Sixth-The carbonaceous portions of the soil become increased by the decay of a greater amount of roots. If we admit that larger crops are raised, of course we have more roots as a consequence, and their decay must produce a larger amount of carbon. the soil becomes darker, and by analysis establishes the above fact. Seventh.-Less manure is required to fertilize soils so prepared. Practically, This must be evident, first, because the soil itself is undergoing more rapid chemical changes, and over a greater amount of surface, furnishing larger amounts of inorganic materials required by plants. It also, from its deep disintegration, becomes the storehouse of larger quantities of carbonic acid, and ammonia received from the atmosphere, as well as from the decomposition of a larger amount of roots. And when other fertilizers are added, they become distributed over a greater amount of surface, and therefore a larger portion is retained, than when in shallowplowed lands their gaseous products, after decomposition, are lost in the atmosphere. Eighth-Thoroughly prepared soils never suffer from drouth. During drouth, when the surface soils are dry, the atmosphere necessarily contains the missing portions of water; and whenever it comes in contact with a a surface colder than itself, it deposits the water. Thus we find drops condensed on the outside of a cold pitcher; and thus we find tufts of grass growing luxuriantly where fence posts have been removed and the holes filled up with loose earth, even in the driest weather-for the large amount of atmosphere that is passing through under-drained and sub-soiled land, must come in contact with surfaces colder than itself, and there deposit the water. When so deposited, it is always highly charged with those gasses which are mixed with the atmosphere, and which are retained by the soil. Ninth and Tenth.-A less amount of seed will produce maximum crops. Subsoiled meadows never run out. Thin sowing is now common in England, on under-drained, and deeply disintegrated soils. Thus a single bushel of wheat when sown in such soils, will throw out tiller-roots, so as to throw up plants covering the vacant spaces; and a few quarts of seed take the place of a bushel. But in shallow plowed land this tillering will not take place to the same extent; for as soon as one root reaches the cold, solid sub-soil, the tillering of the whole plant ceases, and it is for this reason that subsoil meadows never run out; for if the crown of grass root be abraided by the feet of cattle, it immediately renews itself by tillering, which would not be the case in shallow plowed meadows. Eleventh.-A large class of weeds are destroyed by a thorough deepening of the soil, including all those which frequently occur in sour and wet soils. As soils amend themselves by the natural progress consequent upon the uninterrupted application of nature's laws, as in deeply disintegrated soils, they lose acidity, and thus refuse to sustain these weeds, which are of acid character, while the absence of excess of moisture does not furnish the conditions which many valueless plants require for their germination. In addition to which, it may be said that soils properly prepared are so much more easily tilled during the progress of crops, that the greater industry removes all weeds of whatever character they may be. Twelfth.-Under-drained and sub-soiled lands do not compact after plowing, from rains, to the extent that is noticeable, with ordinary plowing only. If two barrels be filled with sand, the one lightly thrown in, and the other rammed after every shovel full, and the loose barrel then be flooded with water and filled up with sand to offset for the settling, it will be found to contain a larger amount of sand of the two; for when every particle of the sand is suffused with water, so that the entire surface is lubricated, they will settle to the closest fit, and become more solid than any mechanical force, without water, could make them. In under-drained soils, the excess of water being removed and new portions received, even during violent rains, can only compact the immediate surface, for the spaces between particles being all empty, water can pass down without any portion of the soil becoming diffused. In addition to this, all the surfaces being humid, the water can travel over them with greater rapidity than if dry. In passing water through dry soil, the particle has to become wetted before it will pass the next portion of water; and thus underdrained and sub-soiled lands do not compact, except at their immediate surface, and there to a much less extent than shallow plowed lands, over which the rains pass. Thirteenth. The increased amount of crops consequent upon such preparation, will enable the farmer to pay ten per cent. per annum, or more, upon the cost of the under-drains, from the increased ratio of crops beyond the expenses of their production. This is a question which has been practically settled by every farmer who has tried the experiment; and in England, where the government will advance to any farmer the necessary amount to under-drain his land, taking a mortgage for the amount, practice has proved that the increased crop consequent on under-draining, has, in every case, enabled the farmer to pay up the interest, and five per cent. more of the principal each year, leaving his farm increased in value, at the end of the term, more than equal to the amount of the mortgage, while the nation at large is enriched, not only to the amount of the mortgage and interest paid, but by an increased interest for all time. Private companies, with large capitals, are now established in England, for loaning money on under-drain mortgages; and even the owners of hereditary estates are permitted to mortgage for the purpose of under-draining only, practice having proved that the value of the estate is always increased equal to the expense of under-draining. Fourteenth. Soils so prepared will improve more rapidly than any others, even beyond the improvement of the first few years, which goes to reimburse the original expense, and thus in perpetuity, increase the value of the land, more than the whole cost of under-draining. This will be readily understoood, from the fact that the organic matter must be continually on the increase, from the decomposition of increased quantities of root in the soil, as a natural consequence of increased crops, while the preparation of the inorganic integrants of the soil for plant use, must bear a similar ratio; for upon an increase of carbon must be an increase of permeability to atmosphere, with superior conditions for all required chemical changes. And the experience of the Yester experimentors and others, clearly shows, that with an equal amount of fertilizing material added to that which would not improve shallow plowed land the under-drained and sub-soiled portions are continually benefitting by increased capacity. Sixteenth. The net profit of six consecutive years, by under-draining, is double -the excess crops leaving no portion of the expenses to bear upon them, other than in their harvest, from increased quantity. This is a practical question, which has been clearly settled by all those who have owned farms drained twenty years ago. It should be borne in mind that but few crops give a net profit to the grower, of more than twenty per cent. of their gross amount; therefore, if the crop be increased twenty per cent., the profit is doubled; and we know of many instances where the increase has been fifty per cent., and in some cases one hundred per cent. The difficulties which a few years ago surrounded the practicability of underdraining, sub-soil plowing, and deep surface plowing, no longer exist. Drain tile are now made in all parts of the Union, and at moderate prices. The machines themselves for making these tile, can be purchased for about one hundred dollars, and wherever a clay bank can be found, they may be put in operation, manufacturing many thousands per day. Books have been published, giving full and explicit instructions for under-draining; and in many localities the water discharged from one field may be used to irrigate another, which, if also under-drained, may be materially benefitted by such practice, particularly when in a permanent meadow. By the use of water rams, a portion of the water may be elevated for the use of stables, etc. The old style sub-soil plow, which requires two or more yoke of oxen to propel it, has been replaced by the new lifting sub-soil plow, which may be run to any required depth, with a single pair of horses, mules, or oxen; and we have yet to find the soil where this implement cannot be used. Those who object to elevating the sub-soil, or in localities where the sub-soil is of a kind that should not be raised which localities, by the by, are few and far between - may, with the lifting plow, disintegrate the sub-soil in its place, without elevating it all. Those, also, who object to running over the surface soil to any greater depth than they find a black mold, may disintegrate the sub-soil in place, and after such disturbance they will soon find the depth of their surface-soil materially increased, so as to warrant them in increasing their plowing, without a departure from their rule of being guided in the depth of plowing by the color of the soil, They may even disintegrate on old pasture without turning over the sod; for as this plow is a gradual inclined plane of only one and a half inches rise, and alike on both its sides, it elevates the soil for that distance, leaving it all free above its sole, like the soil above a mole track, without abraiding the roots of the grass; and the cut through which the upright knives of the plow travel, closing up behind it, leaves the whole surface of the field sub-soil plowed, elevated one or two inches, and all in a softer condition of the soil than from ordinary plowing, while the surface grass remains undisturbed; each root, however, having the soil loosened about it, giving free entrance for air and moisture, so that the dead roots may decay, and those which are in a growing condition take on new vigor. One cut of this plow through the middle of an old pasture, will in ten days show a green strip, surpassing the rest of the field in verdure, and of about four feet wide. Such a plow may follow an ordinary surface plow, propelled by a separate team, with its beam lying in the bottom of the furrow made by the surface-plow, under cutting the land side in its travel, and causing the furrow to be lifted during its passage along beneath it, so as to soften and divide it, and render the next surfaceplow cut capable of being performed with much less force. But this tool is of comparatively little use in soils requiring under-draining, as excess of water will soon settle the soil, however well disintegrated. Prof. Mapes at this point, produced a small brass model of this plow, in illustration of the point he was discussing. He also exhibited the model of a plow which he thought would work with less resistance than any other. It embodied a principle which he thought deserved attention. He concluded this part of his address by reiterating the importance of drainage, which, he said, was not to let water out, but to let air in. He then took a carrot, lying on the stand, and remarked that it had been well ascertained, that a bushel of carrots mixed with a bushel of oats, made better and more nourishing food for horses than two bushels of oats. The oat, he said, was not all appropriated; part of it passed through the digestive apparatus without yielding its nutriment. The carrot prevents this waste. This is the explanation he gave about it. If you put an apple in a tub of water, a boy may bob at it for an hour without being able to bite it. It is not fixed. But if placed in a tub of jelly, that will hold it firmly enough to enable him to get hold of it. Now the carrot contains an acid, which acting on certain substances gelatinizes them, that is makes them like jelly. The oat is one of them. In its ordinary condition, the perisilatic motion of the intestines prevents it being taken hold of by the digestive apparatus properly, and a portion of its nutriment is lost. But the acid of the carrot by "jellyfying" it, so fixes it that it can be entirely absorbed by the system. He said that he had learned the livery men of his vicinity the use of carrots, and now he sells his whole crop to them at 50c. per bushel, and he raises about 100 bushels to the acre, clearing fully four hundred dollars to the acre. The carrot was an excellent article of food for cattle. The seed, He then explained, at some length, the mode of cultivating carrots. he said, was a thin scaly seed, and very tender. If placed over half an inch deep in the soil it rotted. If planted at a less depth it baked. His plan was to plant radishes along with the carrots, which germinated rapidly, shaded the latter from the sun, and gave them protection. When the radishes are pulled up they loosen the soil, and allow the air and moisture to penetrate, and the process makes the very best of cultivation for the carrots. If not pulled up, a roller will crush and kill them, without damaging the carrot. The Professor noticed some beets and spoke of their hybridization, and the inferiority produced by it. He then took up a couple of pears of a kind recently introduced from France, which command almost fabulous prices in the east. They are grafted on quince bushes, and ripen off the tree in January, February, or as late as March. He has some hundreds of trees, and sold his whole crop to Taylor of New York, at $1 50 a dozen. This rage for this particular fruit he says is a great absurdity, but it will have its run, and farmers may as well profit by it. INDEX. A Adams County Society, report from.. - Agriculture Address by De Witt C. Chipman, of Hamilton county.. -- ..... ...... ..... 1 306 312 321 327 331 336 353 360 366 Agriculture Address on, by Hon. W M. Franklin, of Owen county. Agriculture Address before Cass County Society, by Judge Stuart Bots in Horses Essay on, by Dr. Haymond, of Franklin county. Cranberry-- Premium Essay on Cultivation of, by John A. Burbank... Corn Report of Committee on Cultivation of... - Cranberries-- Mode of Cultivating.. Cheese Process of Making... Cherries-- List of...... Currants Six Varieties.. D Dairy - Premium Essay on the, by Dr. R. T. Brown, of Montgomery county............ 237 |