418 
American Agriculturist, May 12,1923 
Are Tillage Methods Changing? 
Due to th^ Introduction of the Modern Disk and Spring Tooth Harrows 
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H. E. COOK 
S EPTEMBER 1, 1819, marked the 
opening of an epoch in farm life; 
for it was then, Jethro Wood, the 
originator of the modern iron plow, 
gave it, perfected, to the world. 
From the original crooked stick the 
evolution had proceeded until Wood’s 
plow laid the foundation for our pres¬ 
ent highly developed plow construction 
' and adaptability 
to our many 
types of soils; 
plowSi for stony 
land, for clay 
land, for sandy 
land and for hilly 
land. I may be 
within the bounds 
of truth to say 
that the intro¬ 
duction of the 
modern disk and 
spring tooth har¬ 
rows has some¬ 
what interfered 
with a like’ de¬ 
velopment in the 
art of using the 
plow. So poorly is much plowing done, 
that the fields would have been more 
productive if left untouched. We plow 
primarily to reduce the sod, stubble 
and root growth to become decomposed, 
and to pulverize the.soil. The'decom¬ 
position of organic matter and its 
mixture with the potential, but not 
available mineral matter, gives a more 
fertile soil for the forthcoming crop. 
Through the decomposition, soil bac¬ 
teria are also multiplied and chemical 
forces by the stirring and mixing are 
set to work. 
The ordinary inversion of a sod as 
seen- in fields all around does very little 
of what we have mentioned. It’s not 
the fault of the plow. It was Pro¬ 
fessor Roberts, the father of our modern 
agricultural teaching, who said repeat¬ 
edly, “hot plowshares, boys, hot plow¬ 
shares.” And he was right if we are 
out to improve our soils. 
Harrows Cannot Replace Plow 
Although we have heavy disk har¬ 
rows that do, if heavily weighted, 
almost plow the land, they cannot take 
the place of the good old plow. I have 
planted potatoes 'following a plowing 
because in no other way could the land 
be made as friable and as fit for the 
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By H. E. COOK i 
potato seed. The proverbial onion bed 
couldn’t compare. The surface could 
have been as finely fitted but hardly 
deep enough for level culture potato 
growing. 
I am sorry the old fashioned summer 
fallow has become unpopular. It was 
here that the plow was at its best.' The 
land was pulverized, not just scratched 
on the surface, but to a depth of from 
6 to 10 inches depending upon the brain 
power and vision of the farmer and the 
horsepower attached and what crops 
followed. Can’t our readers of 60 to 
70 years remember? But the plan is 
no longer in style. Of course one can 
approximate the summer fallow by once 
plowing in the fall, and twice in the 
spring, with harrowing enough between 
to loosen the form of the furrow slice, 
but most folks won’t do it. I suppose 
for two reasons, it costs money and we 
don’t think we get pay enough out of 
the crop or produce sold to warrant this 
extra labor. ^ 
Depth Often Neglected 
Then again the depth is many times 
neglected. No doubt we have some 
hardpan subsoils that ought not to be 
turned on the surface but sparingly at 
each plowing. However, I am inclined 
to think that no one need remain sleep¬ 
less on this account. The supposed 
danger often makes a good excuse for 
not trying it out. 
Deep plowing is important. Land 
plowed deep will hold moisture better 
than shallow plowed just as a dirt 
mulch. Two inches deep is better than 
one inch deep. No argument is needed 
to demonstrate that 8 inches of finely 
mixed surface soil will be a better feed¬ 
ing ground for plant roots than when 
only 6 inches deep, one third more in 
volume. Isn’t it worth while? No 
extra charge for seed and seeding and 
for the harvesting. 
There is only one place for shallow 
plowing. If a sod is to be reduced in a 
short time by the twice plowing system, 
the first plowing can be around 5 to 6 
inches followed by thorough disking and 
the second plowing two or three inches 
deeper. The chance to reduce this 
thin slice by the cultivation given will 
be more favorable. 
Twenty to thirty years ago spring 
plowing versus fall plowing was a first 
line subject. To-day we hear very 
little. Some one said—I think it was 
Professor Bailey—that the time to trim 
a tree was when your saw was sharp, 
and there is a lot of truth in the an¬ 
swer. I am inclined to say the same 
about plowing for loamy soils. Clay 
soil must be plowed when just wet 
enough, and a clay farmer learns when 
that time is and not from looks either. 
In the northern sections, and all of New 
York State can be classified under the 
north, fall plowing is desirable. 
Fall Plowing Essential 
On farms where there is any con¬ 
siderable acreage, we are obliged to 
fall plow or the plowing wouldn’t be 
done. Some years we have plowing 
weather in the spring, but as a rule 
we have wfinter and before we are 
aware of the change, spring has come 
and we can begin seeding. Furthermore 
fall plowed land holds‘moisture better, 
for the very obvious reason that capil¬ 
larity has been thoroughly established. 
My judgment would be that more will be 
gained by having the work done .than 
by its increased water supply if we 
measure differences over a period of 
years. I am speaking now of the early 
planted crops. 
If land is weedy and filled with 
quack roots, fall plowing without culti¬ 
vation or replowing in the spring will 
make a muss. When one sees the 
green streaks between the furrows be¬ 
fore winter begins and the spring is a 
late one, may a kind Providence help 
the owner because he won’t get much 
help from this piece of land. If the 
owner intends to follow that kind of 
farming he would be far better off to 
put on light top dressing of manure 
in the fall and grow hay. If he could 
only have a vision and begin a system¬ 
atic system of plowing and harrowing 
until every quack root was dead and 
converted into plant food then the plow 
would have become his best servant 
and friend. 
And so I pay my respects to the 
good old plow that has made the feed¬ 
ing of our millions possible. 
The Festering Sore of 
Civilization 
{Continued from page 415) 
Government officials, and our entire 
people. It is a problem of special in¬ 
terest to our farmers both economically 
and socially. 
We here in America can talk about 
the danger of entangling alliances and 
the need of keeping out of European 
affairs, but let us not live in fancied se¬ 
curity and think that these 450,000,000 
people who have millions of relatives 
and connections in our country can long 
be permitted to live on in their present 
condition or to drift into the still worse 
condition that is now facing them, with¬ 
out affecting us economically, socially 
and morally. I do not think that we 
can become so hardened and indifferent 
to the welfare of our own kith and kin, 
to the people from whom we have in¬ 
herited our language, our laws, our art, 
our literature and our blood, to remain 
indifferent to their fate. It only takes 
a few rotten apples in a barrel in time 
to destroy all of the good ones. Europe 
is the infectious and contagious sore 
spot in the world’s civilization to-day. 
No man nor nation can either create, 
control or command general forces and 
natural laws that always determine the 
collective and individual prosperity of 
a country. It is fraught with great 
danger to any man to possess the con¬ 
ceit that he is sufficient unto himself, 
and this is not only true of individuals, 
but in this modern age, it is true also 
of nations. Times have changed within 
a hundred years. Rapid transporta¬ 
tion and inventions in fast communica¬ 
tion have brought the world nearer to¬ 
gether physically and made it a com¬ 
paratively small place. If it were pos¬ 
sible years ago to declare and maintain 
an attitude of isolation, the rapid prog¬ 
ress of invention has made that policy 
physically impossible now. 
As to the actual method of how we 
shall work with the European nations 
to straighten out the chaos, it matters 
not so long as the method be effective 
and so long as it does not injure our 
own nation. An attempt was made fol¬ 
lowing the war to lift the poor old 
world of ours to a higher plane. Those 
who led that attempt thought that the 
terrors of the war had taught the folly 
of settling international disputes by 
force. It was hoped to supersede the 
rule of might by the reign of justice. 
Because this effort failed is one reason 
why the chaos still exists in Europe. 
No set of men and no individuals are 
to blame for failure. It was simply 
that the entire world was not yet ready 
to abandon rivalry and suppress hatred. 
I have always felt that any man or 
woman who is endowed with superior 
intellectual powers should voluntarily 
and freely use some part of them for 
the benefit of the entire community. 
Why does not the same logic apply to 
the nations? Our country at present 
is possessed of greater reservations and 
resources than any other. Our country 
is the only one that has been untouched 
by the destructive flood that has re¬ 
sulted from the war. We have been 
spared. We have in an orderly manner 
and without serious disturbances again 
adjusted ourselves to non-war condi¬ 
tions. Has not the time come for us 
to lend a helping hand to those who are 
still submerged by the flood? 
This does not mean that we should 
run the risk of drowning ourselves. 
As I have tried to point out, we are 
running a greater risk by doing nothing. 
In rendering help we can do so with 
such precaution that we will not in the 
least possible way expose ourselves to 
being eng’ulfed. We have listened all 
of our lives to preachings that all men 
are brothers. Is all of this talk preach¬ 
ing and theory only, or are we willing 
to demonstrate our sincerity by actual 
practice of the greatest of all princi¬ 
ples, human brotherhood? 
