Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-05-09
sUB-solL FLOWING.
CALVERT, NEB, Aug. 20, 1894.

EDrToR BREEzE:
Dear Sir:- herewith submit shor9
report concerning "sub-soll blowing"
in this country.
About the 18th of this month / Wis
tied Geneva, Fillmore county, Neb,
for the purpose Of personally lnyesti-
eating what had been done there by
the nursery firm Of Younger Bros. &
Co, who have been sub soil blowing
for two years past.
was shown the rye that has been
raised on sub-soil plowed ground,
which made 35 bushels per acre, and
the oats which yielded 40 and up
wards per acre, also the corn, which
at the time | was there, did not show
the drouth at all, and was at least
foot higher than the corn planted
near by on ordinary blowing. To be
brief ! will say, that / was so "taken"
with the idea that / bought sub soil
pillow az soon as got to Council Bluffs
and shipped it home for use on my
farm as soon as it rains.
/ will say further that / am salts
fed that If we farmers would sub-soil
our ground, and only farm one.half
as much land, the results would be
much more satisfactory in every way,
practically for the reason that il our
land is stirred to depth OF from IA
to Is inches, we would seldom feel
the effects Of drouth after the ground
has once been wet down to the bottom
Of the furrow-as our soil will hold
the moisture like sponge" and we
always get rain enough to finish a
crop under such conditions.
From the following 1t will be no.
ticed that the difference in the yield
of various crops harvested from
ground that was sub.soil plowed last
fall was from 3 TO 81 times ms great
as was the yield from land adjoining
and from land cultivated in the or
binary way.
Extract from the report made on
July IA, by Messrs. Younger Bros. q
Co., OF Geneva, Neb, to the Hon. j.
Sterling Morton, Secretary OF Agri-
culture, and | heartily endorse every
word in their report, and I believe
that IL all the farmers especially
those who occupy the high table land
Of western Nebraska-would practice
sub-soll cultivation il would revolu-
tionize farming in this part Of the
state, as it has done in fillmore coun-
ty, so far as tried
after preparing the ground by
suh-soil plowng in the fall Of 1892,
the crop OF 1893 consisted OF corn and
potatoes. Corn that year being only
a very moderate crop IN this vicinity
(maximu ~ bushels per acre, and the
average not to exceed 20 bushels per
acre. we harvested crop Of rs bush
ella per acre from strip Of ground
that had been sub-soied. The potato
crop was practically failure in this
vicinity; the result of our experiment
was a very good crop-about 1875
bushels per acre.
This season (1S94) the crop con-
sists Of rye, oats, corn aud potatoes.
, Rye harvested indicates yield OF 30
bushels per acre; while rye in adjoin-
ing feld-tbe same seed planted and
harvested--wlll yield 10 bushels per
acre
Goats on land sub soil plowed in
fall Of 1893 will yield 40 to As bushels
per acre, oats on land sub-soll plowed
in the fall Of 1892 will yield 30 to IS
! bushels per acre (the average crop I'M
der the adverse conditions that pre-
, pailedD In each instance the eeed,
soil and planting was idsntically the
same"
every truly, M W. NEsMITH."
-Wauneta Neb., Breeze, Sept. 8, '04.