CROPS AND SOIL IMPROVEMENT 



Method of Plowing. - - The depth of plowing 

 should be fixed largely by the amount of organic 

 matter in the soil. It is essential that a good 

 percentage of this material should be mixed 

 throughout the soil, and when it is in scant supply, 

 the depth of plowing usually should not be great. 

 Fertile soils should be plowed deep for their own 

 good, and thin soils should be deepened gradually, 

 as sods and manures afford a supply of humus- 

 making material. Even when manure is used 

 liberally in a single application on a poor soil, a 

 large amount of inert subsoil should not be thrown 

 upon the surface. The manure goes out of reach 

 of the greatest need, which is in the surface soil 

 where plant-life starts. A gradual process of 

 deepening the soil is to be preferred, but such 

 deepening should not be neglected. The subsoil 

 is a store of inert fertility that should not remain 

 dormant. 



It may not do to say that the success of the 

 best farmers is due to thoroughness in plowing, 

 but it is true that the more successful ones are 

 insistent that the plowing be absolutely thorough. 

 Every inch of the soil should be stirred to a cer- 

 tain depth, and that requires a plow so set that it 

 does not turn a furrow-slice much wider than the 



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