The Columbus journal., 1883-11-14
Wheat Growing-Early Flowing.

mosphere adds to the fertility o,
land was first observed and demon
strated in England. For ages it had
been the practice to fallow land be-
cause it brought better crops afterward.
But no n ever stopped to think that
better crops meant o plant food in
| the soil, and that il following increased
the productiveness of land it must be
because the atmosphere and rains fer.
tilted the soil. But when some one
did think of this. many were ready to
verify it by experiments. Just how the
atmosphere fertilizes the soil is not
fully understood. Doubtless it adds to
its plant food directly; and indirectly
it increases its store of food by unlock
ing unavailable compounds and setting
their elements free. 1t is certain that
the effect is the result of direct contact
with the air; from which it must follow
that whatever increases the surface ex-
posed to the air will increase the at
mospheric fertilization. Flowing does
this; it breaks the solid. continuous sur
face up into Jumps, exposing q greater
surface to the air and leaving crevices
and openings for the free ingress and
eSress of the atmosphere. The earlier
the ground is plowed the longer will be
the time for this process to 60 on; and
tie longer it continues the greater the
re suits. Early blowing gives a longer
| period for the fertilization of the soil by
the combined action of sun, rain and
air. 1t must be remembered that it is
not the amount of plant food in the soil
that makes it fertile. utthe amount of
available plant food. Pulverizing the
soil makes the plant food available by
fastening solution. Sun, air and rain
d~isintegrate the soil, and thus by i'm
proving It's mechanical texture. increase
It's fertility and productiveness.
Early blowing aids in securing q firm
seed bed. 1t may be proper to define
a firm seed-bed: 1t is not q hard one
of dry, ~lifeless soil; it is composed of
fine earth thoroughly compacted. To
make it the first operation is to fine the
soil, then to compact it.
A firm seed-bed is one of the essen
tials of q good crop of wheat. Wheat
can not be raised with any certainty on
a coarse. Loose bed. A fine. firm soil
best reSists the action of frost in winter.
In surh Il bed seeds terminate most
quickly and plants grow most rapidly.
For reasons which 1 shall give here
after, lat. sowing is advisable; but
where the wheat is sown late it will not
attain to u sufficient growth before
winter sets in. unless it terminates and
grows rapidly. Hence the necessity of
. firm seed-bed. The reason of this is
that u firm seed bed. being composed of
fine. compact soil, is most nearly
homogeneous, and consequently its
moisture aud temperature are uniform,
insuring speedy and complete germina-
ton and growth. Again, plant food to
be available must be soluble, or in q
state of very fine division approaching
solubility. for it must be taken up by
the minute fibrille. Filming the soil
ads solution, i. e., makes plant food
available and abundant, and thus in
sures a rapid growth.
The action of the elements tends col
stantly to reduce the soil to q
solid. hard mass from which it is
difficult for plants to obtain food,
and in which cultivated plants
can O thrive. To correct this
the farmer breaks up the ground
with his pillow; this leaves it in large
masses; these masses must be reduced
to fine earth aud then compacted. This
the farmer can do (make q firm seed
bed) by literally using the harrow,
drag and roller. But if he q call in
the aid of the elements, all the better,
for they work without wages. Now,
by blowing early the farmer car gain
the aid of sun, rain and air in making
fine, compact soil of the lifeless Jumps.
As l have already said in a former ar
ticle. by blowing early he will avoid
hard Jumps. As soon a splOwing breaks
the ground up into masses the elements
commence their work of d~iSintegratiOn
and solidifying, and this is just what
the farmer wants, for he wants a firm
seed-bed. The action of sun. air and
rain will crumble the clods; and as they
are reduced to a finely divided state,
these same agents will compact them.
These cheap and ever busy workers will
do the work better than the farmer can
with the very best implements and at
the same time save him much labor. A
good rain, q stiff breeze and q genial
sun will disintegrate clods when the
most that he could do with drag and
harrow would be to make adozen clods
of that which before was only one. The
earlier the ground is plowed the greater
the opportunity for this work. And l
care nOt how Don the ground is plowed
after harvest, the elements will not
overdO the matter unless it may be on
very low ground, in a wet season, for
the right sort of q seed bed for wheat is
q solid one. There is hardly q posi-
bility of getting it too solid below when
the ground has been plowed after hsr-
vest. The surface stratum to q depth
of two inches should be loose dirt; but
if the winds and rains make it solid the
farmer can soon loosen it with q sharp
tOothed or disc harrow.
Perhaps no forward step in wheat
raising has led to greater results than
the change from a loose to a firm seed
bed. The old practice was to pillow
shortly before seeding and to sow be-
fore the ground had time to pack. 1t
was often noticed that when the ground
was ''plowed OUT so that the team
turned at the orner upon the plowed
land, tramping it down solid. the best
wheat was raised on the turning row."
I remember that an old farmer and
very successful wheat-raiser, as long as
twenty years ago. turned all his farm
stock on his freshly plowed wheat
ground that they might tramp it down.
Wheat-raisers learned that the seed-bed
should be solid because nature taught
them so; but a stronger tenet of farm
ing was that wheat should be sOwn on
freshly plowed land. And thus for
many years after it was known that q
firm seed-bed was best, wheat was
on loose ground. More knowledge
has brought better methods, including
early blowing and a firm seed-bed.
The last advantage of early blowing
which I shall mention is. that it admits
of surface manuring. The old prac-
tice was to haul the manure on the
land and pillow afterward. 1t was said
that the MANURE must be buried, for if
it was left on the surface of the land,
exposed to the action of the sun, it
would lose all its strength. Men sup
posed that because the evaporated