112 SOILS 



in the sense of plant food applied. The value of 

 thorough tillage to increase fertility was first dem- 

 onstrated about 1730 by a wise old English 

 farmer, Jethro Tull. We read in his "Horse Hoe- 

 ing Husbandry" that he planted wheat in rows far 

 enough apart to allow tillage between them, and 

 raised more profitable crops without adding ma- 

 nure than his neighbours, who manured highly 

 but tilled little. In his enthusiasm Tull made the 

 mistake of believing that tillage could take the 

 place of fertilising, which we now know to be 

 wrong. Good tillage deep plowing, thorough 

 harrowing, frequent cultivating will largely reduce 

 the fertiliser bill or delay the day when fertilisers 

 and manures will be needed, because it enables the 

 farmer to get the most from the soluble plant food 

 already in the soil. But there always comes a time 

 when tillage must be supplemented with manuring 

 or fertilising. Tillage is not fertilising; but, if 

 done thoroughly, it may save much fertilising. 



THE ALCHEMY THAT FOLLOWS THE PLOW 



Thus it is seen that simply stirring the soil, the 

 commonest work on the farm and the work which 

 often receives the least thought, sets at work many 

 agencies that exert a profound influence on the 

 productivity of the land. Every tiller of the soil 

 should know something of the wonderful alchemy 

 that follows the plowsliare and cultivator tooth. 

 As he plows, harrows, cultivates, rolls, drags, he 

 should think, not that this is so much dirt that he 

 must handle, so many weeds that he must kill, but 

 that he is getting the soil laboratory ready for the 

 delicate reactions and subtle changes that are a 

 part of the wonderful process by which soil is made 



