Rensselaer Union and Jasper Republican, Volume 8, Number 28, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1876 — Working Heavy Soils When They Are Too Wet. [ARTICLE]

Working Heavy Soils When They Are Too Wet.

One of the most conspicuous errors in the management of heavy land, where the ground is disposed to be hard and lumpy, is plowingor working thesoil while it is too wet. This is a common source of evil and the practice is persisted in. People will put in their crops, rain or shine, which is a great and hurtful error. It need scarcely be stated here that land plowed wet in the spring and baked thereafter, as it will be, becomes hard. This is known, and yet each spring we see it repeated. The same is the case in the fall, when it is thonght it will not hurt land to turn it up wet, that the frost will make it all right, which is also a great error. The frost will aid its amelioration, or prevent the evil which would result from the spring sun, hut it will not make it harmless. This is the experience, whatever the philosophy may be. We have known gardens, ana other land of rich, black loam, plowed late, when the plow almost swam in the mud, it being thought and said that the soil would all be right in the spring. But it was not right. The following year there was no crop. The garden was a failure. How can it be otherwise? Here was a mortar, instead of mellow soil. The loose, porous soil, full ot life and fertility, had its character changed. The soil was close and compact. Its texture was altered. It was no soil proper, only a collection of dead, compact matter, which the frost could not vitalize, as we know it does not—at least in one year—reduce lumps, which are the name klnd of soiL nniy dried and hrokea up.' It takes years to reduce lumps and clods to a fine and mellow condition. Then the sun and the rains must aid also in the pulverization. The proper way to manage heavy land is to drain all those places wliefre the soil continues wet and soggy for any length of time after a heavy rain. Remove the cause of the difficulty, jts we . say of certain diseases. Then w-ork and regain what is lost. This must be done (if to be done well) by deep and thorough drainage. But if this is not practicable plow a little deeper in autumn, and if possible loosen the soil below, giving drainage to the depth of loosening. Let the surface be rough in ridges, or otherwise thrown up, so that there may be as much exposure to the elements as possible. The object directly here is to increase the depth oi soil, improving it by the addition of good mellow subsoil. Long, rank manure may be applied to advantage, as coarse manure will act favorably on the harsh soil with which it comes in contact. Muck, with a little lime added, is excellent to turn down, as the acid and the alkali will produce a fermentation,. If a little manure can be added to the surface the effect on the soil will be such as to develop its fertility. If yon have time and means to summer fallow the ground dispense with the manure turned down in the fall, unless it may conveniently be done, and apply 1 i.n the spring. The heat will at once effect the fertilizing material, and through its fermentation the' soil will be improved. After the manure has had its action, work the land thoroughly and often. Boon after a rain is the best time, if su£li an opportunity can he improved. This is important. The heat and rain together have a great influence in reducing the harsh character of the soil. Of course the wet condition of the land is to be avoided. The mean between the wet and the dry is to be aimed at. In a showery season the ground will frequently be in this desirable condition.

There will be no danger of stirring the soil too much. Too much rank, raw manure it is not likely will be worked in. The soil needs large quantities of manure. Make thorough work and you will have a foundation for all time to come. The practice will pay. It is the only thing that will pay. September opening, you will have a soil that you need no one to tell you will produce, as the seed-bed will be like a deep “ash heap” of mellow, rich land There are no more Tumps. There is no more hardness or harshness. You have a miracle of soil before you. Let us see more closely what we have: There is the manure added, all the strength of the green mass retained and made one with the soil. There is the fertility of the atmosphere which the stirring of the soil imparted. This is precious, if but little. The material is prepared, is organic, is just what is wanted. These two sources have a great influence—greater because they are at once available. But there is still more—not the organic, but the mineral matter—which the action of the manure applied and the elements in connection, joined to the mechanical effect, developed. The soil itself, now treated well, has given up its wealth, so that there is an increase of the organic and the inorganic elements. The mechanical also is not only improved but revolutionized. A complete change has been effected, and in one" year. Sometimes it takes the second year; for there are some bad soils in the world. After a field has been managed in the foregoing manner you will have a soil for all time; but you must take care of it. Soil is made to be taken care of just as our live stock needs attention; but the land needs more than all, as that is the great dependent source. The most is to fuard against abuse and favor the land. his constant attention will keep the land in a desirable state of productiveness,— “ F. <7..” in N. F. Herald.