Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1890-05-15
THE FARM.
The New Agriculture.


From the beginning of the settlement
OF this country up to the present time,
shallow plowing and indifferent culti-
vation have been practiced with the re-
suit of depleted, run-out soils from one
end of the country to the other. A
yield of six bushels of wheat to the
acre and twenty-six bushels of corn was
reported as the average from 1870 to
1850 by the United States census. Deep
plowing and occasional subsoil plow-
Ing with thorough and frequent culti-
walton will not only prevent depletion
OF the soil but will increase its fertility
and increase the yield of crops each
season. Improvement of soil and i'm
provement in the yield and quality of
crops is suggested and demonstrated by
improvement and advance in all other
lines. Why is it true that grain crops
invariably exhaust the soil, while the
vast growth of timber forests invariably
increase fertility? If we can learn an
important lesson here We may be able
to turn to good account the lesson
taught. 1t is universally known
truth that after each growth of timber
has been removed the land is capable
of producing good crops. Newly
cleared lands are always relied upon
to prod uce large-paying crops of all
kinds; but such lands are as surely run
down by few seasons of continuous
crop production. Now why is this truep
Theanswer is the shade of the timber
protects the soil from drying out and
the roots penetrating the earth preserve
mellowness of the soil and these con-
ditions-meIlowne and moisture
form the attraction to the surface; plant
food and moisture are drawn from
great depths in the earth below the
surface soil, and in this way only is
such immense growth of timber pro-
duced and sustained without exhaustion
of soil. This same principle is active in
the production of grass crops, which in
variably increase fertility. The grass
prevents drying out of the surface soil,
and moisture and mellowness being
preserved, plant food and moisture
are attracted to the surface to promote
growth and to prevent exhaustion of
the surface soil. But when grain crops
are grown by shallow plowing and poor
culture, the surface soon becomes dry
and hard, and plant food and moisture
from great depths in the earth are
made available for the sustenance of
growth. The surface soil in such cases
is made to sustain growth, and the at
tendant depletion is in this way ac-
counted for.
If the cultivation is deep and fre-
quent marlborough, SO as to preserve
mellowness and moisture of the sur
face soil, the most favorable condi-
tions will exist for the attraction of
plant food and moisture from great
depths in the earth and from that
great reservoir of fertility, the air" and
in this way plant growth is sustained to
the fullest possible extent, and a con-
stantly. increasing fertility sf the soil,
with increased and increasing yield of
crops, with o proportionate decrease in
labor required, Isl secured, and conse-
quent diminished cost of production"
results. This is the improved agricul-
ture, which is also new, and this is in
full accord with the accomplishments of
this age of advancement and progress.
The original design in sending forth
men to till the ground" was that the enc
mics of tillage, the" thorns and thistles,"
should all be subdued; but are weeds
fewer than they were fifty or 100 years
ago? If not, then the ground has not
been properly titled. II the soil has not
been improved by tillage, then the till
age has not been sufficient. It is mani
festly evident that the soil taken in the
natural state is capable of being i'm
proved by proper tillage; the surface
soil is to very great extent formed by
the action of the elements upon the
surface. If then greater depth than
the shallow surface soil is broken up
and opposed to the action Of the ele-
ments by deep plowing, greater depth
of fertile soil will be secured, which
will increase its capacity for producing
crops with less liability of exhaustion.
If the "thorns and thistles," the repre-
sentatives figuratively of all noxious
weeds, are to be subdued, then the till
age must be such as to prevent their
growth, not merely to cut them down or
uproot them after growth, for as the
soil must of necessity be raised by till
age to higher plane than that which
produces the growth of weeds, SO the
growth of fweeds prevents the soil from
attaining that condition or state best
calculated to produce the growth of
plants which sustain human life. To
prevent the growth of weeds and to inn
prove the soil seem to be the objects of
tilling the soil; if these objects are Sc
cured by proper tillage. then there is
nothing left that man may or can do
but SO await with hope for the earth to
yield her increase.--T. s. TeGgGrden,
Sa Ch6cGgO Inter- Ocean.