The Elements of Agriculture

It must be evident that roots, penetrating the soil to a depth of two feet, anchor the plant with greater stability than those which are spread more thinly near the surface.

The roots of plants traversing the soil to such great distances, and being located in nearly every part, absorb mineral and other food, in solution in water, only through the spongioles at their ends. Consequently, by having these ends in every part of the soil, it is all brought under contribution, and the amount supplied is greater, while the demand on any particular part may be less than when the whole requirements of plants have to be supplied from a depth of a few inches.

May garden soils be profitably imitated in field culture?

The ability of roots, to assume a natural shape in the soil, and grow to their largest sizes, must depend on the condition of the soil. If it is finely pulverized to the whole depth to which they ought to go, they will be fully developed; while, if the soil be too hard for penetration, they will be deformed or small. Thus a carrot may grow to the length of two and a half feet, and be of perfect shape, while, if it meet in its course at a depth of eight or ten inches a cold, hard subsoil, its growth must be arrested, or its form injured.

Roots are turned aside by a hard sub-soil, as they would be if received by the surface of a plate of glass.

Add to this the fact that cold, impenetrable subsoils are chemically uncongenial to vegetation, and we have sufficient evidence of the importance, and in many cases the absolute necessity of sub-soiling and under-draining.

It is unnecessary to urge the fact that a garden soil of two feet is more productive than a field soil of six inches; and it is certain that proper attention to these two modes of cultivation will in a majority of cases make a garden of the field—more than doubling its value in ease of working, increased produce, certain security against drought, and more even distribution of the demands on the soil—while the outlay will be immediately repaid by an increase of crops.

Is the use of the sub-soil plow increasing?

Will its use ever injure crops?

The subsoil will be much improved in its character the first year, and a continual advancement renders it in time equal to the original surface-soil, and extending to a depth of two feet or more.

The sub-soil plow is coming rapidly into use. There are now in New Jersey more foundries casting sub-soil plows than there were sub-soil plows in the State six years ago. The implement has there, as well as in many other places, ceased to be a curiosity; and the man who now objects to its use, is classed with him who shells his corn on a shovel over a half-bushel, instead of employing an improved machine, which will enable him to do more in a day than he can do in the "good old way" in a week.

Had we space, we might give many instances of the success of sub-soiling, but the agricultural papers of the present day (at least one of which every farmer should take) have so repeatedly published its advantages, that we will not do so.

In no case will its use be found any thing but satisfactory, except in occasional instances where there is some chemical difficulty in the subsoil, which an analysis will tell us how to overcome.

As was before stated, its use on wet lands is not advisable until they have been under-drained, as excess of water prevents its effects from being permanent.

CHAPTER V

PLOWING AND OTHER MODES OF PULVERIZING THE SOIL

May the satisfaction attending labor be increased by an understanding of the natural laws which regulate our operations?

On what depends the kind of plow to be used?

The advantages of pulverizing the soil, and the reasons why it is necessary, are now too well known to need remark. Few farmers, when they plow, dig, or harrow, are enabled to give substantial reasons for so doing. If they will reflect on what has been said in the previous chapters, concerning the supply of mineral food to the plant by the soil, and the effect of air and moisture about roots, they will find more satisfaction in their labor than it can afford when applied without thought.

PLOWING

What is a general rule with regard to this?

Should deep plowing be immediately adopted? Why?

Why is this course of treatment advisable for garden culture?

The kind of plow used in cultivating the surface-soil must be decided by the kind of soil. This question the practical, observing farmer will be able to solve.

As a general rule, it may be stated that the plow which runs the deepest, with the same amount of force, is the best.

We might enter more fully into this matter but for want of space.

The advantages of deep plowing cannot be too strongly urged.

The statement that the deeper and the finer the soil is rendered, the more productive it will become, is in every respect true, and which no single instance will contradict.

It must not be inferred from this, that we would advise a farmer, who has always plowed his soil to the depth of only six inches, to double the depth at once. Such a practice in some soils would be highly injurious, as it would completely bury the more fertile and better cultivated soil, and bring to the top one which contains no organic matter, and has never been subject to atmospheric influences. This would, perhaps, be so little fitted for vegetation that it would scarcely sustain plants until their roots could reach the more fertile parts below. Such treatment of the soil (turning it upside down) is excellent in garden culture, where the great amount of manures applied is sufficient to overcome the temporary barrenness of the soil, but it is not to be recommended for all field cultivation, where much less manure is employed.

How should field plowing be conducted?

How does such treatment affect soils previously limed?

How may it sometimes improve sandy or clay soils?

The course to be pursued in such cases is to plow one inch deeper each year. By this means the soil maybe gradually deepened to any desired extent. The amount of uncongenial soil which will thus be brought up, is slight, and will not interfere at all with the fertility of the soil, while the elevated portion will become, in one year, so altered by exposure, that it will equal the rest of the soil in fertility.

Often where lime has been used in excess, it has sunk to the subsoil, where it remains inactive. The slight deepening of the surface plowing would mix this lime with the surface-soil, and render it again useful.

When the soil is light and sandy, resting on a heavy clay subsoil, or clay on sand, the bringing up of the mass from below will improve the texture of the soil.

As an instance of the success of deep plowing, we call to mind the case of a farmer in New Jersey, who had a field which had yielded about twenty-five bushels of corn per acre. It had been cultivated at ordinary depths. After laying it out in eight step lands (24 feet), he plowed it at all depths from five to ten inches, on the different lands, and sowed oats evenly over the whole field. The crop on the five inch soil was very poor, on the six inch rather better, on the seven inch better still, and on the ten inch soil it was as fine as ever grew in New Jersey; it had stiff straw and broad leaves, while the grain was also much better than on the remainder of the field.

What kind of soils are benefited by fall plowing?

There is an old anecdote of a man who died, leaving his sons with the information that he had buried a pot of gold for them, somewhere on the farm. They commenced digging for the gold, and dug over the whole farm to a great depth without finding the gold. The digging, however, so enriched the soil that they were fully compensated for their disappointment, and became wealthy from the increased produce of their farm.

Farmers will find, on experiment, that they have gold buried in their soil, if they will but dig deep enough to obtain it. The law gives a man the ownership of the soil for an indefinite distance from the surface, but few seem to realize that there is another farm below the one they are cultivating, which is quite as valuable as the one on the surface, if it were but properly worked.

Fall plowing, especially for heavy lands, is a very good means of securing the action of the frosts of winter to pulverize the soil. If it be a stiff clay, it may be well to throw the soil up into ridges (by ridging and back furrowing), so as to expose the largest possible amount of surface to the freezing and thawing of winter. Sandy soils should not be plowed in the fall, as it renders them too light.

DIGGING MACHINES

What is the digging machine?

A recent invention has been made in England, known as the digging machine or rotary spade, which—although from having too much gearing between the power and the part performing the labor, it is not adapted to general use—has given such promise of future success, that Mr. Mechi (an agricultural writer of the highest standing) has said that "the plow is doomed." This can hardly be true, for the varied uses to which it may be applied, will guarantee its continuance in the favor of the farmer.

Already, in this country, Messrs. Gibbs & Mapes, have invented a digging machine of very simple construction, which seems calculated to serve an excellent purpose, even in the hands of the farmer of limited means.

Its friends assert that, with one pair of oxen, it will dig perfectly three feet wide, and for a depth of fifteen inches. An experiment with an unperfected machine, in the presence of the writer, seemed to justify their hopes.

This machine thoroughly pulverizes the soil to a considerable depth, and for smooth land must prove far superior to the plow.

THE HARROW AND CULTIVATOR

Why is the harrow a defective implement?

Why is the cultivator superior to the harrow?

The harrow, an implement largely used in all parts of the world, to pulverize the soil, and break clods, has become so firmly rooted in the affections of farmers, that it must be a very long time before they can be convinced that it is not the best implement for the use to which it is devoted. It is true that it pulverizes the soil for a depth of two or three inches, and thus much improves its appearance, benefiting it, without doubt, for the earliest stages of the growth of plants. Its action, however, is very defective, because, from the wedge shape of its teeth, it continually acts to pack the soil; thus—although favorable for the germination of the seed—it is not calculated to benefit the plant during the later stages of its growth, when the roots require the soil to be pulverized to a considerable depth.