Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 June 1891 — FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOR OUR RURAL FRIENDS

A CHOICE SELECTION OF USEFUL READING. Plowing and Subaolllng Fending tlie Weight of Live Stock— Churning and Salting Butter—How to Feed Light Brahman for Eggs- Egg Condlineut—Kent—lt Is Said—Notes. THE FARM. Plowing and Subeotllng.

PLOW deep each season and subsoil plow every fourth or fifth season to thedepth of twenV ty inches or two \ feet, to breuk up \ and loosen the V soil, making it L#J capable of ab--1 sorbing the rains l i and melting |snows, storing K 512 the moisture deep Tpr down in the earth, "> to be brought up by the capillary B|C action of the soil, .wC to be used by plants as needed, Ja writes E. is. Tea-

garden, of Boone, lowa, to tho Farm, Field and Stoclanan. Instead of vainly wishing and waiting for rains while tho crop is perishing for want of moisture, let there be a due preparation to take caro of tho moisture when it comes down in rains or snows by deep pipwing and occasional subsoiling, that it may bo stored deep down in the earth for future use when needed by plants, so preventing its evaporation before it can be used by the growing eiop. To “till the ground”—not merely scratching two or three Inches of the thin surface—is the single simple requirement of nature’s laws. When this is properly done all the sources of supply of plant food and moisture, in tho surface soil and deep down in earth, and in that “great reservoirof fertility,” the air, can be utilized for tho promotion of tho growth of plants and the yields of all farm crops. There need be and will be no “depletion” of soil, but a constant increase and improvement in fertility and yields, and in this way only can the demands of advancing populations be supplied with tho various productions of the earth which go tolsustain human existence. \ Deep culture of .tho soil allows an excess of moisture to pass away from tho roots of plants and prevents injury in a wet “spell” of weather, and in a dry time the moisture is supplied from the stored rains which find their way into the earth instead of escaping by evaporation, as is the ease when shallow plowing is practiced. Let every cultivator of the soil reflect for a moment only and behold the withering effect upon all crops of a short spell of dry weather. See what great lamentation and complainings prevailed the past season on account of the fallqre of rains. Think how short a time it takes for either a dry “spell” or a wet “spell” of weather to injure the crops, and then ask the question has the great Creator established such a withering, blasting necessity, or rather is it not caused by tho neglect of the tiller of the soil to comply with the edict to “till tho ground?” The great principle of agricultural \frork must be simple to be comprehended and practiced by the average cultivator. The earth was not made for tho smart, the intelligent, the comprehensive farmer alone, but for the average, and those below him. The single thing, deep culture of the soil, will do more to restore the waning yields of farm crops and to establish a prosperous state of agriculture, than all other things combined. It is more important than the Bank question, the money question, and that has more inlluence over the prosperity of the country than all other questions relating to governmental-polit-ical questions combined.