The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1888-06-01
Mulchlng With Surface Soil.

~ Ao "Se" Vi' ~ 10 pIoD1Dle, now
ever, that after while they will be
wishing for showers, when the clouds
will not respond to their wishes. It is
well for farmers to understand how to
husband the rain resources when mois-
ture for the crop is liable to fail. T..
B. Terry in discussing this subject
gives his views in the Country Gentle
man and points out the benefit of this
mulching with fine surface soil.
"We will suppose one has good
soaking shower on his potato field,
when the plants are partly grown. AS
soon as the ground is dry enough to
get on to without injury to it, the farm
er stirs all the suaface about two inches
deep. Now every one knows that if
that ground had remained unbroken for
five or six days the moisture from the
shower would have been evaporated.
Under some conditions this might have
taken place even sooner. And all good
farmers also know that stirring Of the
surface as soon as possible after the
shower would keep the rest of the soil
moist much longer, or in other words,
would check the evaporation from it.
This loose soil on the surface seems to
act as a mulch, and prevents the sell
below from drying out as fast as it
would if the surface was not stirred.
The moisture is constantly working
towards the surface by what is known
as capillary attraction. When we cul-
tivate the surface we break up these
little tubes, more or less, for the time
being, and the moisture brought up by
them is checked when it gets to the
lower part of the moved soil.
"Now according to my experience
and observation this is the way We get
nearly all our benefit from thorough
cultivation during drouth.
according to the best of my obser-
vation it is very little moisture tnat my
fields get from the air, in very dry
timo. I look for by far the larger part
of the benefit from cultivation to come
from the saving of all the moisture
possible that is already in the soil. To
that end We take the greatest pains to
cultivate at just the right time. Having
once let the moisture get away into the
air, l have never been able to get very
much back. 1t will not do to cultivate
over two inches deep, when the crops
are growing, or partly grown, and that
does not let the cir in very far.
"By managing just right one can
make pretty fair crop, usually, in
spite of severe ,drouth; but he should |
know just exactly what he is about in |
order to get the greatest returns from
his labor.
"Acting on my idea of breaking the
capillaries to conserve moisture, has
given me good crop at least three
times when very many failed who did
not work on this line. One field
brought me $3.50 an AGRA, managed in
this way, in 1881. There is plenty of
moisture in the air, but l fear my soil,
like myself, would soon dry up if we
had to depend on getting it by absorp-
ton.
"Your correspondent remembers one
heavy rain along the last of June,
which he thinks did him at least $500
more good than it did the owners of the
same sized fslds who did not act on the
capillary.breaking idea. 1t was the last
rain for many weeks.
"What is the effect of mulch? 1t
keeps the moisture in the earth below
from coming up to where the sun can
get hold of it and dry it up, or evapo-
rate it. The mulch is of coarser ma
terial than the earth, SO that capillary
action does not take place in it to any
great extent, and hence the water stops
rising, pretty much, when it gets to
the bottom of the mulch. Now, when
We loosen up two inches or SO of the
surface of the soil, after it has become
packed by heavy rain, do we not make
a mulch, and does it not work in just
the same way that any mulch of coarse
materisl would, placed on the surface?
of course not as perfectly, as, tbe
material of the mulch and lower soil
being the same, they would form more
Of a connection, and the loosened earth {
unuld nnk ha anurSa onEoa .1Io. l.,