Evening star., 1915-03-21

shiny weather-not counting the cold
drizzle of Friday-has
Early Flowing put the ground into
nrd.r w., frst-class shape for
eA way early blowing, and
from the windows of the cars on all the
lines entering the District OF Columbia.
steam as well as electric. one sees
broad fields Of brown. freshly turned
earth, where the forehanded farmer
man has been out with the plow and
team. OF course, little or no planting
has been done as yet: that is not really
the object OF early spring plowing. The
idea is to get the soil turned so that
the fertilizers. manure, lime or what
ever, may become Incorporated with
the earth. and so that the late freezes.
hard frosts. rains and possible belated
SHOWS may mellow the soil into fine
frfable condition, and also kill weed
seeds that have begun to germinate.
Early plowing. as early as possible.
does wonders in the way of sweetening
the soil. 1t also makes the field or
garden a big sponge. for tho soaking
up of the rain and the storing of the
water down under the surface, to be
drawn on as a reservoir by the grow
ing crops later in the season.
Too many fields and garden plots by
far, however. show Enthusiastically that
the plow has bare
Shallow Flowing ly skinned d the
Bad as None. surface sur ace , turning m ,s
or so Of the underlying soil The sub
soil in such fields has not been touch
ed. or even approached, and crops of
whatever kind, planted or sown in
such fields cannot be expected to
amount to anything. A Maryla nd
farmer. the other day, remarked that
he had ordered his men to plow only
on the surface this year, for the rea
son that the fields were plowed deeply
last spring. His method, he said. was
to plow deeply one year and shallow
the next, as constant deep plowing
would turn UP the SubSoil too much.
In what school of agriculture this far
mer learned is a question that is un-
answerable. The results of following
this system however, were plainly
to be observed in the unkempt fields,
the ramshackle buildings, the quilted
slopes and the general down-at-the-
heel appearance of the whole place.
The soil. he said, was worn out. aud
even copious applications of manure.
lime and commercial fertilizers
brought few results. As d matter of
fac, the soil of this mans fields. five
inches below the surface, has probably
not been touched in the last fifteen
years; 1t has lain hardening into Il
"plowsole" or hardpan. through which
the taproots of corn or the more
fibrous root system of other crops could
not by any possibility penetrate The
result has been that every summer
drought has parched the fields and the
crops, and the land has become poorer
and poorer until in it's present condi-
ton 1t is comparatively worthless. And
this condition Is due to repeated sinai
low plowfng. and to no other thlhs.
The man who originated the idea that
shallow plowing, under any clrcum-
stances, was to be advised, certainly
deserves a medal for basic. fundamen-
tai Ignorance of the first principles OF
agriculture.
Shallow plowing is exa ctly equal to
none at all, as far as results nre con-
cerned Soil on which crops are to be
grown cannot be plowed too deeply II
a subsotl plow can be used and sent
down just as deep as 1t viii go-as
deep as the team can draw 1.-THE soil
will not be plowed too deeply. II deep
plowing is supplemented by the modern
plan of subsoiling to a depth or three
or four feet by means Of agricultural
dynamite, so much the better And II
these two methods of getting down INTO
earth are further aided by turning un-
der at least one green crop each year,
better still. Deep plowing and green
no matter in how poor condition 1t may
be; while shallow plowing will speedily
result in the exhaustion of even the
riches and most fertile soil.
4 x