Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1895-07-18
SIX YEARS OF sUBsolLINd.
BY Scott Kelley In March Agri-
cultural Report.

My farm adjoins Oakland on the
east, about three miles from the CEN
ter of Topeka, and contains 1877 acres,
all IN the Kaw Valley l first occupied
it about Is years ago and found 1t
produced about thirty bushels OF corn
per acre and other crops in proper
ton. l believed the soil on this farm
could do better IL given a chance, and
at once commenced blowing deep, my
experience in Indiana having satisfied
me Of it's importance and value. l
have tried to improve my methods OF
cultivation every year since and as a
result have averaged over sixty BUSH
els Of corn per acre for the fifteen
years and have never had variation
Of over twenty bushels between the
best and poorest crops except IN 1874
It was my privilege to introduce the
first lister in this part OF Kansas in
1881, and for several years l was the
only farmer in the county planting
and cultivating corn in one way only.
/ found that listing corn suited the
soil on my farm better than check
rowing and have continued it ever
since.
Notwithstanding the increase in
corn and wheat yields, l was still OF
the opinion / needed to 20 deeper in
the soil than I had yet been able to
do. l went to Kansas City IN the
spring OF 1883 and after much trouble
found, probably the only subsoil pillow
IN the city, and bought it at reduced
price because the dealer wanted to
get rid OF it. I subsoiled twenty
acres by following the surface pillow
during the spring Of 1885, The re-
suits were a crop Of corn enough bet
ter in quantity and quality to en-
courage me to 20 Oh. l did not
measure and weigh the corn on the
subsolled land to determine to exact
difference, but always considered that
the grain was at least 20 per cent, and
the corn ears were always better filled
out and heavier where the land vas
subsoiled. l am we'll satisfied that /
get much better results from manure
plowed in surface soil when a sub
soiler follows than where manure is
applied to land that has never been
subsoiled.
In fall blowing noticed dryness
in the subsoil of the. land that had
been longest in cultivation, but when
I came to land that had only been In
cultivation a few years, found a
marked change, the subsoil being
more mellow and moist, which led me
to infer that land, no matter how uni
form the texture of subdued sod, will,
with continued cultivation at uniform
depth, become compacted or hardened
Immediately below the sursace cult
walton. When subsoiled the dryness
Of the under soil disappears, and the
whole seems to be uniformly mellow
and moist as deep as plowed. In
husking corn we could always tell to
a row when we came to subsoiled
land.
During 1893 and 1894, have given
more attention to the quantity Of corn
gathered from SUBSIDIZED land One
piece Of land containing thirty acres,
plowed and SUBSIDIZED to a depth Of
twenty inches in the fall Of 1890, and
again in the spring Of 1893, gave q
yield of eighty-fve bushels per acre
for the season of 1893 and the same
piece Of land without subsoiling re-
produced sixty-fve bushels per acre
for the season of 1894. The extreme
dryness of the year 1894 did not seem
to seriously affect it. Another tract
of twenty-five acres that was subsoil-
ed in the fall Of 1888, and has not
been SUBSIDIZED since, IS of the same
quality as that SUBSIDIZED, and having
equally as good cultivation and care
during the season Of 1894, gave a
yield of only thirty-fve bushels per
acre and the corn was of inferior
quality and chaffy.
When the dry weather set in this
corn began to fire at the bottom and
evidently was suffering from lack Of
moisture, while the corn on land
thoroughly SUBSIDIZED in 1890 and 1885,
maintained good color until matur'
ity. 1t did not seem to be affected by
dry weather; matured fully and made
good sound corn.