66 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



June 



For the Western Pomoloqist. 



Deep Cultivation. 



Were it not for the foct that in agricultural 

 papers every now and again we meet with 

 such statements as these— "The best place 

 for a sub-soil plow is in the barn," and that 

 Mr. So-and-so " would not plow deeper than 

 three or four inches for an}- crop," it might 

 be deemed "labor lost" saying a word in 

 behalf of a practice so thoroughly tested as 

 this has been, and its good effects so gener- 

 ally recognized both by farmers and garden- 

 ers. We readily admit all the benefits which 

 are claimed to flow from the system may not 

 in every instance be apparent, but it seems 

 wrong to attribute incidental failures to any 

 weakness in the system itself, and from quite 

 a number of facts, gathered through many 

 years of experience, we believe it possible to 

 state some of the reasons why deep plowing 

 and trenching may sometimes be unproduc- 

 tive of good. 



Before engaging in any expensive method 

 of cultivation, the question first in order is 

 whether the land to be operated upon is 

 thoroughly drained or not. What we mean 

 is not that it should be comparatively dry, 

 but that the means of drainage be such as to 

 render it impossible for water to stagnate 

 any where in the ground as deep as it is 

 intended to be plowed or trenched. Over- 

 looking this primary and indispensable con~ 

 dition of success, much labor has been 

 bestowed and money spent without obtain- 

 ing anything like an adequate return. In- 

 stances could be mentioned in which some- 

 thing like this has actually taken place, and 

 that, too, when the necessity for underdrain- 

 ing was not strikingly apparent ; but when the 

 subsoil retained enough of moisture to pre- 

 vent the land from beiug readily worked in 

 the spring, and remaining longer wet after 

 rains than was desirable. Some years ago a 

 few rods of this discription was trenched and 

 subsequently planted with such crops as are 

 met with in gardens. In this stock is a col- 

 lection of hardy roses which, though planted 

 and nurtured with care, have not done so 

 well as could be wished, they being more or 

 less injured by frost every winter, although 

 sufficiently hardy to stand unirijured on a dry 

 bottom. What has happened in this case is 

 not of rare occurrence, but is only one of a 

 thousand instances in which the beneficial 

 efi'ects of trenching — trench or subsoil plow- 

 ing — have been neutralized by the want of 

 duly preparing the land by draining. Of 

 course, reasoning from such facts, the conclu- 

 sion might easily be reached that deep culti- 

 vation is not so advantageous as some of its 

 advocates claim ; but let this bar to success 

 be removed, and it will speedily present 

 itself in other and more favorable aspects. 



Trenching is performed as circumstances 

 and the opinions held regarding it may dictate. 

 Some would trench sixteen inches strike 

 deep, others- two feet, provided tliey don't 



tile, sand or gravel, but rather than disturb 



these they would be content with much less. 

 But the practice of going the desired depth, 

 say twenty inches, irrespective of obsta- 

 cles, seems to me, after j'ears of experience 

 in making new gardens and improving old 

 ones, to be cheapest and best in the end. In 

 order to do this, I have often had occasion to 

 cut through hard tile, sand, and gravel beds, 

 to remove great boulders which, for ordinary 

 digging, might have remained undisturbed, 

 and on one occasion had to chisel away an 

 outcrop of Silurian rock, on a spur of one of 

 the mountains which constitute " the shaggy 

 top of Mona." While doing such work, we 

 have sometimes seen the knowing ones 

 shaking their heads and " whispering with 

 white lips," "Ah, folly! the scull should not 

 be broken so, for the water can not be held 

 about the roots of the plants, and therefore 

 they will languish when the weather is dry." 

 But as this and all similar objections have no 

 foundation in fact, they may be dismissed 

 without a word of comment. It does seem 

 strange, however, that such notions should 

 linger in communities claiming to be intelli- 

 gent — in communities even where professors 

 of agriculture have their seats, and where 

 farmers, friends, and instructors are distribu- 

 ted without stint or measure. 



Much need not be said regarding the advan- 

 tages of deep cultivation, as these are well 

 known to every intelligent farmer and gar- 

 dener, but as wretched digging and still 

 worse plowing is by no means uncommon, it 

 would be well if they were more generally 

 understood and appreciated. Some of these 

 are the greater depth to which the roots of 

 plants can travel in quest of food, and away 

 from the withering influences of intense sun 

 heat ; in rendering the mould more permea- 

 ble for the atmosphere the depth to which it 

 has been trenched ; in the equalization of 

 temperature to the same depth, thus aflbrd- 

 iug increased facilities for the due prepara- 

 tion of plant-food ; and in its becoming a 

 more suitable medium for the transmi!^sion 

 of water, at the same time augmenting its 

 power to draw supplies from below when 

 rains are withheld. We have seen evidences 

 of all this in the improved condition of crops, 

 both in quantity and in quality, whether 

 these may have been "grass which grows for 

 cattle, or herbs for the use of man." 



But it is somel imes urged that by turning a 

 poor subsoil uppermost, a condition of things 

 is brought about ojjposed to all reascnable 

 hopes of good being the result. In the work 

 of gardening, the trouble here is not hard to 

 overcome, as manure [and compost can gen- 

 erally be had in suflicieut abundance ; and 

 with their help, and the meliorating action 

 of the atmosphere, the most stubborn sub- 

 soils can be reclaimed and rendered produc 

 live. It is true in the more extensive opera- 

 tions of farming, this method would be 

 expensive, butt here is no reson why farniers 

 may not obtain the most desirable results by 



simply altering the set of their plows, at least 

 once in eveiy rotation of crops. To do this 

 requires but little skill and less labor, yet it 

 is something for a workman to know how to 

 handle his tools skillfully. We have known 

 a land laborer who at any time would have 

 cut a sorrj' figure at club-meetings, been sore- 

 tried to give the definition of the word 

 "tilth," and puzzled outright to make out 

 the difference between ammonia and anti- 

 mony, but who, nevertheless, could see far- 

 ther into just what was best to do to produce 

 great results, than very many who can talk 

 and write glibly on agriculture as a science. 

 It was his uniform practice, whilst plowing 

 for root crops, especially for potatoes, to hold 

 deeper than at other times, and did not ob- 

 ject to turn up, on such occasions, a portion 

 of subsoil, when it lay in the way of going 

 the desired depth. In all such cases the ends 

 invariably justified the means, and made it 

 plainly possible that land naturally shallow, 

 can be brought into a condition capable of 

 producing almost any crop in rich aliundance. 

 without the use of either extraordinary or 

 expensive means. 



A. Veitch. 

 New Haven, Conn. 



■Winter Pears. 



The Beurred Anjou. — Every year's expe- 

 rience with this variety gives additional 

 proof of its great value. The tree, as it 



acquires age, becomes more and more pro- 

 ductive, and the fruit improves in quality as 

 well as in keeping properties. Instead of 

 beinO a late Autumn fruit, as classed id the 

 books and aitalngues, it is really, at the 

 North, a Winter fruit Last winter Colonel 

 Wilder carried some with him to Floiida, 

 and they were eaten there about the first of 

 February in good condition. At the present 

 time, (February 4th), we have them here as 

 fresh and .sound as when gathered from the 

 tree. 1 hey have been kept in a barrel in a 

 cool barn cellar, and when ripened a few 

 days in a warm room, are melting and deli- 

 cir)us. Indeed, they are very good when 

 eaten directly from the barrel, but a little 

 ripening in a warm place improves them, as 

 it does most varieties that have been kept in 

 a cool place. When we take into account 

 the excellent character of the tree, both on 

 pear and quince stock, the size, beauty, rich- 

 ness, and keeping qualities of the fruit, we 

 can have no hesitation in awarding it the 

 first place among late Autumn and Winter 

 varieties. Truly a "noble fruit.' 



T!ie JoBcpldne de, Malitie. — This is another 

 variety that improves from year to year as 

 the trees acquile age and we know more of 

 it. While the tree is j'oung, it is rather de- 

 ficient in vigor, and the habit of growth 

 somewhat irregular. The foliage is small, 

 and this also detracts from the appearance 

 of the tree. It is hardy, however, vigorous 

 and verj- productive ; the fruit is always 

 smooth and fair, of a delicate straw color; 

 the flesh slightly tinted wih rose, melting 

 and perfumed, may be kept till the second 

 of April. The eastern Beurre beiug so difli- 

 cult to grow, generally, 1 think the Josephine 

 is the tiuest late Winter pears we have. We 

 had really sjilendid crops of it here last sea- 

 .son and the previous one, on trees of White 

 Doyenne, grafted over. I have also had fine 

 crops on a tree of Woodales St. Germaiu, 

 grafted over. — P. Barry, in the EoHkuliwist. 



