The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-08-31

thorough blowing and cultivation. His
example affords an excellent lesson to
/ the farmers OF Utah, and his eminent
success attests the correctness of his
methods
Last spring when was fitting my
| strawberry ground, he says visiting
! neighbors smiled and guyed me to a
liberal extent because Of my peculiar
notions" and waste of labor in doing
| the work 1t is we'll they laughed
then for all the smiles are ON my lace
now. No rain has fallen here of any
consequence since frost came out last
winter, and the ground probably con-
tains less moisture than ever before
known at this season.
The ground was fitted this way: 1t
was gone over twice with the Morgan
spading harrow, then twice with the
Acme harrow and rolled, then ploWed
about ten inches deep and suoso1led
| twelve inches deep (22 inches in alb;
then rolled and spaded again and mar
rowed with Acme twice and finished
! by rolling down hard and smooth. L
can now force my arm down into this
soft mellow soil almost to the Shout
DER In the preparation of this ground
! if / found any Jumps, L repeated the
process until all was as fine as sifted
ashes and firm enough so that capil-
| larry action would bring moisture from
the lower strata to the surface.
then set plants as quickly as possible,
and Immediately went over it with the
wedding machine and looSened up
about an inch of the surface, so as to
destroy it's capillarity. The water
now comes up rapidly and stops when
it reaches the dust mulch, remaining
where the roots can use it. 1t can not
get away, because the fine, loose dust
excludes circulating air and the soil
/ H. Il ,<asl1
any great amount of loss by eVapora-
ton. The water will collect in three
or four days in sufficient quantities to
let the particles of dust become satu-
rated and brought close enough to
prevent capillarity, so 1 go over it
with the weeder every four or five
days and break up the surface again.
acres per day, killing all small weeds
and leaving a perfect dust mulch of
about one inch deep.
And now let US look for results.
Every plant is of q beautiful, lively
green and growing wonderfully. Re
move an inch of the dust anywhere
and take a handful of the soil, squeeze
it firmly an instant and the hand
feels wet. A heavy rain would do US
much good. But no matter if it does
not come for a month, that forty-one
acres of strawberries will grow right
along and scarcely realize that there
| is drouth prevailing at all.
Another great point gained is this:
It is well known that all plant food
in hard Jumps of earth is in an insol-
uble form. The oxygen of the air can
not enter to render it available, hence
fine feeding roots have no inducement
to enter them, nor will they pass
through even minute air chambers
which nearly always surround lump.
BY blowing before fining the surface,
as above explained, we break the top
earth up in Jumps, and turn these
Jumps to the bottom, creating numer-
Gus cavities that no after cultivation
will destroy, thus greatly limiting the
root paSturage.
If the work be done as I have point
ed out every particle Of the soil IS
available and thoroughly airified and
the plant food made soluble; this fall
we shall find every inch of it a mass
of fine feeding roots supporting I'M
mense plants, giving them the ability
to bring an enormous crop of berries
to the highest perfection next year.
Not only this, but the large amount
Of nitrogen returning with the water
from the lower subsoil is held by the
dust mulch for the use of the plants.
[ have been tramping around among
my neighbors. On land adjoining my
strawberry beds is a piece of corn
about three inches high, now badly
rolled and turning yellow. The
ground was plowed about six inches
deep, and narrowed once and planted.
1t has been cultivated twice with "a
spring tooth cultivator. The surface
is covered with small Jumps, the air
passes in and out freely as deep as
cultivated and the water passes off
rapidly as it comes from the lower
subsoil and the ground will soon be
dried out to a great depth. Unless
copious rains soon come the crop viii
be lost, and all because of a, slight
saving in preparing the ground and
| from the fact that prompt measures
were not taken to conserve the moist
ure.
| We have had several dry seasons in
succession, and must expect them, and
fruit growers must adopt measures to
counteract their influence if they ex-
| pect to succeed.