The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-10-20
The New PlOwing,

We have had much to say of late about
blowing and we gladly reproduce the
following from the Rural Nep Yorker,
as We believe it is a valuable contribu-
ton to our knowledge of blowing. The
writer is the inventor of the well-known
Cutaway Harrow, and of course be-
lieves that the new forms of this inn
plement will supercede the drag pillow.
The Getaway Harrow is certainly a
most valuable tool. We have used it
extensively this year, and the more we
use it the better we like it. 1t does
prepare a splendid seed bed for any
crop, it cuts wide, and stirs and light
ems up the soil in a way that no other
tool can approach. Whether it will
generally take the place of the plow is
doubtful, but we believe that those
farmers who use it will have a great
advantage over those who do not. Mr..
Clark's article is entitled:
SOME DEFECTS IN COMMON PLows.
l wish to call attention to five promi-
nent defects in landslide and swivel
plows. We will call all such plows,
drag plows.
l. Drag plows make a pillow crust.
They are used in all kinds of land, hill
and plain, black-wax, adobe, clay, lime,
alkali and all sorts of compounds. In
fact, nearly all of the surface earth,
when drying, bakes or hardens, and all
such lands, when plowed with a drag
pillow, harden the subsoil. The down.
ward pressure of 300 to 500 pounds con-
tinuously troweling down the surface of
the subsoil at about one depth, finally
makes what science calls a plow crust,
often h"nomipg so hard as entirely to
cut off the subsoil water, thereby caus-
ing premature drought. The water
supply, for this reason, is becoming a
very serious matter. This continual
packing finally makes a sort of sub
roadbed 80 hard that a pick will hardly
penetrate it, hence the premature fail
ure of water, and drought.
2. The drag pillow destroys f%ertiliz.
ers. The prevailing sentiment of all
drag pillow makers and users is now,
and has been, that the more complete
the furrow slice is inverted the better
the pillow. Most of the farmers before
blowing spread the fertilizers upon the
surface, and then turn them down upon
the subsoil to the bottom of the fur
row, six to eight inches below the sur
face. The work thus done is believed
to be perfection. Fertilizers thus buried
give small results. They are left in
one compact layer upon the cold sub.
soil, to leach into the bowels of the
earth. There are portions of the oun
try where they tell us that fertilizers
are of no use, but there is plenty of
evidence everywhere that, if correctly
used, fifty per cent will be gained.
The old d%rag-plow method of turning
everything to the bottom has led to this
error. To get best results from fer
tilizers and give all the plants an equal
chance, they should be evenly mixed
with the surface soil near the water
line. Coarse vegetable manures howl
be separated and thus mixed. They
will then tighten the soil and aid in
their own decomposition. The instru-
ment that will loosen the earth ak to
eight inches deep without packing the
subsoil, and evenly distribute the plant
food neal the surface, is the mi want
ed. Drag plows can never be made to
do the work in this manner, hence they
destroy fertilizers.
3. The drag plow will not pulverize.
The drag pillow is made especially to
turn the furrow slice easily. 1t is not
made to break and loosen the soil, for
the more it breaks and loosens, the
more power it takes. The theory is to
turn the furrow bottom side up with the
lightest draft; hence, the reason why &c
much of the land plowed with the drag
plow remains so hard. Some land will
loosen and become soft if stirred with
any tool, but a large per cent of the
cultivated land, if plowed with a drag
pillow of such form as to break and pull
verize the soil, would require an ele-
plant to movet the pillow; in fact, sucf
land cannot be softened and made into
a good seed bed with the drag pillow
Finally, there is no land that can bt
made into a correct seed bed with any
drag plow now in use, though on stony
hillside land, drag plows must still b.
used.
4. The drag pillow makes the land foul
The direct action of all drag plows i
to make the land more and more foul
The theory prevailing in the minds O
drag-plOw makers and users is now, a n
wei has been, that the furrow must q
bottom side up with everything upol
the top carried to the bottom. Soon
six to eight inches of the surface sol
become alive with foul seeds, ready a