1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMEK. 



167 



Soil and Crops. 



The April number of the "Journal of Illinoia 

 State Agricultural Society" containa an essay 

 on the Cultivation of Field Crops ard Prepara- 

 tion of Soils, by J. B, Turner, of Jacksonville, 

 Ills., which is a very able, instructive and inter- 

 esting document, that vre would like to give en- 

 tire to our readers, but its length forbids. Mr. 

 Turner very forcibly illustrates the value of fre- 

 quent stirring of the soil, more especially after a 

 heavy rain. The crust of which he speaks, after 

 having been once broken, will not form again 

 during the longes periods of drouth, or until jin- 

 other shower f^hall make a thin putty of the sur- 

 face clay for the glazing. We ask not only an 

 attentive perusal of this article, but its careful 

 study. The State Agricultural Society is doing 

 good work in the publishing of these valuable 

 ess'tys. Ed. 



FiTht, the upper surface may be too smooth or 

 too rough. Where ground has been suffered to 

 lie too long, especially after a heavy tain, in clay 

 Boils like those in the West, the surface becomes 

 gLized or crusted over with a sort of smooth 

 glossy crust, of a considerab'y lighter color than 

 the same soil is when not so glazed, and some- 

 times almost of a pale grayish white, even in 

 soils generally quite dark 



Now, the crusting over of the soil, as all well 

 know, interferes at once with the processes of 

 successful growth, but the reason why it does is 

 not generally considered. 



But we shall flud that it lies in three most vital 

 points : every one of which tends directly and 

 seriously to retard all vegetable growth, espe- 

 cially of such plants as corn, and others requir- 

 ing great heat in the soil. 



1. In the first place, this glazed surface being 

 of higher color, has far less power on that ac- 

 count of absorbing the rays of the sun than it 

 would otherwise have, while the glassy surface 

 constantly, from its smoothness, reflects back the 

 rajs like a mirror, and from these cmbined 

 causes a vast amount of the first element of rapid 

 growth, namely, heat, is daily and hourly dissi- 

 pated, or thrown back into the air and wasteJ, 

 instead of being absorbed in the soil. 



2 In the second place, thin smooth s^irface ex- 

 cludes the free access of the air to the interior of 

 the ^<oil, into which it would, from the undulatory 

 or vibratory motion (which I have described,) 

 otherwise penetrate, and (by making a constant 

 d posit of dew among its loose particles, both by 

 night and by day, together with the ammonia 

 and carbon, or whatever else it contributes to 

 vegetition,) thus perform its proper functions to- 

 wards growth, all of which by this little crust 

 are more or less interrupted. 



3. But by thus shutting out the free access of 

 ^oth heat and air from above, the corresponding 

 interplay of capillary attraction from below is 

 also interrupted ; just as when the lamp wick be- 

 comes glazed over, the lamp not only ceases to 



burn brightly above, but the oil, in like manner 

 also ceases to respond, and to run up from below, 

 so that by this simple glazing the plant be- 

 comes robbed of every one of its elements of life, 

 namely, the heat of the sun, and the capillary 

 attraction which supplies, when needed, its moist- 

 ure and all other needed elements from be'ow: 

 the mischief is, therefore, vital at every point, 

 and its real effects any one can S3e by simply 

 keeping this crust broken every day with a hoe, 

 on one row of cabbages or other plants in a gar- 

 den, and allowing another to stand glazed over 

 week after week. 



For the same reason it is injurious to ground 

 to lie in the sun thus glazed over, whether there 

 is any crop on it or not — that is it will grow no 

 better; it gains nothing, or but little, either from 

 above or below, whereas, if the surface was 

 roughened with a harrow, or even covered with 

 boards or with weed«, alive or dead, so that it 

 need not crust over, it would be constantly en- 

 riching itself, both from what it received from 

 the air above and from the subsoil below. Hence 

 when a long drought succeeds a heavy rain, 

 naked fallow plowing may do more hurt than 

 good : that is, the soil may not gain as much, 

 either from above or below, when so crusted 

 over, as it would have done if it had been let 

 alone, and not fallow plowed at all. The proper 

 remedy, of course. In all such cases alike, is 

 simply to break up this crust, as often as it ap- 

 pears, either with a hoe, or harrow, or cultiva- 

 tor, or whatever is convenient. In other words, 

 if your agricultural lamp-wick gets glazed over, 

 the only thing is to snufF it — with your fingers, 

 or whatever you can get hold of — for it ca; not 

 burn clear again till you do: unless, indeed. 

 Providence should see fit to undertake your own 

 proper work for you, and send along a thunder 

 storm, to snuff it out for you, which He will not 

 always do in season, for it is not His business to 

 snuff your candles, or hoe your cabbages for you, 

 though Hemay possib'y doit. Better do it your- 

 self. Attend to your business, and He will at- 

 tend to his first I ate — be assured of that; and 

 on ground liable to crust or glaze over, it is your 

 business to plow and stir often, even though it 

 it may not be very deep, and some seasons much 

 oftener than others; and the man who his con- 

 cluded to cultivate just so many time- every year 

 and no more, let the weather be what it will, 

 ought also to conclude to wear just so many jack- 

 ets every day, summer and winier. 



4. But, on the opposite extreme, the upper 

 surfaae may be too rough. In this case there is 

 the same or even a greater loss of heat, espe- 

 cially in the spring, than before while all the 

 other processes are interrupted from an opposite 

 cause. The sun's rays aro caught in great clods 

 by day and blown away by night, while the in- 

 terior heat of the earth is fearfully wasted by the 

 more rapid radiation from the rou»h uneven sur- 

 faces. All are aware how the light snow will 

 melt sometimes from a smooth or rolled field 

 in a single day, while it remains for weeks on an 

 adjacent uneven or cloddy field. This shows us 

 how much heat is wasted by leaving the field 

 rough and full of clods, in the spring months, 



