Deserted Country Churches. Uncle Sam’s New Islands. 
Vol. LYIII. No. 2569. 
NEW YORK, APRIL 22, 1899. 
81 PER YEAR. 
DEEP PLOWING AND LIME. 
A GOOD TEAM FOR A POOR FARM. 
What It Did In Virginia. 
Started. With Oats. —My farm contains 51 acres 
all told. Seven years ago, a portion of this was well 
covered with Broom sedge, and the old Field pine 
dotted the yellow hillside. This land is rolling, un¬ 
derlaid with heavy clay, and has a gray soil. 
This Broom sedge was first turned under, running 
the plow very deep, turning up a considerable portion 
of the clay. The land was sown to oats. After harvest¬ 
ing the oats, which was a very light job, the ground 
was again plowed very deep, and seeded to wheat, 
sowing 300 pounds of commercial fer¬ 
tilizer to the acre, also sowing grass 
seed. I harvested about 15 bushels of 
wheat per acre, but got a very poor 
stand of grass ; this I cut for hay the 
following year, making possibly three 
tons on nine acres of ground. 
The following Spring, 1 planted the 
field to corn, first plowing very deep, 
this time about 10 inches. We had a 
dry season, but the nine acres made me 
360 bushels of shelled corn. I seeded 
to wheat, sowing one bushel of seed 
and 200 pounds of acid phosphate per 
acre, and harvested 144 bushels of 
wheat. 
.Lime Comes In. —I followed this 
stubble with deep plowing, and each 
morning, I harrowed with a spring- 
tooth harrow all of the ground that 
was plowed the previous day. When I 
had finished plowing, I went over the 
whole with the harrow. The plowing 
was* done immediately after harvest, 
and I kept on first harrowing and then 
dragging (with a plank drag) each 
week until September 1, then I ran 
furrows 20 feet apart each way, with a 
shovel plow across the field, making 
checks 20 feet apart. In each check, I 
distributed unslaked lime at the rate 
of 20 bushels per acre. To this I added 
well-rotted manure and ashes from a 
tannery, at the rate of 80 bushels per 
acre. These ashes we buy at 30 cents 
per load. This I mixed thoroughly 
with the lime at the time of spreading. 
I was very careful not to allow the 
lime and manure to come in contact 
until I was ready to spread it on the 
ground, which I did with a shovel, and 
ran the spring-tooth harrow immedi¬ 
ately over the ground after spreading. 
I followed up this harrowing until the 
top-dressing was thoroughly mixed 
into the ground. This was just prior 
to seeding; the last time I went over 
the field, however, I used the drag. 
About September 20,1 commenced seeding to wheat, 
one bushel of good clean seed wheat and 200 pounds 
of acid phosphate and potash fertilizers per acre. In 
February I sowed 1% bushel of good clover seed on 
the nine acres. 
The Result. —I have never seen a better growth 
on any ground than this wheat made ; but it was at¬ 
tacked by the fly, and on December 1, it appeared to 
be all dead. I did not think the field would make 10 
bushels, but when Spring came, the wheat began to 
come out, and I felt encouraged until just before har¬ 
vest, when I noticed that my wheat was still affected 
by the fly, and was falling. When I cut it, in some 
places, half of it was down and did not fill; still I 
thrashed 171 bushels of wheat, and have one of the 
most perfect stands of clover that I ever saw on any 
land. 
When I seeded this field the last time, there was not 
a clod to be seen in the entire field. I had 45 of my 
51 acres in cultivation last year, 16 in corn and 29 in 
wheat. I harvested 715 bushels of shelled corn, 561 
bushels of wheat, and have a flattering prospect for 
15 tons of hay on the same nine-acre field from which 
I cut about three tons three years ago. 
If farmers want to improve their lands, and farm for 
profit at the same time, they must plow deep and sow 
clover. If they expect to raise wheat and to get clover 
to catch, they must prepare the ground. Don't stop 
to count the times that you have harrowed, rolled or 
dragged the ground, but examine the condition and 
never stop working it until the clods are all pulver¬ 
ized. You will observe that I have been reducing the 
fertilizer bill, and I hope to be able, at an early date, 
to dispense with it entirely. I did not mix the ma¬ 
nure with ashes, but used them separately ; that is, I 
used ashes and lime on a portion of the field, and lime 
and manure on the rest. I could see no difference in 
the wheat or grasses so far. What the result would 
have been had the lime been omitted, I do not know. 
I do know that the thorough pulverization is of im¬ 
mense value in securing good crops of all kinds. 
Elkton, Va. n. B. c. G. 
ODD THINGS ABOUT THE SOIL 
WHY WELL WATER 18 COLD. 
Low-Temperature Soil Zone. 
Tlie Coldest Spot. —All are familiar with the fact 
that well and spring waters have temperatures below 
that of Summer heat. In northern Wisconsin, for ex¬ 
ample, the deeper well and spring water has a temper¬ 
ature of 44 to 55 degrees in September, yet the tempex 1 - 
ature of the surface foot of soil is at this time as high 
as 68 to 75 degrees F. On the other hand, after passing 
below a depth of 50 to 80 feet beneath the earth’s sur¬ 
face, the temperature rises at an average rate of one 
degree for every 45 to 75 feet, so that, at a depth of 
1,200 feet, it is usual to find a temper¬ 
ature about equal to that of the sur¬ 
face foot of soil in the locality in 
Summer. 
Speaking then with reference to the 
Summer conditions, we have a zone of 
cold soil and cold water placed between 
two zones of warmer soil and warmer 
water. This zone of lowest Summer 
temperature is from 20 to 80 feet below 
the surface of the ground, and for each 
locality, it is very nearly constant, 
varying from year to year and from 
month to month only one or two de¬ 
grees. The temperature of this cold 
zone, however, is not the same in all 
parts of the world. On the contrary, it 
changes appreciably from north to 
south, even within tne limits of 200 or 
300 miles. In Wisconsin, for example, 
the cold-soil zone has a temperature in 
the northern part of 43 to 45 degrees, 
in the central portion of 46 to 48 de¬ 
grees, while in the southern portion, 
this is as high as 50 to 52 degrees, as 
shown by taking the temperature of 
the water of wells having depths of 20 
to 80 feet. 
The “Why” Ol It.— To under¬ 
stand the reason for the cold-soil zone, 
it must be remembered that its degree 
of heat is an average temperature be¬ 
tween the cold of Winter and the heat 
of Summer, and lies very close to the 
mean annual air temperature of a given 
locality, but is usually a few degrees 
warmer. 
During the cold days and nights of 
Winter, the heat stored in the surface 
10 to 15 feet of soil is conducted to the 
surface, and lost by radiation into 
space and by conduction to the air 
which comes against the surface, so 
that, before Spring, the upper two to 
four or more feet have fallen from 
about 65 degrees to below a freezing 
temperature, and a cold wave has been 
set up which slowly progresses down¬ 
ward as the season advances. This gives rise to the 
seemingly paradoxical condition of the ground be¬ 
coming colder deep below the surface until well along 
into the Summer. 
When the heat of Summer comes, there is set up at 
the surface a warm wave which, like the cold wave, 
travels downward, and we have again the seemingly 
strange fact of the soil growing warmer 15 to 20 feet 
below the surface until well along into the Winter, after 
the surface of the ground has again become frozen. 
That is to say, the highest temperature of the soil deep 
in the ground is reached only in the Winter, and the 
lowest temperature is reached only late in the Summer. 
Some Strange Facts. —This is the explanation of 
THE JAPAN CUT-LEAVED PURPLE MAPLE. Fig. 120. 
See Rubalisms, Page 304. 
