The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1884-06-19
Deep or Shallow Flowing.

The great difference of opinion which
exists as to the proper depth to pillow
land is caused mainly by the fact that
ne rules can be laid Down that will
apply to lall soils; the fact is, no two
fields are alike, therefore every field
must be judged by itself; hence the inn
portance Ct always having the pillow
guided by . hand that is controlled by
intelligence. There are some general
principles which, If the farmer would
make himself familiar with, he would
be able to Judge more correctly as to
what depth each lot of land should be
plowed. 1t is well to ever keep in
mind the fact that nature puts the rich
est soil at the top, and gradually in
creases the depth of the richness bv
adding to the surface. Man, being i'm
patient at natures slow ways, takes the
work into his own hands and attempts
to do in one year what it would require
nature hundreds of years to do; he does
not adopt natures method, but instead
placing the richness on the surface, he
puts the pillow in and turns the surface
under and at the same time mixes with
the soil some fertlizing materials; the
result of this at first is to make the
upper portion of the soil poorer than
before, so that by thus deepening the
soil it is done partially at the expense of
the surface richness.
1t must be evident to every thought
full person that in our efforts to deepen
the soil we ought, if possible, to avoid
dong it at the expense of the surface,
but should endeavor to increase its
richness rather than diminish it. To
do this the pillow should be run only q
tribe below the soil made rich by ma
ture, or by the application OF fertilizers.
10 attempt to deepen soil more than
two inches year is to attempt what, as
rule, will prove to be an in Jury to the
crop, unless the first six inches of the
soil has been made very rich by previ-
Gus heavy dressings of manure. A soil
that has but few inches on the suface
that is rich enough for plant growth,
should be plowed very shallow, and
deepened but very little at first, if it is
expected to get even a fair crop, but
land that is already very rich to the
depth of more than six inches, may be
plowed quite deep, not only with safety,
but to advantage. Much depends on
the condition of the land and on what
the farmer desires to do; if he does not
care to enrich his land beyond what its
present condition is, he will not attempt
to pillow the enriched soil, whatever may
be its depth, but If his aim is to get his
farm IN o better condition, he will not
only apply more manure than his crop
requires, but he will also pillow a little
deeper each year.
The great mistake is often made by
blowing light soil eight or ten inches
deep, when the depth of the soil rich
enough for plant growth is not more
than four inches; the result of such
operation is to turn four to six inches of
dead soil to the top. where the roots of
the young plants are expected to get their
food, and to bury all of the prepared
plant food below where it will be united
with the air TO be conveyed to the grow
ing plants. Thus the crop fails to get
as much food as it would if the. land had
not been plowed more than five inches
in depth. Even a liberal application of
manure, mixed with L . dead earth, will
not bring the soil into that condition
best adapted for plant growth, because
there will not be that fine vegetable
mould which plants require to make a
vigorous growth, and the manure APP
piled does not decompose rapid enough
to furnish plant food as soon as required
by the young plants. To prepare the
subsoil for rapid plant growth requires
time; the simply mixing of small or
large quantities of manure with it will
not change it at once, but it will be very
gradual, requiring several years, there
fore it is important that only a very
small quantity of the subsoil should be
brought to the surface in any one year.
In deepening soil that is shallow to
start with, if economy is to be consid-
cred, only such crops should be grown
as are adapted to shallow soil. To
attempt to grow crop of beets or car
irots on soil that is to be plowed only
five inches deep, would be very poor
management, but Indian corn might be
grown on such soil with success.
Farmers who have thin soil that has
never been worked deep, are generally
| opposed to deep blowing, because
whenever they pillow a field deep it has
resulted in less crop while farmers
who have deep rich soil believe in deep
plowing they get much larger crop
than their neighbors do by shallow
blowing. The reason of this difference
is very plain when we understand the
different conditions of the soils, and also
the different requirements of the crops
| to be grown.
If the farmer with poor thin soil
would begin in earnest to enrich it by
liberal applications of manure, and a
very gradual deepening of the soil, he
would in time become an advocate OF
deeper blowing, because he would
find that his crops were better than
when he plowed light. That there is
a depth beyond which it is not profitable
or desirable to pillow there can be little
doubt, nor is there any doubt but some
crops require the land to be worked
deeper than others, therefore the farmer
has many points to learn before he can
know just how deep each field should
be plowed, as well as to know how
many years he should occupy in deep
ening the soil and enriehing it to the
proper depth.
Only thorough knowledge of plant
growth, and of the character of the
different soils, together with close OBJ
servation and long practice, win enable
him to pillow each field the depth
which may prove to be the most profit
able for the particular crop it is desired
to grow.-Massachasetts Plouqhman.
"A Philadelphia dispatch says the
recent association of superintendent of