100 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Jury, 1901. 
FALL SUBSOILING A REMEDY FOR DROUGHT, 
Land subsoiled in the fall of 1892 and planted to corn the next a yielded 
75 bushels per acre. Other land not subsoiled, but otherwise treated in identically the 
same manner, yielded about 35 bushels. In 1893 potatoes on the subsoiled soil 
roduced 125 bushels per acre. The crop on unsubsoiled land was practically a 
ailure. Last year rye yielded 303 bushels on subsoiled and on not subsoiled 2} 
bushels. Oats on corn ground one year from subsoiling 444 bushels, two years from 
subsoiling 39 bushels, not subsoiled 17 bushels. Last year the corn on subsoiled land 
made a vigorous, healthy growth. The stalks were large and tall; notwithstanding 
the fact that it had been planted entirely too thick, it yielded a little over 15 bushels 
of sound ears per acre. On land not treated, the stalks were not more than two-thirds 
as high, smaller, and the tassels were completely withered by the hot July winds, 
There was not a peck of corn on the entire field. We are convinced that if there is a 
fair amount of moisture in the soil hot winds are not necessarily fatal to the corn crop. 
, Our method is to first plough 8 inches deep with an ordinary 14-inch plou hh 
following this with a subsoil plough running in the same furrow and loosening the 
soil to a depth of 8inches more, but throwing none of it on the surface. This gives us 
a reservoir 16 inches deep to catch and retain all the moisture which falls, and we are 
convinced, during the twenty-three years we have resided in Fillmore Co., that there 
has never been a season when the rainfall was not sufficient to fill this reservoir before 
the promane season began. We harrow each evening all the land ploughed during 
the day. This breaks up the clods before they become hardened and prevents drying 
by evaporation. Before planting, we again harrow and pulverise the surface with a 
“float.” Plant 3 or 4 inches deep, following the planter with a harrow. Practise 
shallow cultivation, running the cultivator just deep enough to drestroy weeds and 
break the surface soil. We cultivate the ground just as soon after a rain as the 
condition. of the soil will permit. If the rain is a heavy one the soil is firmly packed. — 
It is of the utmost importance that the crust be broken as soon as possible, in order 
to retain moisture in the soil, the loose upper layer acting as a mulch. We find that 
it is not necessary to subsoil each season; once every three years will answer all 
practical purposes. If the field is subsoiled and planted to corn the first or second 
year, then followed by oats or wheat, the results will be satisfactory, though a slight 
falling off will be noticed in the third crop after subsoiling—Youngers and Co., 
Geneva, Nebraska. 
Unfortunately, wrong impressions are often conveyed by using tillage and cultiva- 
tion as synonymous terms. A writer will advise shallow cultivation, but were he 
interrogated you would find him a staunch advocate both of deep tillage and sub- 
soiling, and that his advice only applied to cultivation after the crop was planted. 
Unfortunately for those engaged in canegrowing in Gussie inti their first 
acquaintance with agriculture was with virgin soil, which responded well to little or no 
cultivation or care, which gave colour for a time to the often-heard remark in the 
early days: “There is nothing in managing a sugar estate, anyone can do it; all you 
need do is to look over your neighbour’s fence and do as he does.’’ But they rarely 
looked over the fence of the man who had experience, or if they did it was only to 
denounce his methods as too costly or too slow. Cane planted in scrub land in a hole 
made by driving in a pick gave for a few years fair returns. ‘The man who made good 
holes, however, followed cane-planting the longest. I know of an instance last year 
where two pieces of scrub land were planted with the same description of canes ae 
the same week under the different systems alluded to; the difference in cost 0 
planting was about 15s. per acre in favour of the pick work; the cost of after-culti- 
vation was over £2 in fayour of the holed piece. ‘Lhe yield from the former piece was 
about 5 tons; from the other, 27 tons per acre, and that in a very bad season. 
I may say that I look upon drainage as the most important work in agriculture, 
and I know of no crop that so quickly shows signs of distress from stagnant water 
about its roots as does sugar-cane. I think, to get the best results from irrigation, it 
should be preceded by drainage or, at least, subsoiling. Did I contemplate irrigation, 
TI should look to the profits from draining to provide the necessary funds, although in 
all probability it would make me fairly independent of irrigation. 
The value of green manuring, as it is generally termed, is often questioned and 
instances given where there was no apparent benefit derived from the crop grown 
immediately after it over the crop grown on similar land without it. It may be there 
was no difference in the crops, but an analysis of the two soils would have given very 
different results after the crops were reaped. An application of 2 cwt. of sulphate of 
ammonia to the manured and unmanured plots would have given widel different 
results. In selecting a green crop for ploughing in, I think preference should be given 
to the deepest-rooting ones, which will draw on the subsoil as well as on the atmosphere. 
