August, 1913 



® XKe Fs^rm & 



Explosives in Agriculture. 



— Subsoiling. — 



By H. C. Cog'gins, in May issue 

 of Agricultural Gazette of N.S.W. 



The recent dry spell has broug^lit 

 home; in a forcible manner the 

 great necessity for conservation of 

 moisture in the subsoil, especially 

 in districts where the top soil is 

 very shallow, and the subsoil a 

 stiff and practically inipervious 

 clay. 



Orchardists and market garden- 

 ers — in fact, most farmers — do; not 

 as a general rule vary the depth 

 of their ploughing enough. Some 

 don't go deep enough for fear of 

 bringing too much subsoil to the 

 surface ; others don't believe in 

 deep ploug'hing. But when we talkj 

 about deep ploi'-ighiiig we must 

 consider the depth of the soil, for 

 while in one case it may be a 

 great ' advantage, in another it 

 mav mean bringing the subsoil to 

 the surface, which is mostj undesir- 

 able. The great thing to avoid is 

 continually ploughing at the same 

 depth ; this is where all the harm 

 lies. 



— Hard Pan. — 



It stands to reason that ' con- 

 stantly ploughing at the one depth 

 creates a " hard-pan," and this 

 hard pan acts as a water trap. 

 Instead of the water percolating 



IMPLEMENT MAKEB. 

 (Late of MOBGAN). 



YOUNG STREET 



(Old M«thodiBt Hall) bet-wean 

 FRANKLIN it WAYMOUTH STS 



DENNIS' PATENT 

 STEEL BUCKSCRAPEB AND SILT 

 SCOOPS, GATES, ETC. 



Writ* (or Illuitratcd Catalogua aad 



lluough live subsoil, aud liuis dis- 

 solving the ])laiit food stored to a 

 con.siderablc depth, the moisture 

 is practically confined to the top 

 soil, and it is on this that fruit 

 trees, root and all other crops 

 are in a very large degree forted 

 to subsist. 



— Depth of vSoil. — 

 When we speak of the depth of 



S'oils, we arc prone to consider 

 only the character and plantkiood 

 available for crops in the top soil, 

 but we most certainl\- should give 

 a considerable amount of study 

 to the subsoil also, foi; there 

 should be the chief sources of 

 plant food, and there also should 

 be the home of the roots 'of 

 plants. The reason we find so 

 many worn out paddocks is that 

 the top soil has Ijeen exhausted of 

 plant food and organic jnatter,, lit- 

 tle thought being, given to the fact 

 that if the hard pan was broken 

 and the subsoil stirred in some 

 manner, the depth of the 'top soil 

 would be considerably increased, 

 the soil aerated to a great depth, 

 and the value of cultivation en- 

 hanced by the capacity of the soil 

 to hold more moisture. When we 

 speak of the "depth of soil," 

 therefore, we should mean the 

 depth that mi^ht be made avail- 

 able. 



— Root System. — 



When we come to realise that^ 

 the results of all crops, whether 

 maize, wheat, fruit trees, or veget- 

 ables, depend on the root system, 

 that the freedom of the root sys- 

 tem is of vital importance, and 

 when we pause to consider the 

 depths that these roots penetrate 

 if encouraged, one is often astound- 

 ed that any result could be ob- 

 tained from crops sown^ on top of 

 a hard and impervious subsoil. 



It has been proved that in a 

 porous and open subsoil the roots 

 of wheat have penetrated to a 

 depth of 4 feet, potatoe-sj 3 feet, lu- 

 cerne 40 feet, and maize 4 feet. 



It naturally follows that deeply- 

 rooted plants are ' more drought 

 resisting, for their root area is 

 not confined ; on that account the 

 fertilit}- of the soil is not depleted 

 so soon. 



Mr. W. J. SpiUman, agriculturist 

 in charge of farm management in- 

 vestigations, Bureati of Plant In- 

 dustries, U.S. Diepartment oft Agri- 

 culture, in a recent bi'illetin, says — 



" Plant food is dissolved in 

 water. While a plant is growing 



a constant stream of water Hows 

 up throug'h it and evaporates at 

 its leaves. For every jJound^ oi in- 

 crease in dry matter made by the 

 plant, from 300 lbs. to .Six* lbs. of 

 water Hows up through it." 



One has onl\- to go into the ma- 

 jority of orchards in the Cumber- 

 land district and examine the 

 roots of the trees to lindi that they 

 lie very clo.se to the surface. The 

 orchardist will tell yon that he is 

 afraid to plough deep for fear oi 

 damaging the roots, but the main 

 reason for tlie roots being; so 

 close to the surface is that they 

 have not been encouraged, to go 

 down by loosening of the subsoil. 

 Of course, one will always fmd 

 small fibrous roots near the sur- 

 face, but I allude to the lateral 

 roots. These lateral roots will 

 go after the moisture every time, 

 and if the moisture is confined to 

 the surface there they, will remain. 

 Again, if the roots coi'dd penetrate 

 down below, each tree would be 

 dependent on its own area for its 

 supply of food and moisture, and 

 would not encroach on its neigh- 

 bours. 



— Storage of Water. — 

 It is estimated that in ii inch of 

 rainfall 23,000 gallons fall on one 

 acre, and when we consider that it 

 takes 400 to 500 tons of water to 

 produce i ton of hay per acre, one 

 can fully realise the vast amount 

 of water that has to be stored 

 and , retained in the subsoil to grow 

 crops with satisfactory,' results. It 

 follows that it is of vital import- 

 ance that, irrespective of constant 

 cultivation, the subsoil should be 

 brought into a condition necessary 

 to enable it to absorb all available 

 rainfall. If this is not done, and 

 a good fall occurs, the top soil 

 becomes waterlogged, overflows, 

 creates a wash, and carries away 

 valuable plant food, and, what is 

 most valiuable, good soil. 



— Drainage. — 

 We all know what badly drained 

 land is, and what it means to 

 crops and to farmers. We also 

 know that it does not necessarily 

 follow that sloping land is well 

 drained, or that flat land is badly 

 drained. One mav say that drain- 

 age is evervthing, and artificial 

 drainage is not everything. An 

 artificial drain often carries away 

 water that should percolate and 

 be absorbed by the subsoil, but 

 owing to the compact nature of 

 the subsoil, and the consequenti. in- 

 ability of the water to penetrate 

 it, this is impos-sible, consequently 

 artificial drainage is resorted to. 

 (Continued on Page r2o). 



