Huntsville gazette., 1886-10-16
As ABOUT FALL-PLOWiN0.
The Best Method of Revfving Land and
#g8yf killing Weeds.

The Best Method of Reviving Land and
.#EBs killing Weeds.
The theory of plowing is to turn up
the soil sosthat the sun and air can act
upon it to resuscitate exhausted gases,
or might perhaps more aptly term it,
generating latent forces necessary tc
vegetable life. I now ask the question
of every farmer who reads this: Do you
do this to the best of your ability? IL
turning over the four inches of top
crust and Tapping it over fat every
full doing this? Icertainly think not.
1t is demonstrated that rain and frost
do land very little good without the
combination of air and SUM-, In prac-
tice the average American farmer
studies three things in plowing, and
studies them in the order named: (D
A lot of ground turned over. (2) To
kill weeds. (3) To revive the land.
And to reverse this order is the object
of this letter. To prove which is the
best sort ofyplowing for land we must
60 back to q primitive mode'o of turning
up the soil which has long been super
seded, but never excelled nor even
equalled, and that is ''spading land.'
Now, spading only shows us two
things: The land is set ''up and open.' -
Let every man study this, and whether
splowing thick or thin, plow as near to
it as possible; he will then be doing
what the soil requires. This kind of
blowing is quite contrary to the aver
age plowing of to-day. Every one
seems inclined to get the pillow that will
take the widest furrow, ignoring the
very first and most vital principle in
plowing; of what good is it to kill the
weeds to-day if you do not give the
land fair chance to recover itself, so
that the crops sown in the spring will
be able to 6utgrow the weeds? MAIN
tain that if man plows above twelve
to fourteen inches wide at the very
most, he can not set it cup and open. -
Most ploWs are inclined to press the
furrOw a little and make it look nice.
When thissis The case run the plow
little more on her head and just send
the furrow so far that it falls over
gently, so that any one can stand in
the front of. the furrow and see right
down the sunderside. In most places
this allows free circulation of air and
sun to pass around and under the fur
row.
This is the principle wish to inn
press upon the readers mind; suppose
you 90 to work some strong land and
you flap it over (cut and cover) sixteen
or seventeen inches wide, and the same
thickness that the majority plow. Do
you think you could get any kind of a
+ II fha,
may be room for argument here be-
twixt strong land and nice loamy land,
bnt there is very little to my mind.
In fact, think light and loamy land
really requires more care and skill in
~plowmg. Its nature requires more
than strong land, and there is my rea-
son. Light and loamy land, if plowed
thin and put down fiat, will run to-
gether with the first heavy rain, which
will preclude any OF the land receiving
the full action of the weather except
just the top side. On the other hand,
:strong,-land will stand up through
many rainss i will allow that strong
land takes Tot more pulverizing than
loamy land, but the difference in the
time it takes to resuscitate the two soils
is only small. By plowing a light and
loamy land o little deeper, say six
inches, and not wider than twelve to
thirteen inches, and running the plow
a little on her bead you can set it up
and open so'that It will open and look
rough for a length Of time, at the same
time presenting a much greater sur
face to the action of the weather. Frost
is a fine thing when the land is ex-
Il AZ e 4 nd cr1V,
also, but poor, factotum without
them, and my opinion is that it applies
equally to loamy soils. Just try it. "
Pfows deep in the fall, so that there
shall be plenty of mold for the roots OF
crops to work in. At the same time
you will have more soil full of natures
forks, which will give you better crops.
and can then safely leave the weeds to
look after themselves, - Proa;s'ca!
Farmer.