Connecticut western news., 1878-04-18
Views Of Agriculture-.P .Ploughng.,

American Farmers Club, read a paper entitled "Sound Views of Agriculture Plough Early, Plough Late, Plough Deep" which is given as follows:
 It is as advisable to go to the bottom of agriculture as it is of any kind of busi- ness, pursuit or calling. It is reasona- ble that if four inches of soil contain only given amount of plant-food, and that this soil is rapidly drained of this plant-food by annual cropping, it will eventually become exhausted unless these clements be in some way supplied to the soil. Manure and fertilizers will maintain the soil in good condition if iberally supplied. Now, economy ad- vises us to cast about us to see how we can best and cheapest keep our soils pro- ductive. Let us first see if we have 8 rich soil deeper than we havo been ploughing, and if so we have two ways by which we can make and keep our soils productive. Then plough four inches and subsol four inches the first year and do not fail to use both manure and fertilizers at the same time, if only mod erately. This use of the subsoil plough is of great advantage in root crops beets, carrots, etc.
 Having succeeded we'll the first year, let uscontinue to go deeper and bring up more good soil and put crop-food upon the soil and mix them intimately. Frequent ploughing aids the absorption of aerial gases and ammonia, and ena- bles the fine soil to drink in the dew and slight showers. Many have done a stupid thing by raising the subsoil, not properly fertilized, and covering by it the fruitful soil out of reach of tue roots of hungry plants. Deep ploughing en- ables in dry weather the deeper mois- ture to reach the roots of crops, and in wet weather the superabundance of rain can sink so that the roots of the crops are not drowned.
 Another extreme view put forward is that plants cannot be too generously supplied with food, because they will only take and assimilate what they re- quire to perfect themselves and their fruits. Some of the fertilizers are caus- tic and poison to both vegetable and ami nal tissues. Florists and horticulturists manure and feed plants profusely. It is the secret of their success. Of course when say food do not refer to poisons in state of great concentration, but ap- propriate food for crops. I confidently refer to the immense storehouse of plant food in the deep, rich, alluvial soils of river flats and prairies, which contain a thousand times more food than any crop can appropriate, and yet the largest and most perfect crops of wheat and corn are annually produced on these soils, and nobody feels the least apprehension of over-feeding or stimulating or glutting them. Some of the Western States have local alluvial soils of twenty to thirty feet in depth, which, when raised from wells, at once abundantly produce crops. They do not ovcr-feed plants. Crops
 can be poisoned but cannot be glutted like animals. Therefore, say, if you find plant-food in the subsoil, bring it to ight-iberate it-give it to plants and needy man, that food may abound and happiness prevail. If am wrong
 look to these luminaries around us to
 set me right and to place me in the path of truth that I may not cast a doubt or
 a shadow on any mind.
 In England deep ploughing and high
 culture are generally practised, and i'm. proved farming implements are used. In Belgium from six to seven inches is
 the usual depth ploughed for cereals and eight to nine inches for root crops, but on small plats of ground the spade reaches eleven inches. In Prussia ter inches for grains and thirteen inches fol roots. The average depth of culture Ii ten inches, though in some districts tht plough reaches sixteen inches deep. II Switzerland it is from six to eight inches only. In Sweden five to seven, and fo,
 roots eight to ten, and some even fiftee1 inches. The medium de pth in Italy fo cereals is eighteen inches, while fo hemp it is still deeper. The subsoi plough is uncommon in Austria, and si1 to seven inches for cereal crops and eigh to nine inches for roots is the practice yet in some parts of Hungary even six teen inches is practiced for roots. Il . Egypt, though the Khedive has 90, 0O , acres in cultivation, with sugar-cane il Upper Egypt, yet the soil is scarcel more than scratched. In China, thougl not an example of judicious culture es often met, yet added to superficial til l lage, concentrated manuring is general practised. In the Island of Java the ; have the richest agriculture in the world Deep ploughing is unnecessary, for tn
 earth is deep in fatness, irrigation lavish, and tho never-failing crops ar always bountiful.
 s Improved American agricultural in
 plements are nowhere appreciated in th '- East. Were they used in China no hol '- rifying spectacle of the starvation of 10 n 100000 of people could sadden th ;. world. Were these same appliances use U in Egypt the poor laborer instead of for
 cents per day would receive ten tim.
 that amount. In all Oriental cultu1 e the earth is not encouraged to yield u d it's treasures of wealth to mankind. AT r. even in this country farmers seem afrai 10 to penetrate the deep rich soil, lest pc d chance wealth of production may 1T poured out in overhowing abundanc It The soil is far richer than the gold al le silver mines, and if treated judicious 9r will never become exhausted of it's trea "a ures, The prodigal, and not the frug e WAY, .o,,,os +o ,,,on+