Birmingham state herald., 1896-02-16
AGRICULTURAL NOTES.
Deep Cultivation of the Soil.

The common objection to the deep blowing of the land has been that 1t must necessarily bring to the surface the raw, changed earth or subsoil from so far be- low the limit of the hitherto cultivated layer of surface soil as greatly to de- teriorate the land and unfit it for the growth of crops. And this general un- derstanding of the word has made 1t quite an unpopular subject to be consid- cred.
 It is very clear that the quantity of fertile soil. as to the depth of 1t, must have much to do with the growth Of the crops. That if there are only or inches in depth of this fertile soil, the roots of the plants, going, as we know only where their food is to be found, can not gather from the soil sufficient sub- sistence for the crops But if this depth were trebled, Or still further increased in depth, it is reasonable to suppose that the growth of the crops would be propor- tionately increased. Some farmers never blow deeper than this, believing that the soil below this thin layer has no fertility in it. Others go down as far as they dare do fearing to go further lest the raw earth may be brought to the surface and the crops suffer, as they reasonably might. for want of sufficient food at tnelr first effort to grow. In other cases we know of those who put the plowshare as deep as it can be moved having conn- depce that-the soil Is fertile to that or a greater depth. But in all these cases the idea is that the land must be turned by the blow.
 This is a clearly American idea. It has no existence in European countries where the effort is to break up the soil as far down as may be by the use Of sub- soil blows, or merely a strong bar armed with an -headed-like point, like the fiuke of an anchor, by which the whole of the subsol under the turned furrow IS broken and torn asunder and left loose and open for the circulation of water and air In some cases the land is broken down as far as g. or even feet, in the latter cases steam engines being used to draw the machines which do this nara work Otherwise, if horses are used, this depth is reached by degrees. every year little more being added to the pre- vious years work.
 Now this is what is urgently wanted on this side of the ocean. Our average yield of crops is not more than one-half, or even as low often as one-third the aV- craze of the English and French farmers. Curiously, this is about the exact pro- portion to the depth of fertile soil in the fields Nine inches is a common depth for the blowing of the English farmers. and even sod land is turned to B depth of inches at the least.
 But the average depth Of the cultivated soil Is not to be measured strictly by the depth alone. The evenness of the fur rows in the depth has much to do with this For when the depth varies from the greatest depth, say inches, wherev- CT this is lessened by bad work to noth- ing, where the frequent balks. are mades and there is no depth at all to furrow, the average is greatly reduced, often to one-half over the whole of the field And so it is that our inferiority in the yield of crops is just about in precise propor- tion to our inferior blowing.