American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1875-10-09
Fall Flowing.

PLowING, although one Of the most SIM
| pie agricultural operations, is seldom per-
| formed in thorough or skillful manner.
The handling of piow cannot be taught
by words, but must be learned by prac-
| tice, and the more natural mechanical
skill man possesses the sooner he is
likely to learn. We find men who seem
to have been born good plowmen, and
others who never can run straight,
handsome furrow, no matter how long or
how much they practice. 1t is said that
true poets and artists are born, not made,
and we believe the remark is equally ap-
plicable to farmers. But poor plow-
ing is certainly better than none, and as
. rule far less stirring of the soil is done
suits.
The disintegration, pulveriZing and
bringing up the lower strata of the soil
and mixing them with the upper is fire.
quently nearly as beneficial as the appli-
cation of liberal dressing OF some fertil-
izing material. When soil is kept light
and loose, water penetrates more readily,
and the ammonia broughtd down with rain
is carried into the earth, and retained
there as food for plants instead of being
diverted to some stream in lower ground
Frequent blowing of land tends to i'm
prove it. and, while majority of our farm
ers know this to be a fact, there appears
to be a general tendency among them to
do Just as little as they can in order to
produce crop; consequently we are con-
stantly hearing complaints of the preva
lence OF nOxiOus weeds and grasses among
rye, oats, wheat and other kinds of grain,
which, to do we'll and give good yield,
must not be crowded by other plants.
We will venture to say that more than
one farmer has seen the effects of weeds in
diminishing the yield of grain during the
past harvest, which was mainly due to
poor and insufficient blowing the previ-
GUS season. The first step toward destroy
ing these noxious weeds in such fields is
fall blowing, turning them under where
they will decay and adding something to
the fertility of the soil. 1t may be said
that they will do this if allowed to rot on
the surface, which is true to some extent,
but there are few fields from which all
loose vegetable matter will not be washed
off by rains before spring, especially ifthe
surface remains smooth and compact, as
it generally is in grain fields. OF course,
where the land has been seeded down with
grass, fall blowing is not admissible, but
there are millions of acres from which
grain has been harvested this season now
occupied only by wild grasses and weeds.
Next season these fields will be summer
fallowed, that is, plowed in spring
and then again at the time of sowing in
the fall. This double blowing will not
kill out Canada thistles, clot bur, or other
perennial or annual weeds; hence the
constant increase of such weeds in vari-
Gus parts of the country.
An examination of field infested with
these pests at this time will show that they
are now growing vigorously if they have
not been disturbed since harvest; conse-
quently if this growth is to be checked at
all this year 1t must be done very SOON
Who will pretend to say that fall blowing
could not injure them seriously by cutting
off the stems and exposing their roots to
the irosts of winter? Sorrel, toad flax and
similar pests among weeds, the roots of
which do notpenetrate very deeply into the
earth, can be in great part destroyed by
early fall blowing, followed by summer
following the next season.
There are hundreds of species of nox-
ious insects which hibernate in the earth
during the winter months. Many of
them descend to the ground in what is
termed the larva or grub form, and spin IA |
light, thin cocoon or merely roll them
selves up in a cell formed of the surround |
ing soil. If these cocoons or cells are dis |
turbed or broken their contents perish, |
hence another benefit of blowing up old |
fields i'll the tall for by this means vast |
of noxious insects are destroyed |
If the pupa Of an insect is thrown upon