The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1886-11-10
Fall l'l0uShinS.
(From ne Atlanta cosst:,u,:on.J

(From :oe Atlanta Coost!tut:on.j
+sIs it better to break up land before
Christmas, or wait until spring? Nj.
David Dickson, of Hancock county, a
wonderfully close observer, states as the
result of his experience, that fall plough
ing gave best results in about one year
ont Of seven. When the winter is dry
and cold, fall plowed .and grew better
crops than spring plowed. Mr.. Dickson
tested the matter by leaving strips
through the middle Of fall plowed fields,
which strips We're not broken till spring.
Mr. Dickson's experience was L local one;
will it hold good for all climates and soils?
The prime object Of plowing land is to
loosen up the soil, to make it friabie, 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 loosened up by
the plow, why does it not stay loose
Bccadse it is beaten down and run to-
gether by rains. Every rain drop ham
mers it down, and the earth, semi-fuid
when wet, yields readily to this hammer
ing. Moreover, the rain water, as it
sinks in the soil carries down with it the
finer particles particularly clay and
lodges them between the coarser particles
below This also tends to consolidate
the soil.
Now at the south our greatest rainfalls
are in winter and early spring. Hence
land plowed in the fall has unusual op-
portunities of being compacted again
before planting time But is this not
more than compensated for by the up
heaving, loosening effects of freezes?
Near the surface it may be, but how sell
dom is it that our soils are frozen four
inches in depth ? Plow in autumn that
the soil may be prlverized 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 deep-the
gentle falling snow settles down quietly
upon the upturned furrow-does not pelt
it like the falling rain, hence, land there,
plowed in the fall, is almost in the same
when spring comes as it was
when freshly plowed. The rain has not
compacted and run it together, aud the
freezes have made it, if anything, lighter
than it was left by the plow. Such is
rarely the case in our southern expe-
rience. In very dry, cold winters, the
conditions approximate those at the north
and tie results are somewhat similar; but
ordinarily land is none the better for
being plowed in the fall. Breaking just
before planting, if the ground is not too
dry and one has the team and time to do
K, is the best plan. An exception may
be made IN favor OF sandy soils, these are
rather too open and loose Immediately
after plowing, and it is well to give time
for them to be settled by rain before
planting a crop on them.
But, it may be asked, ii sandy lands
are too loose after they have been plowed
why plow them at all :? Sometimes
shallow turning is desirable to bury and
mix with the soil vegetable matter which
is on the surface. B. inasmuch as de-
composition goes on more rapidly in an
open soil than in dense clay one, the
turning in Of vegetable matter on light
sandy soils should never be done long IN
advance Of planting crop. After the
first Of January would be ample time Tor
turning over sandy soils. Again it is
sometimes desirable TO turn over a soil
leeply, to bring back to, Or near, the
surface fertilizing substances which have
sunk down il the soil. There is 4 con-
slant tendency for such sinking, espe-
,ially in wet seasons and it is greater in
sandy than i'll clay soils. An occasional
leep turning Of the former is, therefore,
decidedly beneficial, provided it does not
oring some Objectionable raw subsoil to
he surface. ". L. J.