, u.s.
ing the subsoiler both with the first and
second, or cross, blowing, in order that
every portion of the subsoil shall be thor
oughly broken up and pulverized. Low,
wet prairie, as we'll as lands that are high
and dry, if the soil is of the close, compact
kinds, are equally benefited by subsoiling.
Much of the "heaving OUT of wheat in
winter and suffering from droughts in
summer can be readily prevented by deep
ening the soil, and any of our readers who
may have doubts upon this point can
readily settle the question by subsoiling
an acre or two as an experiment
THIS is but the first step toward high
farming" which means Undertaking
and thorough system of rotation in
crops; but as these can hardly become
universalH until labor is cheaper and land
dearer, we dare only to advocate subsoil-
ing as stepping-stone to something better.
~. 7. Sun.