46 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Feb. 
Fall and Winter Flowing. 
It seems not a little surprising, that there should be 
so many farmers, in this age of intelligence, who will, 
so strenuously, insist upon the inexpediency of fall or 
winter plowing. It would seem, that after a few suc¬ 
cessful experiments in fall plowing, every farmer would 
be not only ready, but in haste, to avail himself of 
the great benefits of plowing deep in the fall. But we 
find a great number, who have come, deliberately, to 
the conclusion, that they do not get as good crops from 
those fields which were plowed in the fall as from 
those which are plowed only in the spring. Many con¬ 
tend that when land is plowed in the fall, (especially 
sward land,) the crop, especially if it be com, will be 
very much injured, the ensuing year, by the worms. 
Others say that they have experimented in fall plow¬ 
ing, and have become satisfied that they do not get as 
good crops as from spring plowing only 
We grant, in a measure, the truthfulness of both 
these objections ; but at the same time wc would advo¬ 
cate late fall plowing,, except when the soil is very 
sandy, or a sandy loam. It is true that there are soils 
which it would not be well to plow in the fall, on ac¬ 
count of their disposition to leech. After a farmer 
finds, by a few fair experiments, on such soils, that he 
obtains greater crop3 from spring plowing onlij, than 
from fall or winter plowing, the practice should be 
abandoned at once On very porous, light, sandy 
soils, on gravelly loams, and all other kinds of soil 
which are not accustomed to bake, and to become 
lumpy, the rains and snow and frosts of winter have 
no ameliorating effect; because, if we increase their 
porosity and friability, it is done at the hazard of their 
fertility. 
The grand object to be attained in fall or winter 
plowing is, to increase the friability and porosity of 
soils, and to destroy the worms. If the soil is already 
very porous and friable, thero is too much reason for 
apprehending that much of the elements of fertility 
will be washed out by drenching rains; and thus the 
soil would be impoverished rather than made more 
fertile. But, generally speaking, all soils that are apt 
to be lumpy when they are plowed, (it is taken for 
granted that there is not an excess of moisture,) and 
inclined to bake in spring and summer, clayey loams, 
calcareous soils, and thin soils of muck lying on a sub¬ 
soil of clayey loam and gravelly clay, will be greatly 
benefited by being turned up to the influence of the 
rains and frosts of winter. If a soil has been tho¬ 
roughly drained, but is very wet from heavy rains, we 
need entertain no fears that fall plowing will injure it; 
because, should it be so wet as to run together like 
mortar, the rains and frosts will destroy this cohesion. 
But if a soil is not thoroughly drained, we need expect 
no benefit to result from plowing such soils in the fall 
or winter; for if we expect it, we will surely be dis¬ 
appointed. I will tell why. A soil that is thoroughly 
saturated with water will expand but little if any 
more than the same bulk of water when it congeals; 
and when it thaws much of the finer particles run to¬ 
gether like lime and sand and loam when they are' 
made into mortar, holding in this mass the elements 
of fertility so firmly that as food for plants, they are 
in an unavailable state. But when a soil that is only 
moistened, freezes, its bulk is greatly increased, and 
the cohesion of every part is affected; and when it 
thaws, there being not water enough to allow the dif¬ 
ferent particles to run or settle together, it remains 
light and friable like honey-comb; and each succes¬ 
sive freezing increases its porosity and breaks up this 
coarseness of particles. 
In order to illustrate this subject, let any one take 
some unslacked lime and wet it just enough to make 
it slack well; and it will afford a beautiful example 
of the effect of rain- and frost on a dry soil that has 
been plowed in the winter. Now take another quanti¬ 
ty of lime and continue to pour on water, more than is 
necessary to slack it; and after it is slacked, stir it 
with a stick and let it settle. Now let the water evap¬ 
orate, and let the lime freeze and thaw, and yve are 
furnished with a very-correct idea of the effect which 
fall or winter plowing has on a soil that has an excess 
of moisture. 
When a soil is plowed early in autumn, if there are 
many worms in it there is danger that they will seri¬ 
ously injure the crop the following season. But if the 
plowing is deferred until late in autumn, or even until 
winter, a great majority of them will perish after be¬ 
ing routed from their winter quarters. And, further; 
more, when sward land is plowed early in autumn the 
grass roots, on which the worms would have fed while 
the crop is growing, will have decayed long before the 
crop on the following season is out of danger from the 
worms. But if land be plowed late in autumn or win¬ 
ter, the grass roots undergo but little change, and will 
furnish food for worms as well as if the soil had been 
plowed in the spring. I have known many crops ma¬ 
terially injured by the worms in consequence of plow¬ 
ing too early in autumn. A few years since a neigh¬ 
bor cut a ditch through one of his pastures in the 
month of September, and on the following season plow¬ 
ed in the spring and planted with corn. Along this 
ditch, a strip about six or eight feet wide was almost 
entirely destroyed by worms, while the rest of the 
field yielded a bountiful crop. 
Another objection might be advanced against plow¬ 
ing in early autumn, which seems rather plausible, es¬ 
pecially if it be any kind of stubble, and not sward. 
Heavy rains and sometimes snow falls abundantly, 
which settle and pack the soil so closely together that 
freezing and thawing has little if any more effect on it 
than if it had not been plowed. But had the plowing 
been deferred until these heavy rains had fallen, the 
soil would present a much larger surface for the frost 
to act upon. 
Another very important consideration is, the man¬ 
ner in which the -plowing is performed. 
Every good plowman knows thatJthere are three 
kinds of plowing, viz : round plowing , fat plowing, 
and lap plowing. (I do not intend to speak of the 
different modes of turning the furrow in this place, but 
simply to show the different effect of different kinds of 
plowing in the fall or winter.) Sward land, on undu¬ 
lating and hilly regions, whatever the soil may be, 
should hot be plowed in autumn or winter with a lap 
furrow. On level land it will do better; but even 
there the lap furrow is wholly objectionable. By plow¬ 
ing with a lap furrow where there is a stiff sod, the soil 
is laid in a position to cany off effectually all the ele¬ 
ments of fertility which find their way into the subter¬ 
ranean drains formed by lapping one furrow on anoth¬ 
er when the land is hilly; and when the land is level 
too much of the fertilizing substance in the soil is apt 
to leech into the sub-soil, especially if it be a leechy 
soil. It is far more advisable to turn flat furrows in 
fall and winter plowing than to lap them. But flat 
plowing is decidedly objectionable, because the soil is 
not sufficiently pulverized. Generally speaking, when 
furrows are turned flat, the cohesion of the soil is not 
half broken up; and although the furrow may appear 
to bo broken up, as it turns on the plow, still, all the 
cracks will close, after the furrow slice leaves the jdow ; 
and the soil will be but little better, so far as its poro¬ 
sity is concerned, than if it had not been plowed. Sim¬ 
ply inverting the soil to the depth of five or six inches, 
in one unbroken mass, as we would turn over a plank, 
thinking that the rains and frost will render it suffi¬ 
ciently porous and friable, is a wrong ide&. The plow 
must not only turn the fun-ow upside down, but it 
should destroy entirely the square form and unbroken 
