The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1903-06-25
The Philosophy of Deep Flowing.

Tie Ph1losopny OF Deep rlo"inS'
The great body Of farmers plow only
deep enough to supply a good mouth
full for the first heavy rain that falls,
which sweeps away, to some lower
place where it is not needed. the very
cream of the hillsides. A permanent
sterility is thus produced and a hideous
deformity fastened upon the landscape.
What is the philosophy Of deep plow-
ing? 1t is very simple. By it crops
are enabled to resist droughts, for a
place Is prepared by deep blowing for
the retention of moisture. Deep plow-
ing gives greater room for the roots
of the plants to travel in the search
Of nutriment. Deep blowing supplies
drainage, for it increases the capacity
of the soil for retaining and utilizing
fertilizers. 1t is too often the case that
a farmer will cultivate his. land as
though he owned only four inches OF
surface. A farm may be doubled in
it's productive capacity by claiming
and making use Of twelve inches by
the owner. The Inauguration of deep
blowing in England has doubled the
yield Of wheat and other crops. OFTEN
times a depth Of twenty inches is
reached by the pillow. An instance Is
given where a piece Of land near Lon
don could, with difficulty on account
of its sterility, be rented for So per
acre, but after 1t had been plowed to a
depth of twelve or fifteen inches by
steam it commanded a rental of SIS
an acre.
Professor Mapes. who gave much at
tention to the effects of deep blowing,
demonstrated that droughts could be
made comparatively harmless by pre-
pairing a deep bed in which the plants
should grow. In this way the roots
are increased in number and size and
their capacity for the %sustenance OF
the plant is multiplied many fold. II
one has a soil so compact or so filed
with water as to exclude the air and
It is broken up and pulverized deeply
so as to invite the roots Of the plant
downward below the usual access of
air, the penetrating roots sometimes
absorb some of the mineral compounds
of the earth and the structure OF the
plant is injured. On such a soil deep
blowing should be done gradually. The
pillow should 90 one or two inches
deeper every year, so that the chemical
changes of the atmosphere may de-
stroy the poisonous mineral salts.
Where there is no danger. however. In
turning up poisonous mineral COM
pounds deep blowing attracts the roots
of the plant downward to a plane
where they will find a supply of moist
ure during the dry season. Professor
Mapes thinks the true theory Is to pro-
vide a deep, thorough drainage for all
soils, not naturally dry, to a consider
able depth of the surface, and then, by
degrees. break up the subsoil until a
deep bed of dry, warm air-exposed soil
is secured.
Continuous shallow culture means
poverty for the farmer, sterility for
the land and restitution for the peo-
pie. Every place where shallow plow-
ing is done will show a smaller yield
in the products Of the farm, and the
farms where this is the practice are
becoming scariied with gullies. along
which the very life-blood Of the soil
trickles away. Sterility Of the soil
means ignorance, poverty, w%retched-
ness and ultimate degradation among
the tillers Of the earth. All the social
virtues and blessings Of an advanced
civilization are more or less dependent
upon the name in which the soil Is
cultivated. Deep blowing Is deep sense,
q sure guaranty of success in the pres
ent and the only means Of assuring the
highest development and %well-being of
our race in the future.-Southern Farm
Magazine.