The Starkville news. (Starkville, Miss.) 1902-1960, 1909-12-24
MORE TALK ON
DEEP FLOWING
BUTLER TELL WHY WE
PLOW.
LECTURE ON AGRICULTURE AT.
TRACTS WIDE ATTENTION.

Soil Pulverization Important Combined
With the Turning Under of Grass and
Manures to Accelerate Decomposition.
Special to the Commercial Appeal.
STARKvILLE, Miss. Dec. 19.-.
The address on "Deep Plowing."
before the Oktibbeha County CO.
unity Farmers Union last week,
by DR.. TAFT Butler, published in
The Commercial Appeal, has been
read far and wide and is the sub.
ject of much comment among the
farming classes. Il wish to
state" said be to The CONNER
cial Appeal correspondent, "that
| am interested in the welfare of
the farmere, for that reason I
wish to make a few more sugges.
tions along this line.
"My subject is why We Plow.'
The more important objects for
which we pillow are: Q) To pull
verize the soil, (2) to turn under
manures and trash; (3) to increase
the storage capacity of the soil
for water; (4) to prevent washing
(5) to allow the water to act on
soil; (6) to deepen the soil and
thereby increase the plant food
and root pasturage; (0 to destroy
weeds; (S) to warm and dry the
the soil: (9) to destroy insect
pests.
PULVERIZE SOIL.
1--WE have placed the pulveriz-
ing of the soil as the first import
ant object of plowlng. This may
be accomplished directly by the
use Of a plow having a short
mold board, with a short out
ward curve, or indirectly by a
pillow that will leave the furrow
slice in the best position to be
caught and pulverized by other
implements to follow. The first
method IS best adapted to lands
free of turf or sod, having little
material on the surface which is
necessary to turn under. For
sod lands. Or when it is desired to
completely cover up large guam
titles of trash. a plow with a
longer mold board, which does
not give the furrow slice such a
violent quick turn. is required.
In either case the pulverizlng of
the soil is the important object.
but ia the first case the direc:
pulverizing action is the greater:
while in the second the pulveri-
zation obtained by the ploWing
is less, but the land is left in the
best condition to aid in finishing
the pulverization with other i'm
plements.
"In plowlng for the purpose of
turning under green or stable
manures and trash, the objects
sought are to put these materials
in the soil, where the moisture
will hasten their decay, which is
necessary before tney can aid in.
the feeding of the crops, and to
put the surface of the ground in
condition suitable for after cult
vation. The time at which this
done is an important matter, es-
pecially if the quantity of mater
ial turned under be large. Ii
such material be turned under
sufficiently long before the plant
ing of a crop to allow them to
partially decay, they will aid the
soil to hold more water to supply
the needs of the growing crop,
but if turned over in dry weather.
or Immediately before planting
the crop, they may cause the soil
to dry out more rapidly and SER
iously lessen the supply of water
that will be available for the
growing crop
SOIL CAPACITY IMPORTANT.
1.-The capicity Of the soil to ab-
sorb and hold moisture NAV
largely influence its tendency to
wash. A soil with firm, unbro.
ken surface may wash less than
one loosely broken, but on the
other hand, soil broken deeply
will require much heavier rains.
to cause it to wash, than when
broken shallow. because Of the
fact that the deeper breaking will
increase its capacity to take in
and hold water. IF, however,
the rain-fall-the accumulation