The Springdale news., 1889-05-17
SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL.
Suggestions for May.

and his fields in good condition on the
 first day of the month, and pushes his
 work with skill, energy and good judg-
 ment to it's close, will have practically
 won the fight, so far as depends on his efforts. It has often been said that a crop well planted on well-prepared land is half made. Such preparation
 and planting involves good seed and
 liberal maturing, as well as good
 blowing and careful management of all details, and almost certainly re- suits in good stands. The real objects of blowing and hoeing the crops should
 be kept steadily in view, and the means for their accomplishment should be adapted to the ends. It is all error to proceed in the cultivation of crop as as if the only object were to destroy
 the grass and weeds; and yet these must be either prevented or destroyed or the crop will prove a failure. Weeds and grass. these are not an unmixed evil to some farmers, since the neces- sity for their suppression. and the means employed for that purpose, as- sure to the crop, to degree, the stir
 ring and ;eration of the soil that will
 be necessary to vigorous growth and development os the plants and boun- tiful harvest.
 The main object of cultivation should be to keep the surface soil, to the depth of one or two inches, in a loose, friable condition, so that the air may have easy access to the roots of the plants, while at the same time the moisture is prevented from too rapidly cvaporating. A shower of rain sufficiently copious to stand for a few moments on the surface will cause the particles of soil to run together, just as if handful of soil be dropped 1 in glass of water and the yes
 sol briskly shaken a few moments
 The running of the water on the surface, or the combined agitation by tho successive falling raindrops. pro- duces the same condition of the upper half inch of the soil as observed in the glass Now pour off the water in the glass, or permit the water to flow off from the soil, CT sink into it, and the same result will shortly follow in both cascs-the formation of compact crust or cake. In both cases the par ticles of soil have adjusted themselves to each other more closely, just as 1 kernels of wheat oC corn in half bushcl will do when shaken. In this condition the soil is like a soft brick, or lump of sugar, and will draw up the moisture more readily and rapidly by capillary action. Any one can easily illust rate the principle of cap Hilary action, and the rule by which it is governed. Take two pancs or pieces of glass; lay one on the other separating them by sew
 cral thiclznasses of paper along two opposite edges. Now dip the open edge of the combined glass in water and note the rise of the fluid in the thin space between the surfaces of the two pieces of glass. Note further if the thicknesses of the paper be reduced so a.s to bring the pieces of glass nearer each other, the water will rise higher l and higher in proportion as the sur faces be brought nearer each other. Now the particles of soil, when in the condition described just now, arc much nearer together than the thickness of a single sheet of the thincst paper, and thus form d series of very fine cap Hilary tubes, capable of drawing up the water many inches. AS the water thus drawn up reaches the surface, I and even before it reaches the surface | of the soil, it is converted into vapOr | and escapes into the air. If now we | disturb or break up the close contigui- ' ty of the particles and thus destroy \ the continuity of the capillary spaces I or tubes, we to that extent prevent or \ greatly retard, the escape of moisture I by evaporation. This is accomplished | by stirring the surface of the soil, and ' forming it into a mellow, loose layer ' This layer may be considered as mulch | 10 the subjacent soil in which the roots are feeding, for it acts very similarly ! { in preventing undue evaporation But not only does the hard, compact crust | facilitate the escape of needed moist urc, but it also prevents the free cn- | trance of the air into the soil.
 We believe properly conducted eX- l perimcnts would also prove that the stirring of the surface soil tends to
 facilitate the sinking of the super abundant water into the underlying | 5ubsoil and into the natural or arti- | ficial rainage outlets, after a series of too copious rains.
 How to accomplish this repeated stirring of the soil in the cheapest and most effectual manner is a problem that has not been solved by Southern
 farmers generally. The traditional
 .nigger and mule" with a shovel, or gopher, or some similar implement, requiring from three to four furrows 1 in four-foot row, is a reprOach On Southern farming. The winged sweep, large thanks to David Dickson
 for improving and popularizing it,
 was quite step in advance, followed
 by the heel scrape, which is a modified
 form of the sweep, doing the same
 work and costing less. But an eX
 plnding riding or walking cultivator i5 the desideratum. We want a relia-
 ble, inexpensive, simple implement that will clean out a three or fourfoot
 row at one trip. An implement having
 put one share as the Dickson sweep,
 or modification, the improved heel
 scrape, can not do effective work if
 wider than eighteen or twenty inches,
 and even then only on ground in good
 mellow condition and free from ob-
 structions in the shape of grass, litter,
 stones, etc. We want to reduce the
 size of the shares, or cutting parts,
 and increase their number. This,