The Progress. (Shreveport, La.) 1892-1900, 1898-03-05

The Right, ana; the. Wrong Way-SavinG
= - y "@ = - Son MOISTURE

ing to the front. 'The CAPITALISTS who
are ready to put their money into sugar
I factories fIlsist that the beet growers
srbsoil their land before engaging il
fbeet culture. tits we'll known, and the
experience of European beet sugar max
ears and beettgr0wcrs testiffes that sugar
4 beets are. very sensitive to- the Influence
| aof deficiency in moisture and under adj
verse. conditions, III this respect will fail
/ to develop the percentage of sacchariue
| matter that is necessary for success in
| sugar making. The main root and the
+ root ,fbers must have a chance to reach
/ Well down into stratum of perpetual
| moisture, and this necessity has led to
| the practice Of subsoiling beet lands.
| OF course where the sugar beet is thus
benefited other crops will reap some
benefit also, and indeed there is
large proportion Of our soils which it
would pay as we'll to subsoil whether
we grow sugar beets or other crops -
The foregoing is from the pen of writ
or III Farm and Fireside, who has the
following to say concerning when to
subsoil and the saving of soil moisture:
= There is a right way and wrong
way Of subsoiling. Several of the ex-
pertinent stations have investigated the
subject. IN most cases subsoilng when
done in the fall has froved a decided
benefit, especially on soils resting on a
hard and packed subsoil. The fall and
-winter rains soak into the surface LAYER
six, eight or ten inches deep, as the case
may be, but cannot enter the hard sab
sol $50 that the excess of water runs off
the surface into, bitches and streams.
Then when. this surface moisture has
eVaporated during a dry spell in spring
or summer there is no further supply to
fall back on, and the crops must soon
suffer: Subsoiling deepens the natural
Water reservoir and allows the water
otherwise allowed to run off to be stored
up IN the subsoil as reserve ready to
be drawn on when the raius fail us dur
ing the growing season.
A writer in one of the exchanges |
sums up the difference between subsoil- |
Ing in the fall and doing it in spring |
as follows: "f this subsoil reservoir |
be made in the fall, it will, like por-
Gus sponge, soak full of water during |
the winter and spring rains and from |
melting SHOWS. But if subsoiling be de- |
layed till spring it cannot be done till |
the spring rains cease and the soil be- |
oomes dry enough to plow, and then,
there being no water to soak down and |
I'LL the spaces between the loose particles
Of earth, air presses its way down and
abs0rbs what little moisture there is
linus 1T is that fall subsoiling catches
and stores water for next summers
brought. while spring subsoiIing let's
II the air to dry out what little mois-
lure there is. -
After having secured an increased
supply of moisture by subsoiling the
lext problem is how to use it most
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS n"@sF ,"aets The |
waste is not only by IA from
ne pare surface, bp d.. vapora-
ion from the leaves -. III ."out of
'lace; "a; The former is easily held. 3,
within lowest .possib =, .,~ ~ thor /,
ugh, rather. shallow s,,.-. Gas has,
ften been explaincd), &c.,. -. should
Q entirely prevented ~ pcel,gs ting all
zeed growth and by TIMELY thinning
Et-f. ~ ..--Zzax-.rT $780, / /
- -ADj Upjyrt Charge. .r~,s, ,;.g