Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1880-01-01
About Falluws.

Virgil alludes to the practice oil
naked falIows in his Georj,acs, writ.
ten more than 1000 years ago, of
which the following is a translation :
"Bsth these unhsppy soils
The swain forbears.
And keeps q Sabbath of alternate years
That the spent cal tn may gather
Heart again.
And be,tsred by cessation. bear the grain,
And least. where vetches, pulse and
Tsres have stood.
Andsta ks Of lupinss green "a stubborn crowd
TIL ensuing sea-on. In return may bear
The bearded product Of the golden year"
The practice of naked following
was considered essential until within
few years, and many who consid er
themselves good farmers still cling to
the idea that the soil must lie vacant
and have rest, when IN fact, it is, ca
pecially in the west, one of the most
vicious of exploded agricultural no
tons. Under our summers sun the
naked soil loses rather tnau gains
When soil becomes poor, it needs
manure more than rest. FalIows are
sometimes resorted to to kill weeds,
and this is the only thing that fallow
should be adopted for. Even here,
it is better that the soil have some
crop that may be kept clean and give
some return. II fallow is necessary,
SOW something ON the soil to be
turned under, rye, peas, bucs wheat,
or something that will grow quickly,
cover the ground, and enhance fertil-
ization when it is plowed down.
Again many persons resort to q
naked fallow because the soil through
bad cultivation has become hard and
lumpy. In this case 1t Ia far better
to pillow roughly in the fall and allow
the soil to become disintegrated by
the frosts and moisture of winter. In
this case, do not pillow again. in the
spring, until the land is in such con-
dition that The soil will turn from the
mold board free and triabIe. II
plowed in the spring too wet you will
have lost all that you have gained by
the winters frost. If the soil does
not come into filth do not be dis.
couraged, turn under some sowed
crop, as heretofore stated, and reseed
at each subsequent blowing. The
second winter's frost will generally
leave the land liz good condition. and
enriched by the blowing under of the
crops sown. We repeat. there is no
more wastetul farming than that
which makes fallows necessary.
In this, the several plowings that
are sometimes given SIS a preparation
for wheat, must be COMPOUNDED. This
is not truly fallow. 1t is simply a
means OF killing the seeds of weeds
after harvest by turning them under,
and the subsequent blowing to put
the soil into tilth. In this day OF
sharp competition in agriculture, the
sensible man keeps his land in tiltb
aud heart by manuring, by crops
sown for blowing under, by the use
of clover, meadows and pastures II
is tar more sensible way than the
old naked fallows written about, by
Virgil so many centuries ago, aud
still chung to by people who will not
read, who do not believe In progress
sive farming, in fact in nothing their
fathers did not teach them. the
science of farming now days is TO
keep the soil rich at any cost, and in
such tiltb by cultivation thst it will
produce the greatest possible weight
OF grain. Nevertheless, Virgil was a
wise man, brilliant poet, and good
farmer for his day and generation
Prairie Farmer.