The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1895-03-01
Farmers Department
MOTTOa
He that ploweth, should plow IN hope.
PloW1nQ.


remember Franklin's injuncticn:
Pillow deep while the sluggards sleep,
And you win have Germ to sell and to Keep.
The earth is full of little quill like
tubes, just like the human being is OF
what is called pores at the roots OF
every hair on the body, through which
the sweat exudes. The abundant rains
of winter saturates the earth to a great
depth with water which is retained by
the clay subsoil-dod's wisely ordained
store house for Neutrality-suspicious. the
hot and scorching sun and drying pro
cesses of the summers heat. Th IS
moisture, as the sun dries the surface
Of the earth, is brought up by capillary
attraction, which means hair like, just
as the sweat by heat comes out at the
hairs of our bodies. Flowing cuts off
these little tubes and the moisture
rises just to the depth of the pillow. II
this is shallow 1T comes near the sur
face, and is soon and rapidly evaporated
because there is thin covering to pass
through. If the pillow goes deep,
heavy mulch is put on top OF the
mouths of these little tubes, and like
the covering we put over ice, excludes
the intense heat and prevents evapora-
ton. The moisture is retained and
the roots are abe to penetrate beyond
the influence of the hot surface and
run all through the ground, which re-
mains moist enough to hold the fe-tlI-
izing elements in solution so they can
absorb it. Flowing should therefore
not only be done at as great depth as
posi- BILE, but the surface should be har-
rowed thoroughly, SO as to reduce the
surface to "a powdered condition to
prevent evaporation. If small balls of
wood instead of fine sawdust were put
over ice they would admit the hot air,
SO clods or rough surface with many
interstices or cracks in it will let the
moisture pass out of the soil rapidly.
observing these facts, WHICH are
well esta blished by long experience
and observation of the most eminent
agriculturists, crops can be carried
through successfully and profita bly,,
while those neglecting these precau-
tions will suffer. Paradoxical as 1t
may seem, plowing'is the remedy for
dry as we'll IS wet weather, after all
these conditions are fulfilled. In dry
weather it areates the soil-lets the
air in--which not only nitrifies and ven
tilates it., but increases the pulveriza-
ton, retains the moisture and shifts
the soil a bout so each little rootlet can
have fresh source of food. In wet
weather the moisture from below being
held by the mulch the same asin dry
weather, and the rain saturating the
surface or mulch, which is like sponge,
gets the soil .'soggy." This super
a abundance of water saturating the soil
continuously, and the absense OF
sufficient sunshine attendant upon such |
atmospheric conditions, rots the roots
Of crops and they turn yellow. The
only remedy for this is blowing, to
break the surface impacted by rain,
and turn up and expose to The air the
wet soil SO it can evaporate. In TINS
condition too, the beds around all
crops should be sustained as much as
can be in order to keep the water as
far as possible from the plants. Plow-
ing the first two burrows, should be
done now in all the lands intended for |
this season for both corn
and cotton, in order for it to become
firm and mellowed, as roots grow bet
ter in such a soil than in a loose one
broken in a dry tins and remaining
dry and powdered. The reader who
needs these adnonitions will be IN
good shape for crop, and if the farm
ers will read, think and apply the
knowledge thus acquired, they viii
soon solve the national finance, and
the occult causes of agricultural de-
which are so puzzling to the
npblic mind and which are nov exor-
cising it beyond all other subjects.
Plou early and deep.
@ Trucking.