FALL PLOWING. 



19 



FALL PLOWING: 



UNDER WHAT CIRCUMSTANCES TO BE RECOMMENDED. 



OS THE ILL EFFECTS OF PLOWIXG LA.VD WHEN WET. 



There are few- points of Husbandry, about 

 which Farmers differ more in practice, than 

 about Fall Plowing-; and this diflFerence, like 

 most others, occurs from want of reflection on 

 the principles that should govern the particular 

 case — or rather, ^ve might say, from want of 

 knowledge of the principles, or reasons involved 

 in every agricultural problem. You shall some- 

 times see a farmer turning liis " glebe " at everj- 

 odd time he can catch of open weather, in Fall 

 aud Winter ; while another, his next neighbor, 

 does not strike a fuiTow ; and yet both may be 

 right, for both may have been taught by expe- 

 rience that his sj-stem is the better one of the 

 t^^■o. But were they to exchange estates, they 

 would, too probably, each carry his practice 

 along with him, because his action had been the 

 result of habit rather than of investigation ; and 

 so they would proceed until, after some years 

 of costly experiment, each would Snd that, in 

 chajigiug his land he .should have changed hab- 

 its also. The truth is, that v^hether land should be 

 plowed up in autumn and exposed for the me- 

 lioration to the winter's frost, or whether leftim- 

 disturbed under whatever coating it may be 

 wearing, depends on various circumstances, 

 and especially on the natural texture and com- 

 position of the soil. These circumstances are 

 so weU explained in the following Essay, that 

 we have concluded to preserve it in the Journal 

 of Agriculture. The reader vrill find in it, also, 

 observations that caimot be too well remem- 

 bered, iu reprobation of one of tlie grossest blun- 

 ders tliat a Farmer can commit — that of ploir- 

 in°^ kis land irheii icet. We have long been so 

 well satisfied, from personal observation as well 

 as by the common-sense view of the case, of the 

 verj- pernicious eftect of stirring land when \^-ct. 

 not only on the sxiccecding crop, but on tlie land 

 itself — effects from which it sometimes does not 

 entirely recover for years — that we take the first 

 occasion, in a sense of duty, to impress it upon 

 the reader, by tlie follo^\■ing forcible remarks on 

 it in connexion ^vith winter plowing. The ra- 

 tionale, in both cases, is here made apparent : 

 HOW TO AFFORD THE NECESS.ARY SITPLY 

 OF AIR TO THE ROOTS OF PLANTS. 



BY MR. J. MAINE, BROMPTON. 



The breaking up, or turning tlie surface of 

 cultivated laud, either by tlie plosv, spade, or 



(67) 



I hoe, for the reception of seeds or plants, is a 

 I process so universally practiced and indispensa- 

 I ble for the well-being of the crops intended to 

 be raised thereon, that it may be deemed m- 

 credible that such a common and simjile affair 

 should not be universally understood. And yet 

 it cannot be denied that many and frequent mis- 

 takes are committed in this matter, and diesc 

 must proceed either from indolence or/ ignor- 

 ance. 



As the surface of the earth is the natural .sta- 

 tion for the generality of plants, and where thev 

 obtain the necessary elemental food requisite for 

 their development and maturation, certain con- 

 ditions of the said surface are absolutely neces- 

 sary-. Humiditj'. heat, and air, in due" propor- 

 tions, are indispensable, both to the fibrous roots 

 which are extended in the eartli and to the head 

 which is expanded in the air. There is more 

 danger, however, from an excess of moisfore 

 than from die extremes of eitlier heat or air ; 

 because, when the soil is saturated v\ itli water, 

 the access of the genial air and its gaseous pro- 

 perties is excluded, and tlie delicate fibres, im- 

 prisoned and choked, it may be said for w-ant 

 of breath, must, in such a case, ueces-sarily lan- 

 CTiish. That a porous .'oil is requisite for the 

 free growtli of everj^ plant is an axiom m culti- 

 vation, and on this axiom aU our operations of 

 plowing, trenching, diggins, &;c., are founded ; 

 and, that no excess of water should at any time 

 remain to chill, sodden, and consolidate the sta- 

 ple, draining in all its branches and modifica- 

 tions is had recourse to. 



Soils are vai-iou.-? in quality-, and particularly 

 in texture and consistency. The success of 

 crops appears to depend as much on the texture 

 of the laud as upon any other propeity. For, 

 where air aud rain can peiTneate freely, a con- 

 stant supply of both aqueous and gaseous nour- 

 ishment is afforded, independently altogetlier of 

 the richness of the soil, whether natural or arti- 

 ficial. While, on the other hand, if the soil be 

 I compact, baked hard by drouth, iu consequence 

 of its having been previously labored or stirred 

 when too wet no plant can possibly flourish. 

 The conclusion, therefore, is. that the soil for any 

 kind of crop should never be imper\-ious to air 

 from being .saturated with water, nor impervi- 

 ous to both air and water from its dn,- adhesive- 

 ness. 



Sandy soils, upon a gravelly or chalky sub- 

 soil, are never hable to be drenclied withwater 

 but only for a very short time after lieavy rain, 

 or sudden tiiaw when snow is on the ground. 

 All the water absorbed by such a soil sinks 

 deep into Uie subsoil, aud tar below the roots of 

 corn or any agricultural plant on the surface. 

 Such a soil needs neitlier drainmg nor subsoil 

 plowing. Neither does it ever require to be 

 exposed to the frosts of winter, or any kind of 

 treatment by implementfl to produce ameliora- 



