280 Transactions op the 



ridge, is precisely the one that it is most important to have in a light 

 aud free condition. If the second (Spring) plowing has been omitted, 

 this strip will have been left in the compact state in which the soil re- 

 mains after having been settled by the rains. ■ And in this lies one 

 special importance of the second plowing. 



If a soaking rain comes after the ridges are molded up to settle and 

 compact them, and there be time before planting to throw them down, 

 mold up again and have them "draw;" it will be found worth while to 

 do so. 



PLOWING TOO WET. 



I have not thought it needful to enlarge upon the propriety of plow- 

 ing only when the ground is in proper condition — i. e., neither too wet 

 nor too dry, but specially (in California) when not too wet. The high 

 fertility of many California soils is partly due to the extremely minute 

 division of their constituent particles. While they are not a true clay, 

 they work like a clay. 



If a portion of clay or of the "sticky" soils be saturated with water, 

 and water afterwards allowed to drain off and the soil to dry, it will 

 crack, fall perhaps to pieces, and at all events break readily in the 

 fingers. It remains somewhat porous, as can be proved by setting the 

 edge of a fragment in water, and observing its gradual permeation of 

 the mass. Of course, where water can enter, atmospheric air enters; 

 and such a piece of soil exposed to the weather will develop all the con- 

 ditions needful for the support of plant life. If, now, an equal portion 

 of clay or similar soil be saturated with water, and the water expelled 

 by pressure and the soil dried, it will compact into a sort of brick-stuif. 

 It is no longer friable, and will probably require the blow of a hammer 

 to fracture it. Exposed to the action of water, it will disintegrate slowly 

 at the wet surface, the fluid penetrating but slightly into the interior. 

 It is obviously unfitted for the favorable development of plant life. 



When these soils are jdowed too wet, turning over from the mold 

 board in glistening ridges that preserve the curve of the implement, the 

 process going on is that just described. They are being compacted and 

 their water expelled by the pressure of the plow, and thej^ are then 

 molded into clods that may not again become fully disintegrated 

 for two or three seasons. The harrow may divide these molded clods 

 into smaller ones, but in that form they will dry out and bake. They 

 will not receive seed nor supply nutriment, nor even standing ground to 

 the roots of the growing plant, till their constituent particles are once 

 more divided, which comes about gradually under the combined influ- 

 ence of the germination of wild seeds within their substance, of rains, 

 frosts, and the Summer's heat. There are not many single operations 

 performed on a California soil in the California climate, by which the 

 husbandman can inflict more vexations or more serious injury on his 

 crop, his laiul, and himself, than by this one of plowing when the soil is 

 too wet; but, bad as the operation will prove in the case of an ordinary 

 grain crop, it must be incomparably worse in that of tobacco, for the 

 reasons heretofore set forth. The one leading object of all our opera- 

 tions has been to bring the land to a condition of tilth as nearly perfect 

 and uniform as possible throughout a depth of twelve inches. Yet if 

 the ground be stirred at all while too wet, it is placed beyond the possi- 

 bility of being brought to that state by any operation known to our 

 husbandry. 



