The Ely miner., 1943-09-23

the scientific information possessed
for decades but hitherto not put to
any extensive use."
Moreover, he does not just advo-
cate theory but he cites his own
experience to prove that his theory
is practicable. For example, there
was the way he demonstrated its
validity with the tomatoes which he
transplanted, even though he shocked
some of his neighbors with what they
considered his careless methods"
First he narrowed down a crop of
rye that had grown three feet tall,
mixing rye and soil until hardly a
trace of vegetation remained. Then
he marked the land off in rows,
using an instrument he designed
himself to pack the worked soil of the
rows firmly. This was done to patch
the soil back together so natures
capillary action-carried on by the
plant root system-could keep on
elevating moisture to the surface for
his tomatoes. He cleaned all the
dirt from the roots of his tomato
plants and laid them along the rows
on the surface. He covered the roots
with rich soil and packed it down
by foot.
By late afternoon every plant set
in the forenoon was pointing toward
the sky and "by the following morn
ing every plant without exception
was standing upright" No water
yuoc 1,cad II, fropCp1apfipn ,pJ fL,f
was sufficient evidence that natures
own watering system was at work.
Prize Tomatoes.
Not only did the tomatoes live,
but his neighbors who had been du-
bious of his careless methods had
to admit that his was "the finest
field of tomatoes in the neighbor-
hood" There was further proof of
the fact when he sold his tomatoes,
for he received as much as 25 cents
a peck above the top price in the
Cleveland market. Zone reason for
this was the exceptional weight of
my packed pecks," Mr.. Faulkner ex-
plains. Fifteen pounds is the stand
ard weight of peck of tomatoes.
1t was not unusual for a peck of my
tomatoes to weigh 16 pounds and
many weighed II. Most local to-
matoes that year weighed from 10
to IA pounds to the peck"
What the author of "Plowman's
Folly" did with tomatoes, he also
did with sweet potatoes, cucum-
bers and beans. And lest it be
thought that his methods apply only
to garden truck" let it be recorded
that they apply also to field grain.
Several years ago he began s'nudg-
ing" the United States department
of agriculture to experiment with his
theory of "surface-incorporation."
Finally one of the leading agrono-
mists of the department set up a
demonstration.
perhaps the intent was to dis
prove my theories" writes Mr..
Faulkner. ''On the contrary, the
outcome of the tests completely con-
firmed them The results of
this official experiment proved that,
by working organic matter into the
surface instead of blowing it in,
the resulting grain yield could be
as much as SO per cent greater. The
very first year of this trial showed
such a result"
And these are only few of the il
Illuminating facts to be found in the
l61 pages of "Plowman's Folly" But
they all lend emphasis to it's authors
contention that "the sooner we make
ancient history of many of our pres
ent farm practices, the earlier we
will realize that the Garden of Eden.
almost literally, lies under our feet
almost anywhere on the earth we
care to step. We have not begun to
tap the actual potentialities of the
soil for producing crops"