134 THE BUSINESS OF FAEMING 



hausted fertility now becoming so common in that 

 country. 



The author has experimented with the deep 

 tilling machine that plows the soil from ten to 

 twenty or more inches in depth, and he has gath- 

 ered the results of the experience of others with 

 the same machine. These experiments prove that 

 deeper plowing which is nothing more than better 

 tillage, is one of the best remedies for the restora- 

 tion of our ailing soils, because it makes available 

 for plant food the locked up fertility in the stratum 

 of soil below the plow sole which has lain dormant 

 so long. 



It also proves that the farmers of America have 

 too long allowed themselves to be frightened by 

 the "scarecrow" of "turning up too much bot- 

 tom soil" flaunted by well meaning persons, no 

 doubt, but which has so encouraged the shallow 

 plowing practice by the American farmer who 

 was eager to adopt its principles because shallow 

 plowing was so much easier done, and so relieved 

 the burden from his horses and mules that fur- 

 nished the motive power to move the plows. 



In the consideration of the question of the 

 proper method of plowing we must determine first 

 what is deep plowing, or what is shallow plow- 

 ing? 



To draw the line of demarkation between the 

 two would simply be the opinion of the individual 

 making the definition, for there has been no stand- 

 ard definition fixed. However the general con- 

 sensus of opinion seems to be, and which ought to 

 become the fixed standard, that any plowing of 



