The Bulletin. 81 



Practically all of our soil surface has too much fall, and as soon as the sur- 

 face fails to take up more water the surplus flows off, carrying with it the 

 three inches of soil which we have for years turned over and over in our 

 efforts to fit it for crop production, carrying with it the manures and fertili- 

 zers we have lavishly poured into it. The soil condition and the soil composi- 

 tion favorable to crop production are not alone removed, but the soil itself is 

 removed. This is no pen picture invented to tickle the fancy, but a recital of 

 historic events written upon the faces of the farms of North Carolina in the 

 rhetoric of broomsedge, brier and pine and the oratory of galled fields and 

 gullied hillsides. This broad page of history was written by the plow, the 

 real emblem of America's liberty, progress and power ! 



The fall or steepness of our cultivated fields, together with the shallow 

 plowing so common, are the great checks to soil improvement and aids to the 

 loss of fertility. They are the more important of several aids to soil wash or 

 gullying, and the destruction of farm values. For the sake of convenience, 

 several of the more important means to soil improvement will be taken up 

 separately. 



1. Deep and Thorough Plowing. — If plowing is done for the purpose of mak- 

 ing the soil more congenial to the growth of crops it is well to consider the 

 character of plowing being done, that it may be determined whether or not we 

 are securing the desired results from the operation as it is performed. We 

 must know how to plow and when to plow, what plow to use and how it 

 should be used. 



In the preparation of the soil for a crop by the use of the plow and other 

 Implements the main objects sought are the (a) deepening of the soil and its 

 (6) thorough pulverization. The deepening of the soil has been briefly dis- 

 cussed. The quantity of soil available for the exercise of plant-growth func- 

 tions, together with its physical properties- and chemical composition, are the 

 measure of plant growth. The plow is the finest aid to the attainment of 

 these plant-growth controls. It increases the feeding area for the plant, de- 

 creases surface washing, increases the water-holding capacity and plant-food 

 content of the soil, lessens the injury from drought and brings to the surface 

 crude materials, where air, sun, temperature and bacteria may act upon it 

 and make it available for the plants' use. There is a variety of soils in the 

 State with variable characters, and each must be given its appropriate treat- 

 ment. It is not advisable to too rapidly increase the depth of these soils, since 

 in many of them the condition of the subsoil is such as to make it unsuited to 

 the needs of plants. If too much is brought to or near the surface at one time 

 it will dilute the soil proper and may, the first year, actually decrease crop 

 production. If, however, the deepening is done in the fall, when it should be 

 done, and is accompanied by the introduction into the soil of stable manure or 

 vegetable matter plowed down, and an application of lime (if the soil con- 

 tains much clay), the freezes of winter, with the aid of the lime and organic 

 matter, will in many cases bring about conditions which will be instrumental 

 in doubling the crop yield. 



The primitive implements used in the preparation of the soil and the too 

 frequent delay of preparation until freezing weather has passed are responsi- 

 ble for the poor physical condition of the seedbed. The thorough pulveriza- 

 tion of the soil before the seed are planted is almost universally neglected, yet 

 its importance cannot be too strongly emphasized. The water-holding capacity 

 of a soil and the amount of available plant food in the soil are proportionate 

 to its pulverization. All the plant food taken by the plant from the soil is in 

 solution — is dissolved in water, and then drawn into the plant through its 

 roots. The plant cannot get its food unless it be dissolved in water. Water 

 and air are the great forces which render available the insoluble plant-food 

 constituents of the soil. Water prepares and carries the food into the plant. 

 The amount of water a soil can hold is controlled by the gross area of surface 

 exposed by the soil particles, and the more thoroughly the soil is pulverized 

 the more water it can hold, the more available plant food the soil will contain 

 and the more readily will it be conveyed to the plant. A simple illustration 



October— 6 



