The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-03-12

MS cTob does not rlpen simultaneously"
ms doubtless is a new thought to many of
our readers who have been taught to con-
slder at the mere inverting of soil is all
that necessarily constitutes the operation of
blowing. But while inversion of the soil is
undoubtedly the first principle of the opera
ton called blowing, in practice other things
must join hands with inversion in the prep
aration of a proper seed bed. Talking about
the principle of blowing it is safe to assert
that blowing is the most unprincipled ope
ration in farm practice in the West to-day.
To merely turn stubble land or sod black
by disturbing its repose by the rude tearing,
rending, digging, scratching, inverting as
saults of walking pillow, guided(9 by a
small boy just able to keep the implement
from capsizing, is what we call the "unprin-
clpled" blowing which on many farm is
common. The writer has walked in the
alleged furrow behind plowman of the
calibre mentioned in the foregoing and has
admired the little fellows brave endeavors
to keep the pillow from elevating or depress-
ing him too much; from running into a
wider strip of land than it can invert, or
one narrower than pa wanted or deeper
tan the old horses enjoyed delving. Twas
not the boys fault that while, of course, the
land was blackened it was not plowed. He
doubtless did his best, and all that could be
expected from him, and while his father
sacrificed his young sons school time to
save his own legs he was eventually double
loser in the transaction, proper mind culture
being lost by the boy and improper culture
Of the land by the boy, resulting in bad
sample of grain and land left in poor CON
dition for another gear. Any man or we'll
grown boy can be turned loose in field
with team and plow and come out leaving
it as if shallow earthquake had swept
across its surface and played havoc with its
symmetry, but few men can pillow. Yet
proper blowing is one of the first principles
in profitable farming A noted writer has
said that 'one-fourth of the produce of the
arabic lands of the country is lost through
a want of tillage." We are apt to consider
this rather startling, but if the writer of
that sentence had first made tour of our
farms where ''unprincipled blowing is in
vogue he would have said one-third is lost
instead of one-fourth And what is princi-
pied plowings That is the question, and
beside the code we are now to draw up for
that operation we fear our Western blowing
will appear not only at variance, but of an
altogether different, or in fact original va
riety.
To commence, then, each furrow should
beexactly straight, not alone because straight
burrows look best, but because, also, they
pay best. The furrow slices should be all
of the same thickness, if not thin one laid
on a thick one makes low place in the field
surface.
They should all be cut of the same width; ;
they will then, when laid together, present
equal vertical lines. Stephens says: Fur
row slices should lie easily upon each other;
not pressed hard together. The ground on
being plowed should feel equally firm under
foot at all places, for slices in more up
right position than they should be feel hard
and unsteady, but will allow the seed to fall
between them and become buried. When
too fiat they yield considerably to the pres
sure of the foot and they cover each other
too much, affording insufficient mould for
the seed They should lie over at the same
angle, presenting crests i'll the best possible
position for the action of the harrows.n
1t will be readily seen that blowing of the
kind we have outlined is not boys work. 1t
is the work of skilled men and the rush of
spring work even should not cause farmers
to so neglect their own interests as to send
boys or untaught hired hands into the field
to murder a well-laid down stubble or pas
ture with a walk ng pillow. 1t is possible for
a boy to successfully run riding pillow
which is expected merely to turn broad,
shallow furrow, but for highly improved
land our farmers do not use that sort of i'm
plement. The thorough tillage," so neces-
sary nowadays demands skilled labor-the
work of men who are masters of every
branch of manual labor on the farm. We
do not wish to be understood to mean that
all farmers permit bad blowing on their
farms, but we do wish to impress our read
ers with the idea that blowing is not SIM
pie or unimportant operation, but one that
demands great amount of skill in order
that the very best results may follow it.