The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-10-03
FALL FLOWING.
Its Advantages and Disadvantages Com
pared by Successful IIIinoia Farmer.

Hts advantages and Disadvantages Com
pared by a Successful Illinois Farmer.
Many farmers, especially in section
where drought prevails, are questionin
the advisability of fall plowing. Her
is what as good authority as successfu
John M. Stahl Of Illinois has to say OF
the subject in letter to Country Gen
tleman:
Whether it will pay to fall plow de
pends upon circumstances. II a man
farming is largely devoted to sprinI
crops It may be advisable for him :,
fall plow when IL would not be advisa
BILE otherwise. The man who grow
much fall wheat and has considerabl,
area in grass will not find one advan
tage in fall plowing that the man will
whose land is largelSput in oats, corr
and potatoes. The former will find his
fall work fully as pressing as his spring
work. He will have as much time in
the spring as in the fall to plow the
ground for spring crops. But NOT SC
with the man who sows but little wheat
and puts much of his land in oats corn
and potatoes. His work will certainly
drive him in the spring He will find
more time in the fall to do part of the
plowing for spring crops than he will
find In the spring to do it all.
Second, the character of the soil and
the condition of the ground should be
taken into consideration. One objection
to fall plowing is that sometimes the
ground is "run together" and compact
ed until spring, and its condition is not
much better than if 1t had not been
plowed Now, some soils are much
more disposed than are others to run
together" and solidify. The winter that
will make some fields almost as solid as
II they had not been plowed in the fall
will only mellow the Jumps of other
fields. Some soils need the freezing &C.
tion Of the frost and the beating action
OF the rain. If soil is Of this character
the chances are in favor of fall plowing
being advantageous, while if soil is of
the character that is inclined to fuse
and harden it may not be advantageous
to fall p]ow. Again, q sod is more ant
to be retentive and refractory than stub
BILE ground or ground that has been
stirred during the summer. The frosts
and SHOWS and rains of winter will
probably be valuable aids in converting
a tough sod into mellow seed bed, if
plowed in the fall, whereas stubble or
cornstalk field, if fall plowed, may have
to be plowed again in the spring.
In passing let me say that the mold
board of the plow for plowing sod in
the spring should be long and of gentle
curvature; then it will turn the fur
row slice exactly upside down, and
without break, and one may make
mellow seed bed without pulling up ON
the surface pieces Of turf to grow. But
the plow for fall plowing of sod should
have a more sharply curved moldboard
that the furrow slice may be broken up
and some pieces be stood ON end. Then
the frost will have good chance at the
tough sod during the winter.
1t should not be ignored that very
decided advantage Of fall blowing is
the destruction of insects and larvae. /
believe that the practice of observant
farmers has shown them that fall plowed
ground is freer from noxious insects and
and also from weeds And it
may be said in general that soils are ben
Gifted by the action of frost, and fall
blowing, which produces conditions that
the frost's action, is therefore
beneficial. There is one part Of the farm
that l have found it invariably advan-
tageous to fall plow-the garden and
the truck patch. Clean them and plow
them and manure them in the fall