The Savannah morning news., 1901-04-22

Better Flowing Needed.
One of the common mistakes in farm
/ ing is inadequate cultivation of the soil.
The cultivation OF the soil is the begin
ming of all agriculture, and it seems
strange that this fundamental process
I should be so little underst TODD and so poor
ly practiced by farmers who have been
in the business all their lives, says Farm
and Home Even such d simple thing
as blowing appears TO be is sadly neglect
ed The blowing which is done by many
/ farmers is slovenly and bad in the last
degree.
nrst-class job of blowing is the ex-
ception in any country. This shortcom-
ing rests partly on lack of knowledge re-
specting plows, their adjustments and
the methods of using them, partly on in
| appreciation of the importance of proper
| plowing, and partly on general shiftless-
ness. There is a notion that the proper
purchase and application of fertilizers IS
the important item in agriculture. This is
not true. The fertilizer problem is as
nothing compared with the problem of
cultivation. Proper cultivation will in
crease results much more certainly, quick
ly and greatly than fertilization, and
will, moreover, in large degree, reduce
the necessity for the application of ma
nures.
Poor plows are responsible for some of
the poor blowing. There is a great diff
ference in the make and adaptability of
plows. Occasionally one sees a castiron
contrivance which is not much better
than the old-fashioned crooked stick.
good plow requires a clean, straight share,
which is perfectly level from point to heel
1t requires also a moldboard of the proper
! curve and pitch. The curve Of the mold
board is a matter of complicated mathe-
diffiCu1t a the
in telescope lens, and much more i'm
portant. The farmer does not care what
the mathematical formula is, but he does
care whether the moldboard turns the
soil or merely pushes it out of the way
1t may be noted, however that soils vary
| so much in texture that a moldboard
| which will handle one very comfortably
| will do poor work in another.
| The adaptation of a moldboard to the
| soil which is to be plowed depends, there
| fore, largely on experience 1t is a, mat
/ ter which the farmer should carefully OBJ
| serve for himself. He ought to see just
what type of moldboard is suited to his
! particular soil, and If he has two or three
| distinctly different soils on his farm he
may find it worth while to adopt plows
OF two or three different patterns, adapted
| respectively to the several sorts of land.
| In my own experience. plow turning
| a comparatively wide furrow does better
| work that a narrow plow. This is es-
| pecially true il the blowing is to be deep,
| as it ought to be. find disinclina-
| ton among many farmers toward the use
! of wide plows They require more team,
| and are heavier to handle. l think the
! tendency to use light and narrow plows
| should be discouraged. In fields which
| are large and level enough, no machine
| will do such good work as the better
! types of sulky plows. As general thing,
| they are a trifie heavier of draft than
walking plows doing the same work, but
| that is partly because they are held rigid
| ly to theNfurrow and do their work bet
ter. The walking pillow lodges and sights
| the hard places and gains some of its
ease of draft in that way.
Flowing is poorly done in many cases
/ because a good tool is badly adjusted.
| There are a good many men who do not
know how to run a plow. I have seen
| hired men who had to be told which end
| to hitch the team to. Such fellows
| know nothing about the clevis adjust
ments. how to apply "a set of eveners ad-
| vanta geousy, how TO set rolling OF
| standing Golfer, or any of the other doz-
! en- thing which go tomake up the proper
balancing of a good pillow. All these
| things have to be learned by experience,
but it must be experience mixed with in
telligence Most people fail because they
have the idea that a. pillow is such a sim
Pile thing that it requires no study. A
plow is really just as complicated as a
| Waterbury watch or an automobile
/ Flowing Is not done deep enough as
| rule. This is the easiest way to be lazy.
| / find that many think that they are
| blowing six inches deep when their fir
rows. carefully measured, will not aver
age four inches. There arc many men
vino regard four inches as deep blowing
| good soil, for good crops, ought TO be
loosened up to the depth of six inches
at the very least. and many soils MAJ
he plowed eight inches deep with profit
| The more careful farmers of the country
have come to see that by increasing tn
depth of blowing very gradually, from
year to year, they are able to loosen u
| new strata and to unlock new reservoirs
of plant food. They extend their farm
downward A man can double the size of
his farm in this way without buying an
| other acre