Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1895-10-22
Or. HENRY STEWART ON THE eAl
lACiSS or DEEP PLANTING.


DIR. Henry Stewart, In the Times, re-
views the fallacies Of those who have
from abstract principles advocated deep
blowing. Yet as the soil il the source
of plant food, he admits that there is
some truth in the old theories, question
Ing much their application. We very
much condense his reasoning by select
ing the salient sentences Of his article
He saws:
There Is no doubt that the soil will
be improved by deeper plowing. So far
we have been working the upper layer
OF few inches, and, by the constant
passage of the plow and the trampling
Of the ground under this shallow LAYER
OF plOwed soil, We have completely shut
out the atmosphere and every good in
| huence IL NAV have in making fertile
soil by the decomposition Of the raw
material Of il under the present burrows,
and for want OF this recruiting Of the
surface We have exhausted II, aud year
by year the produce Of II grows less and
less, except AZ great cost for fertilizers
or manure 70 enrich IL.
Let Us first study the facts as they
exist. We have few inches of arabic
soil on the surface. dark In color aud
soft and mellow Ia texture, and filled
with plant food, active or inert, and SO
existing because for many years IL has
been plowed and turned and fertilized
by the remains OF the crops and BY the
manure that has been mixed with il, and
have been decomposed and added To the
substance OF this surface soil. And IL is
In the surface We have been growing our
80 nj hax ~
bottom, hard and intractable, and almost
wholly impervious 10 water, or il holds
this like a sponge, Ia either way offering
fatal obstacle 10 the passage OF roots,
and thus coniining the crops 10 most
shallow and insufficient feeding ground.
The results OF these conditions are
that the yield OF the crops Is not more
than one-third or one-tourth OF the
possible limit OF production. The
ground must be broken and this barrier
removed by deeper blowing, but not In
the usual mAnner-that il, by turning
the fertile soil under some inches Of
crude undigested earth in which plants
will stSrve before the roots can reach
the food hidden under IL. But the earth
is 10 De broken by subsOiling-that IL,
by following the common plow with
coulter plow, that pulyerizes the hard
crust and lets Ia the air with all its
fertilizing influences"
The air once admitted Is constantly al
work ameliorating the soil. The roots
find their way down, and these add their
good Offices In furnishing organic mat
ter 20 the soil while they are gathering
up water and mineral mstter-so reasons
Mr.. Stewart. la tavoring subsoiling he
stands upon essentially the grounds of
those whom he criticises in his basic rea-
son, raising objections 20 the method
that have weight.
Reason seems 70 affirm the value of
deep plowing By the aid Of the subsoiler,
and the mind despite itself grayltates 70
this view; yet the scales fail TO confirm
the deductions Of the mind. Ia the
absence OF an amplitude of facts, each
NAV De an authority % himself In the
art OF blowing, so far as II relates 10
depth. vet the evidence leans strongly
20 medium blowing under ordinary farm
methods. where the balance sheet i the
tinal test OF its advantage.