The Huttig news. (Huttig, Ark.) 1907-1955, 1912-11-02
Reasons For Deep fall Flowing.

under the right conditions. The
time for deep blowing is unQues-
tionably in the fall when the sub
soil is as dry as possible. The
subsoil should not be stirred EXCEPT
in the fall. Land that tends to
wash and land that might be dam
aged by teaching should always be
sown to winter cover crop. This
cover crop should be sown early
enough to enable it to get good
start before the severe part of
winter. Land inclined to be wet
should be left in the rough and in
ridges after blowing.
Deep fall blowing enables one to
use all the humus forming vegeta-
Bile material left upon the ground
from previous crop or crops.
Stalks, weeds and grasses should
never be burned, but should be
turned under. If these are plowed
under by deep blowing in the fall.
they will decompose and decay in
time for spring planting. Matter
that has once been vegetable
will help make a plant grow again.
These grasses, weeds, stalks, etc,
will not only enrich the soil, but
will improve the texture and thus
allow the air to circulate more
freely.
Many insects, for example, our
recent pest, the grass worm. are
destroyed by fall blowing and 9th
ers are destroyed by later shall
low blowing. In boil weeVil terri
tory. the cotton stalks should be
plowed under just early in the fall
as possible, because in this winter
ing place of the Weeyils are de-
stroyed During the winter there
should be a shallow blowing. since
the top layer of the ground is full
of insects and these quickly die on
on being exposed to the winter
atmosphere.
The pressure of the horses feet
and even of the mans foot will
pack the soil in a very short time.
This is especially true where farm
land is pastufed during the winter.
As a result, hard layer of earth
few inches in thickness. is formed
just beneath the surface. Of
course, this is broken to depth of
four or five inches with the ploW,
but underneath this loose layer is a
hard layer not touched by the
plow 1t gets harder and harder
so that water can hardly penetrate
it. The subsoil cannot absorb a
heavy rainfall fast enough to pre-
vent its flowing over the surface.
AS result the loose top soil is
gradually washed off. But if this
soil is made porous by previous
deep blowing and subsoling, the
water will sink rapidly and not be
apt wash. Each square foot of
soil will hold the rain water that
falls on that amount of space.
When deep blowing is done in the
fall the ground will get the benefit
of the heavy winter rains and will
thus store up moisture for the long
growing season. This is of very
much Importance when one con-
siders that the water necessary to
make even an average crop of corn
would cover the earth thirteen
inches deep if all of it we're present
at one time. Many plants are
composed almost entirely of water
Some plants, melons, ETC., are
about SO per cent water. Water
is rs per cent of the vegetable
kingdom.
Often lands seem poor and do
not produce good crops, when in
fact that absence of sufficient
water supply is the only difficulty
This is evidenced by the fact that
rainy season nearly always re
suits in a good crop on lands which
have not been properly prepared to
hold moisture. 1t can therefore,
be seen and readily agreed upon
that our lands should be managed