n8 Our Farming. 



or poor, as it is often called, contains an enormous quantity of 

 plant food per acre, as analysis shows. The trouble is largely 

 that the food is not in available shape. For some reason the crop 

 cannot get much of it. My farm, was in this condition when I 

 came here. I could point you to many in the same shape to-day. 

 Generally speaking, with drainage first as a basis to work on, 

 thus getting the water out and the air in , thorough tillage will 

 set free a good deal of this heretofore unavailable plant food. 

 Pulverizing and fining and frequent working of the soil, always 

 when dry enough, is a great aid towards bringing up the fertility 

 of the farm. Years ago I wrote in The Country Gentleman some- 

 thing as follows : ' ' Had I to take my choice between a given quan- 

 tity of manure and tillage implements, such as we had twenty 

 years ago on most farms, and half the quantity of manure and 

 the best tillage tools of to-day, I would choose the latter for my 

 farm, I do not care to change this yet. The poor plow (com- 

 pared with the one I use now) and straight-toothed harrow that 

 I began with did poor tillage. We can turn and stir and tear 

 up and pulverize now in a way not possible when I began farm- 

 ing." The above statement was not made at random on theory, 

 but from experience. To avoid making this chapter too long, I . 

 will not stop to give particular illustrations. You will find some 

 in other chapters, particularly under the head of Wheat Culture. 

 This reminds me of another remark made about the same time 

 in The Country Gentleman, to the effect that more tools and teams 

 would be a cheaper way sometimes to get fertility for the wheat 

 crop than the buying of fertilizers. Of course, such statements 

 roused up opposition from men who buy fertilizers largely, or sell 

 them, and who do not do the most thorough work in tillage who 

 often spread over so many acres they cannot. I was sneered at 

 for teaching that tillage could create anything. I had never said 

 it could ; but it can make more plant food available, particularly 

 on drained, heavy soils. I wrote right from the tools and teams 

 that were actually doing the thing and making the money. And 

 I am glad to know, as I do, that I stirred up a great many others 

 to better tillage. I have had any amount of letters during the 

 past few years from friends who were doing more thorough work 

 and getting their pay. I remember one friend in Western* New 

 York who, after reading my letters, decided to put out less wheat 

 and give the less acres all the labor he had previously laid 

 out on the larger number. I cannot now remember the exact 

 yield, but it was over fifty bushels per acre, way above what he 

 had ever done before, and altogether the finest- crop in his neigh- 

 borhood. I was in his town in the fall, and was told this by 

 neighbors, who said there was no question about the truth of it. 

 But I wish to particularly bring out this point : That the influence 

 of good culture does not end with the crop that it was applied to 

 by any means. When pushing the claims of tillage years ago, 



