The Leavenworth echo. [volume] (Leavenworth, Wash.) 1904-current, 1911-03-17
WHAT. THE SUBSOILFR HAS DONE
Address Before the Western South Dakota
Dry Farming Association by Hon. Frank
Gardner of Sturgis, South Dakota

One lesson nature presents every
year and insists on its being learned is
that, since moisture is necessary for the
growth of plants, it is possible for the
farmer, by right cultural methods, to
conserve a sufficient moisture supply
for the ordinary summer crop, even
without the summer shower. In many
parts Of the country the past season, like
the two preceding years, there was a
deficiency in rainfall, and many farmers
placed the responsibility for poor crops
upon providence, not noticing that the
same providence dealt lavishly with the
neighbor across the way.
The observing neighbor had learned
years ago a soil well filled with humus,
plowed deep, thoroughly and continu-
ously cultivated, would retain moisture
through long, dry season and produce
crop.
The proper preparation of the seed
bed is the fundamental step in all sue
cessful farming. European farmers have
recognized the important part it plays
in the production of their lands, hence
have become renowned for their excel
lent system and the consequent heavy
yields. Some parts of America have
adopted the European system Of more
thorough preparation, but it has not be-
come general in any section of this
country.
The experiment stations OF the several
states, the federal department of agri-
culture, and the experience Of success
full farmers of all countries have estab-
lished the fact that deeply-broken and
well-pulverized seed beds give best re-
suits. The question might be raised as
to what constitutes deep preparation.
1t can be briefly answered by saying
that nothing less than 8 inches could
be called deep blowing, and the depths
between this and Is inches may be
called real deep breaking. The depth
to go in each instance can be governed
only by circumstances and by the exer-
else of good judgment on the part Of
the farmer.
In the past few years much has been
said and written about the conservation
of moisture, and all Of our recognized
authorities on this question agree that
deep plowing is the first and most i'm
portant thing to do. That is good as
far as it goes, but we have peculiar
condition in all of the counties west of
the river country. There are three fac
tors that bring about this peculiar con-
dition referred to: First, the country is
more or less rolling. Second, we have
(generally speaking) very hard clay
subsoil, making it practically impossible
for water to soak into it. Third, our
rains come in heavy downpours. With
these conditions you can readily see we
do not get much, if any, benefit from
the rains that fall from time to time,
and these together have made this Pc
culiar condition referred to-that is a
dry, hard, blanket formation.
We can go out in the prairie in the
spring, dig down 6 TO II inches from
the surface, and we come in contact
with this hard, dry soil that is from to
6 feet in depth. And as long as this
dry blanket formation is in evidence we
cannot expect to be successful in the
growing Of crops, for the reason that we
would have to depend entirely on the
summer showers, having no reserve
moisture to draw from. 1t isn't the rains
that come from above that insure our
crops, but the moisture stored below
that comes up by capilarity. There is
no state in the United States that gets
enough rain, at just the right time, to
insure a good crop every year.
Real deep plowing will in time gather
and hold enough moisture to soak thru
this dry blanket formation. But the SUBJ
soil plow will bring about this result
much sooner, for the reason you can
get down deep in that hard subsoil, and
by so doing make a reservoir to catch
and store the melting SHOWS and heavy
rains, instead of allowing them to run
of the land into the ravines, into the
creeks, into the Missouri river and so