NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



251 



For the New England Farmer. 



DEEP PLOWING ACCOMPANYING 

 HIGH MANURING, 



AX ANTIDOTE TO NEW ENGLAND STERILITY. 

 DV F. HOLUROOK. 



I have through the agricultural journals so often 

 and earnestly expressed my views upon the subject 

 of deep plowing, that those who have taken the 

 trouble to read what I have written may consider 



the following remarks an unnecessary repetition. 

 But the application of "line upon line, and precept 

 upon precept," is important in more connections 

 than one; and besides, the New England Farmer 

 is doing its share with the other journals in mak- 

 ing inroads upon that large class who have opposed 

 all "innovations upon traditional customs of husband- 

 ry ; and by inducing the accessions from that class 

 to road and reflect a little now and then, it is ex- 

 pected that a gradual triumph over their prejudices 

 will be attained, that they will reason correctly 

 upon the alterations in the course of farming which 

 present circumstances demand, and make such 

 changes and improvements as reason suggests. I 

 hope to persuade now and then a reader who has 

 heretofore practiced shallow plowing, to put his 

 plow a little deeper into the ground, this very 

 spring. That a shallow soil may gradually be 

 made a deep one, with profit to the owner, is a 

 proposition, both theoretically and practically con 

 sidered, in the truth of which I fully believe ; and 

 to do and say whatever I can to convince others of 

 its truth, and persuade them to practice accord- 

 ingly, is my settled and resolute determination 



Now England soils are generally by nature too 

 shallow ; and what is worse, they have in many 

 instances been subjected to a process of exhaustion 

 which they never were by nature or the art of 

 man, at all fitted to endure. Too much of our til- 

 lage land has been plowed but four or five inches 

 deep, scantily manured, and severely cropped ; and 

 thousands of acres of plain and pasture lands have 

 been skimmed by the plow and taxed with a suc- 

 cession of grain crops, without manure, until they 

 can not give up anything further of value to the 

 owner. The cry has been, "give, give ;" and if 

 the soil has from time to time reminded the owner 



a virgin soil will permit an application of the old 

 system for a generation or so. If we further at- 

 tempt to force the old system upon the land here 

 in New England, poverty or the auctioneer's ham- 

 mer will ultimately command us to leave off. 



It is encouraging to observe that new and better 

 principles of cultivation arc gradually gaining as- 

 cendancy. Our enterprising farmers, those who 

 read, observe and reflect for themselves, are awake 

 to improvements ; a large class are yearly going to 

 forming from other pursuits, with minds free from 

 prejudice, bringing to their new business a lauda- 

 ble enthusiasm, and enterprising, liberalized views ; 

 the leaven thus infused is exerting a marked and 

 useful influence; and New - England farming is 

 certainly improving. 



In a former communication, I dwelt upon the 

 importance of an industrious manufacture of com- 

 post-manure, and a liberal application of the ma- 

 nure to the land ; and remarked that thus we may 

 cause now desert places to blossom again, and 

 make the cultivation of New England soil a remu- 

 nerating business. It is my present purpose to 

 speak of deep plowing, as a lit companion of high 

 manuring. 



Generally speaking, the farmers of New England 

 may advantageously deepen their plowing at least 

 an "inch at each breaking up of the fields from 

 grass, or during each rotation of crops, provided 

 the process is accompanied by a liberal dressing of 

 manure. In some cases the deepening process 

 may be twice as rapid, and I shall presently in- 

 stance a case. In proportion as the surface soil is 

 properly deepened, so will the roots of the crops 

 have more extensive pasture, and greater protec- 

 tion from the scorching influence of drought. 

 When soils naturally inclined to pack are invaria- 

 bly plowed in shallow furrows, a hard crust or 

 pan is formed at the bottom of the furrow, by the 

 action of the feet of the cattle and the sole of the 

 plow, through which the little rootlets cannot 

 penetrate ; and this barrier being near the surface, 

 the roots suffer for moisture in a time of drought, 

 and the crop is thereby lessened. In proportion 

 as land is deeply plowed, so is there a greater 

 amount of loose earth on the upper side of the in- 

 verted furrows, out of which the harrow can make 



that he was robbing it of the ability to answer his, a deep, fine mellow tilth, so that the planting and 

 greedy call, he has sheltered himself under the [after cultivation of the crop is made easy and 



plea of inability to return an equivalent for its 

 generosity. If the Agricultural journals and oth- 

 ers have hinted that he should plow deep, manure 

 generously, and crop less severely, the reply has 

 been that such doctrines may do for book-farmers 

 and men of fortune, but the practical farmer has 

 no interest in them : he must get what he can from 

 the ground, with the least possible particularity of 

 tillage ; and as for deep plowing, it is easier to 

 plow shallow ; and as for high manuring, it can- 

 not be afforded : he has not the funds to buy ma- 

 nure, and it is too much trouble and expense to 

 manufacture it. ( 



But the skinning mode of farming has had a fair 

 and faithful trial in New England, and we have 

 now full proof that it Avill not do. The original 

 projectors of the system made perhaps pretty fair 

 profits by it, but their successors cannot profitably 

 prosecute the depleting process. Men now-a-days 

 must either make up their minds to adopt a system 

 of farming improving to the land, or else sell out 

 and go at some other business, or go West, where 



cheap, and the young plants can strike out their 

 roots freely in every direction, and come forward 

 rapidly in the fore part of the season. Compost- 

 manure, especially if it is made of two parts muck, 

 is very favorable to the productiveness of crops, 

 when kept near the surface ; and in proportion as 

 the plowing is deep, so can the manure be inti- 

 mately blended with the earth, and its volatile 

 properties preserved. Proper deepening of the 

 soil is favorable to a succession of good grass crops, 

 because the land does not soon become "boun I 

 out," the roots having a good range, and not In- 

 coming so soon entangled in a thickly matted web, 

 as they do where the soil and plowing are shallow. 

 When grass land is broken up in deep furrows, 

 there will be a sufficiency of loose mellow earth 

 above the inverted sod for all the purposes of 

 planting, and afterwards of seeding with grain and 

 grass seeds, without bringing the turf again to the 

 surface. The decaying sod, lying at the bottom 

 of the furrow, through the whole rotation, is a 

 soft yielding, spongy bed to keep the land up light, 



