554 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Dec. 



seed the very first day that the surface has be- 

 come sufficiently dry to harrow well, which will 

 usually be several days earlier than the land 

 would do to plow, or could be got ready for seed- 

 ing, if to be plowed. The grain and grass-seeds 

 committed to the ground thus early, have the 

 benefits of the early rains, and become well root- 

 ed before the hot and dry weather comes on. 



In the older settled districts of New England, 

 it is often the case that the land, by long and 

 quite shallow cultivation, together with a system 

 of close cropping, is now too compact and hard, 

 and needs deeper plowing and more thorough 

 pulverization than when it was new, and natu- 

 rally more mellow and friable by the presence 

 of vegetable substance in the soil. Then, again, 

 the oft-repeated treading of the cattle, and pres- 

 sure of the sole of the plow, in invariably shal- 

 low furrows, has, in all those lands of a close tex- 

 ture approaching to clay, with a strong and com- 

 pact subsoil, created an artificial hardpan, quite 

 too near the surface, which operates deleterious- 

 ly upon the crops, both in a wet and a dry sea- 

 son : in the former, by preventing the superabun- 

 dant moisture from readily sinking below and 

 relieving the surface of wetness and cold; and in 

 the latter, by preventing the roots of vegetation 

 from striking deeply into the soil, away from the 

 parching effects of the sun. The roots of our 

 cultivated plants will adapt themselves to the pe- 

 culiarities of the season, if jiermitted to do so; 

 that is, in a dry season, they will strike deep in- 

 to the soil for moisture and a grateful tempera- 

 ture, and in a wet season keep nearer the surface, 

 especially if iriade dry and warm by deep tillage. 



Where the land is of a close texture, with a 

 strong compact subsoil, it is not unusual to find 

 a better farm underneath, than that which has 

 been worked so long and so shallow on top. By 

 breaking through this artificial hardpan or crust, 

 and bringing up a portion of the under soil to 

 the light of day and the influence of manure, the 

 crops are by that operation considerably in- 

 creased, even though no more than the customa- 

 ry quantity of manure per acre is applied. And 

 if high manuring is practiced in connection with 

 the deeper cultivation, the crops will be very 

 much increased over what could be realized from 

 the old shallow plowing and artificial hardpan 

 near the surface, accompanied by as high manui*- 

 ing. Then there is the difference, too, in the 

 case of tilling the crops raised on deep, mellow 

 land, as compared with those on hird, shallow 

 plowed land. 



If deep sod plowing is to be practiced, it is es- 

 pecially desirable to do it in thj autumn, that 

 the atmospheric influences may ameliorate and 

 modify the upturned subsoil, preparatory to fu- 

 ture cultivation. Plow the green-sward in No- 

 vember, say eight to nine or ten inches deep, ac- 

 cording to the quality of the subsoil. In the 

 spring spread a good coat of manure, which, if 

 fine compost, can be sufficiently mingled with the 

 soil and covered by the harrow and cultivator; 

 or if coarse, can, by lightly cross-plowing, be 

 •turned under three to four or five inches deep, 

 according to the depth of plowing in the fall. If 

 the plowing was, say nine inches deep, there will 

 be no difficulty in guaging a light plow, with a 

 sharp share, and wheel on the beam, so as to 

 cross-plow in the spring and cover the manure 



about four inches deep, without disturbing the 

 sod underneath. Green manure, well covered 

 that depth, will decompose readily, and be more 

 active and effective on the succeeding corn or 

 other hoed crop than if turned down under the 

 sod. 



A neighbor of mine spread his manure on 

 grass-land, a year ago last spring, and turned it 

 under the sod, about six inches deep, and plant- 

 ed the field with corn. Nearly half the crop was 

 destroyed by grub worms ; and the soil, being a 

 close compact loam, the manure under the sod 

 was too inactive, so that the corn which did sur- 

 vive was backward in maturing. Last fall he 

 consulted with me as to what he had better do 

 with a piece of green-sward adjoining and simi- 

 lar to his corn-field, and which he wished to 

 plant the present season with corn, but the sod 

 of which was infested with grubs, as any one 

 could see by digging into it. I advised him to 

 plow it in November, turning the sod over from 

 nine to ten inches deep. He did so ; and in the 

 spring harrowed the ground lightly first, to level 

 the furrows and make cross-plowing convenient, 

 then spread the manure on the furrows, and cross- 

 plowed, turning the manure under four to five 

 inches deep, harrowed lightly, marked the field 

 off in hills each way, dropped a spoonful of su- 

 perphosphate in each hill, and planted it with 

 corn. No traces of worms have been discovered 

 in the field this year, and although the season 

 has not been ftivorable for the corn crop, he has 

 considerably more corn to the acre than last year 

 — probaljly twice as much. The land has also been 

 very mellow, and free from grass and weeds, and 

 easier to till, every way, than the piece last year 

 that was plowed six inches deep. The subsoil here 

 was a close, light-colored loam, of a clay nature, 

 and by spring had changed to a darker color, by 

 several shades, than when first turned up in the 

 fall. The field will doubtless show the good ef- 

 fects of deep plowing for several years to come, 

 especially while in grass again, lasting considera- 

 bly longer in productive mowing than if the 

 plowing had been not more than five or six inch- 

 es deep. The grass-roots, having a deeper range, 

 will not so soon become webbed and tangled to- 

 gether, and the sod "bound out," as it is termed. 



A friend of mine, who, a few years since, pur- 

 chased a tract of old worn-out plain land, is 

 having remarkable success in rejuvenating the 

 land by deep plowing, accompanied by high ma- 

 nuring. The land had, for many years, been un- 

 der the wasting effects of shallow plowing and 

 severe cropping with rye, until at length it was 

 quite exhausted, and abandoned to pasturage, 

 yielding a scanty herbage in the early part of 

 the season, but becoming dry and sere by mid- 

 summer, and remaining so through the remain- 

 der of the year. My friend found that the sur- 

 face soil was of little or no account any way, but 

 thought there might be some hopes of making 

 productive land of the subsoil. He accordingly 

 commenced upon a piece of the tract, of about 

 five acres, by at once putting in his universal sod 

 and subsoil plow ten inches deep, in the month 

 of November, and turned up a subsoil of yellow 

 loam, fine-grained and free from stone, and that 

 had never before seen the day. In the spring 

 following the plowed land was manured broad- 

 cast, at the rate of about twelve cards rtr acre, 



