The Pickens sentinel. [volume] (Pickens, S.C.) 1871-1903, 1886-11-11
Fall I'IOughing.
Urom tho Atlanta s,i,ut,on.)

/
Els it better to break up land before
Ghristmas, or wait until spring? Mr..
David Dickson, of Hancock county, q
wonderfully close observer, states as the
result o. his experience, that fall plough
ing gave best results in about one year
out of seven. When the winter is dry
and cold, fall plowcd land grew better
crops than spring plowcd. Mr.. Dickson
tested the matter by leaving strips
through the middle of fall plowCd fields,
which strips were not broken till spring.
MIR Dickson s experience was local one; :;
will it hold good for all climates and soils?
The prime object of blowing land is to
loosen up the soil, to make it friablc, SO
that gases may penetrate it, and roots
may grow and ramify and spread through
it readily. Why does land have to be
broken every year? Once loosencd up by
the plow, why does it not stay loose I?
Bccadse it is beaten down and run to-
8cthcr by rains. Every rain drop ham,
merS it down, and the earth, scmi-fluid
when wet, yields readily to this hammer
nG. Moreover, the rain water, as it
sinks i'll the soil carries down with it the
finer PARTICLES particularly clay) and
lodges them between the coarScr particles
below. This also tends to consolidate
the soil.
Now at the south our greatest rainfalls
arc IN winter and early spring. Hence
land plOwCu i'll the fall has unusual oD-
portuniticS OF being compactcd again
before planting time. But is this not
more than compensated for by tho up
hcavlng, looscning effects Of freezes?
Near the surface it may be, but how sci
dom is 1t that our soils arc frozen four
inches i'll depth? Plow in autumn that
the soil may be pulvcrizcd by the frosts
of winter is frequently urged by northern
writer's. In their climate the advice is
good. with them the ground is often
frozen eight to twelve inches dGcp-thc
gentle falling SNOW settles down quietly
upon the upturnCd furrOw--dOcS not pclt
1t like the falling rain, hence, land there,
plowcd i'll the fall, is almost in the same
cOndlti0n when spring comes as it was
when freshly plowcd The rain has not
compnctCd and run it toocthcr, and the
freezes have made it, if anything, lighter
than it was left by the plow. Such is
rarely the case i'll our southern cXpc-
ncncc. In very dry, cold winters, the
conditions approximate those at the north
and the results arc somewhat similar; but
ordinarily land is none the better for
being plowcd i'll the fall. Breaking lust
p'lolC l4tutliS, IL Illc ground Is not TOO
dry and one has the team and time to do
it, is the best plan. An exception may
he made i'll favor Of sandy Soils these arc
rather too open and loose immediately
after plowing, and it is well to give time
for them to be settled by rain before
planting crop on them.
But, it may I've asked, ii sandy lands
arc too loose after they have been plowcd
why plow them at all ? Sometimes IL
shallow turning is desirable to bury and
mix with the soil vegetable matter which
is on the surface. But, inusmuch as de-
composition goes on more rapidly in an
open soil than in dense (clay) one, the
turning i'll Of vegetable matter on light
sandy soils should never be done long in
advance OF planting a crop. After the
first OF January would be ample time for
turning over sandy soils. Again it is
sometimes desirable to turn over >oil
deeply, to bring back to, or near, the
surface GcrtiliHing substances which have
sunk down i'll The soil. There is con-
Stamt tendency for such sinking, cspc-
cIally i'll wet seasons and it is greater in
sandy than III clay soils. An occasional
deep turning of the former is, therefore,
dccldcdly beneficial, provided it docs not
bring some Objectionable raw subsoil to
the surface. w. Il. j.