Rensselaer Union, Volume 9, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 June 1877 — Keep the Plow Going. [ARTICLE]

Keep the Plow Going.

AMONGt fee many valuable lessons which the late severe urougbt tu California b*s probably taught the farmers of that State, none will prove more useful than -that of the importance of deep and thorough culture. We read of one instance where a man has Host his entire crop of wlieat, with the bare exception of ten acres, which were plowed twice before sowing, while the others were plowed only once. Now, we have long claimed that if the soil is worked deep enough and finely pulverised, it will lake a very severe drought to prevent it from maturing a crop. The yield may be lessened by a drought, but a total failure would be something very unusual on soil that had been stirred by a plow sixteen to twenty inehesdeep. To woik soil to such death is certainly an expensive operation; but what at this, so long as a proportionate return is obtained. To make “ two blades of grass grow whore one grew before” is the aim, or should be, of eveiy good farmer; and if ten .acres can be made, through deep culture, to yield as much as twenty by themsiial systems of shallow plowing, there must be again equal to the cost of the extra ten acres. When we hear accounts of ctops of strawberries of (from 800 to 400 bushels per acre, we may rest assured that no four-inch plowing of the land was considered satisfactory, or even practiced, 'lhe largest cpflP we ever saw of. this fruit was u)>om a rather stiff loath,which had been worked over to the depth of two feet, and manured liberally throughout Dry weather In summer had little" dr no effect' fi))dn this land, for it was a gigantic sponge, holding a certain amount of moisture, and ho more. *

Home farmers seem to be averse, Dot .only to plowing deep, but often. If the ground is wet, tfeev.at once tell you that it is not good to wook over land when,it is in this condition; when it is vety dry, they are always afraid of making it dryer by stirring, and between these two conditions there are fear opportunities of plowing land.when it is just right. Perhaps this is one reason why some only, >plpw Oat or cultivate sod hoe their com and potatoes once, while a few fanners never put a hoe into the. held, considering that to run through the young plants with a cultivator, or double-mola board plow, is quite sufficient It is no wonder that the average yield of corn in some States noted foi their rich soils does not reach twenty bushels per acre, while .those fanners who practice thorough and deep culture obtain seventy-five to one hundned bushels, with no better foundation to build upon than those Who' seldom get store thun ten to fifteen. The season toy. cultivating crops is at hand, and we sag, Keep the plow and cultivator going among the rows, and do not be afraja of letting 4a the air, or allowing the moisture to esca'pe through frequent stirring. > - if ir ' , Another objection to working among com and potatoes after the plants have reached a good size is, that there is danger of cutting off, pr at least disturbing,, the large lateral roots; but the injnry, if any should be done, which is not at all probable where a cultivator or horse-hoe is used, will be more than made good by the beneficial effect of stirring the soil. It is m> edßy to test the effect of frequent culture ot growing crops, that it is somewhat singular that more experiments are not made, in that direction. We once had a neighbor who never failed v 6 raise an excellent crop of beets and cabbages, and who attributed his success to transplanting the first and hoeing the latter twice a weefc for the first month after the plants were set out. Of course, where frequent and thorough culture d practiced, no weeds get large enough to beooqae troublesome; and this alone will fully compensate for the extra labor of going over the field a greater number of times. Let those who have been troubled with noxious weeds heretofore, try beginning early, and then going through their, corn, potatoes and similar crops often; then see if it does hot prove to be the best and moat economical system of culture^—JT. T.Bvn. Statistics show that India is the third wheat-producing country in the world.