The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1911-09-19
TA|NMG MOISTURE
IN THE LAND
State Agricultural Department cites
Demonstration Work of Mr.. Brown.

The North Carolina Department OF
Agriculture. through Mr.. j. l.. Bur
CESS, agriculturist, makes speclai men
ton in a recent letter of the demon
Stration work Of Mr.. T. ID. Brown, OF
Rowan. The subject Of the letter is
The Necessity of Organic Matter in
the Soil. 1t is in part as follows:
Suppose your wheat had been
sowed on the surface of this soil with
this mass of vegetation underneath or
suppose your corn crop had been
planted in the first three inches Of
this soil, what would nave happened?
In neither case would the plant roots
have gone down below this mass Of
vegetation to the moist soil beneath
and in neither case could capillary
attraction have raised the moisture
from the subsoil through this mass
of vegetation to the furnishing plant
roots above it. But one result would
be inevitable. Your crop would die
for lack of moisture, notwithstanding
you may have a normal amount OF
rainfall during the season.
You have not set up a chemical
but a mechanical condition III your
soil that allows the rain water to
pass dow into the subsoil but will
not allow capillary to return into the
surface soil to supply the needs of
lhO SIoT CIop dIU j ID OHIy ~
capillary water, or the water on its
return movement to the surface, that
efeeds the plant. Not only so but all
of the soluble nitrates in the surface
eight or ten inches are leached out
and carried down into the subsoil
and forced TO remain there until this
bed Of vines weeds, etc. has been
removed by a subsequent blowing or
the natural processes Of decay. The
,ce,.o coil =. 49, No. -
dryer by the localization of this mass
Of green manure just below the sur
face, How shall We avoid this con-
dition?
Mr.. T. D Brown, of Salisbury,
solved the problem this season on his
own land He had crimson clover on
a piece of land thai yielded about
six tons of green manure to the acre
which he wanted to pillow down for
corn. This is a Very large amount
Of green n to be turned in at
one time especially during his sea-
son Of almost, unprecedented drouth
Mr.. Brown dragged his clover down
With a heavy drag then cut it three
or four times while Yet green with a
sharp t~Wenty-four incl weighted disc
harrow Set straight. After having
cut the clover into short pieces he
plowed it under as deeply as his teams
COuiu pun II. he Cnen Set MS disc
at a slight angle and disced the land
again. hus mixing and mingling the
Cut-up clover with the whole soil
stratum in a very thorough manner
He then laid off his corn rows al
most as deeply as he had plowed the
land and planted his corn in the
bottom Of these burrows, covering it
shallow. Some days ago when I saw
the field there was hardly a fired
blade to be seen, while his other corn
on similar land on the opposite side
of the o was burned to the ear.
BY thus mixing the organic matter IN
this cut-up condition with the whole
soil stratum the water was able to
pass down from the surface to the
subsoil and to rise from the subsoil
to the surface again without being
INSTRUCTED in it's movement by the
layer Of non-capillary vegetable mat
ter at some place along the lines Of
ascent