Times Independent | 1943-10-28 | Page 2 | The Plow is Not the Enemy of the Farmer, Says a Noted Agronomist, Who Replies to That Charge in a Recently Published Book

The Plow Is NOT the Enemy of the Farmer Says a Noted Agronomist Who Replies to That Charge in a Recently Published Book By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union UnionS S THE plow the arch villain Is I m In the tragedy of soil sOlI ero- ero eroSIOn erosion SIOn that costs AmerIcan agn agnI culture two billion dollars a aI I year through the loss of pre preCIOUS I Claus CIOUS phosphorus and potash from the nations nation's farms Or IS It one of man mankInd's mankind's kInds kInd's traditIonal benefactors benefactors tors Will the plow eventual eventual- eventually ly become an obsolete ment and a museum piece or orWIll orwill WIll It continue to be one of farming's main mam Americans especially farmers who have learned to revere the plow and wt o 0 read the book Plow Plowman Plowman Edward H man s Folly written by Faulkner and published recently by bythe bythe the University of Oklahoma Press or who saw artIcles m in the newspapers newspapers pers based upon that book no doubt were startled when Mr Faulkner told them that the plow was an en enemy enemy emy rather than a friend of agri agn agriculture culture But the old saying about there be ng tv 0 sIdes to every ques queston ton bon has proved true again agam for no noless noless less an authority than Dr WIlliam WIlliamA WilliamA A A Albrecht head of the sOils de department department of the University of M s sours soun now comes forward to defend the plow and to offer a rebuttal to Mr Faulkner s charges against It Dr Albrecht both agrees and dis disagrees agrees WIth the author of Plow Plowman Plowman man s Folly He acknowledges that farmers in the silt loam soil areas of the United States have in the past plowed too much As a result the heavy rainfall in these regions has washed away priceless sOIl But the question to plow or not to plow cannot be answered yes or no nor is it safe to make hasty generalizations In any other respect while deal ng with thIS subJect The crux of the whole question lies in inthe inthe the sOil and climatic condit ons of the cal regIon involved We need to plow less on some soils solis and conversely we need to plow more and deeper on others asserts Dr Albrecht We need to learn that the dIl di In degree of sOIl devel development according to climatic dlf di are factors in deter determining mining how Important the plow I Is IsI I In Plowman s Folly Mr Faulk her ner charged that the moldboard plow lr I now in use on farms throughout the cIVIlized v world orid is the least sa satis satisfactory factory Implement for the preparation tion of the land for the production of crops The IS that no noone noone one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing Moreover he says that the plow IS responsIble for all the eros on the sour sOils the mounting floods the to 10 vering water tables the vanishing wIld life the compact and ImpervIOUS so 1 sur surfaces surfaces faces that hate ha harassed Amery Amerl can farmers for a generatIOn I And there the University of MIs MIssour sours sour sCIentist d He holds that even though the average farmer can t give a sc ent fie fic answer to the question Why plow the men of science can provIde plenty of val d dI reasons for dOing so High on hIs I lIst of reasons is the fact that thIS practice supplies the so I 1 with oxy oxygen gen which helps transform Its chem chern chemical Ical components into usable plant I food for grov growing mg crops AeratIng the Soil Any Any mIcrobIologist will test fy that plo ving aerates the sOIl he says As a consequence of the change of atmosphere m in the sOIl and because of the stirring by the mold moldboard moldboard board plow there is new l life e eThe The so 1 IS a factory in which energy IS expended Tons of carbon carbonare carbonare are being burned to form carbon carbond d oxide Sulphur is zed Into sul suI sulphur I de Ammonia IS changed to nitrate Other s milar combus are taking place A 40 acre corn field under maxi maximum maximum mum gro ting mg activIty In July burns an amount of carbon equal to the coal used in running a 40 vet ver steam engine in order to form car carbon carbon bon d oXIde Can anyone deny the necessIty of air for such a perform performance performance ance Surely no one would close the draft by refusing to plow and thus destroy such crop producing power ThIs burning business in the sOIl by means of oxygen from the air must go on if the plant nutrients tied bed up in chemIcal comb natIon wIth carbon are to be released for repeated use by other plants that follow Were thiS performance not proceeding m in the soil I 1 fe on the globe would soon become extinct The soil soils s productive power would r o ew v iro r N B i r 4 aG y uy u t I y R a a A v Pa i t i Lr Lra s a a Il 4 I Ik k b bF F f fR R R s 's r I x y yF F 1 a rJ Plowing scenes such as this will not soon vanish from the American scene says a noted agronomist who refutes the charges in a recently published book that the plow is the enemy of agriculture soon be expended As a result the soil could offer nothing and no growth could occur Plowing has the further scientIfic value of helping the soil supply a larger amount of soluble nitrogen for growing crops than would other otherwise wise be available accord ng to Dr Albrecht Stud es of the nitrate sup supply supply ply m in so 1 planted to corn forcefully support this find ng Tests were made on three adjoin adjoining mg ing plots planted to corn One plot was unplowed The second was plowed The thIrd was both plowed and cultivated The soluble nitrogen supply m the plot that was plowed and cultivated was at least 30 per percent percent cent greater than m the unplowed tract In the plowed tract It was between 2 and 30 20 per cent greater Crop Yields correspond to the level of these nitrate supplies says Dr Albrecht The farmer may not know that these higher levels of nl m are responsible for h s im improved proved crop YIeld Nor may he understand that they are the result of hIs making the so I 1 turn turtle w tv th hIs Plow He s plows ahead of the corn to get a better crop HIS inability to point out the underlying sCIentific channels through whIch the effects of plowing are transmItted to the crop does not put the plow into bad repute m in hIs eyes Surely the hundreds of thousands of corn producers will not suddenly d so ancIent an Implement merely because they cannot call to toI toa I I I II 4 I a c s bs u t ta a DR WILLIAM A ALBBECHT their aid fic evidence when someone concludes for them that the plo v IS the cause of Increased ero erosion SlOn sion and other on that IS ISso isso so easily easil associated a ted wIth It of Erosion To Mr Faulkner s charge that plowing IS solely responsible for era ero- Slon sion Dr Albrecht counters WIth the assertIOn that t the e real villains are cont cropping and the steady removal of plant food elements yea after year w any effort to re replenish replenish the soil s resources of n tro Iro trogen gen phosphorus and potash It IS true that plo ving and crop cropping ping a soil year car after year bring WIth them declining crop YIelds he says these one m readily pounce upon the plow as the culprit in the case But the fact IS that declining crop y elds have other causes than merely the plowing op erat on TI 11 ey cannot be explained away by the simple bel of c that the explosive separation of the sOIl mass v wrecks all capillary connect ons temporarily and that the organic matter sandwiched m in further ex extends extends tends the period of steril ty of the soil due to dryness Crops are not declining or fa bag because plo ving IS drying out the soil The forces that turn plowed land into bare eroded fields are not the mold board plow and the horses or tractor that pull It They are the removal of sOil fertil ty wIth I 1 or no return of needed plant foods Plowing IS not the cause of the depletion of the fert lity supply Depletion occurs because of the fert 1 ty removed when the crop cropIS cropis IS hauled off to market The plow Is not the exploiter rather It IS the farmer Tl TI e a plow Is merely the tool that facilitates his e e at a aCaster faster Caster rate and over more acres than before beCore the plow was given hIm The plow has helped hIm feed many of ofus ofus us too far removed from the land to appreciate its tation tabon In ng that the plow be junked as an agricultural Implement Mr Faulkner s 5 book advocated the use of the d sc harrow as a means of producing more and better crops because It would incorporate crop 1 residues green manures and organ organIC I is IC matter into the top sOil To th s suggest on Dr Albrecht had the fol follow follow low ng to say folI I The author of Plowman s Folly condemns the plow because It inverts completely the upper portion of the sOIl profile In ItS place however he advocates the use of the d sk har harrow harrow row wh ch carrIes out a sImilar process d only m in degree 1 To Mr lr Faulkner s contention that crop resIdues or organic matter from plants allowed allo ed to gro v of their o accord should be incorporated into the top so 1 WithOUt the add t on of manure I 1 me or other fertIl Dr Albrecht rep es Such a proposal does not take into account d in t on in type or ty Weeds or forest trees as ancIent as the se quotas are taken on a par m in the Plowman s Folly thesIs With leg legumes umes as sOIl rejuvenating agencies The author cItes every wooded country as a perfect example of soil maintenance but neglects to mentIon the low level of fert 1 ty and the d involved m in ma nta n I ning mg ing life Mr Faulkner s belief that the prevalence of wIld l life e on the west ern em plains v has as due to the fact that this regIon t as unplowed comes m in for some crItical analysIs also Dr Albrecht po out that the un tin plo ved wooded areas of New Eng England England land h ch our Pur tan ancestors first fast settled supported only a few wild turkeys and In further refutatIon of the con contentIon contention m in Plowman s Folly that princ pIes ples which are al al d m in the forest are valid in the field Dr Albrecht asserts In vIew of the fact that the sOils d tier fIer as wIdely as they do under forest and under pra rte ne we surely cannot subscribe to the bel of ef that all print pIes ples valid for the forest are valid for the fields ng his VIews on the en entire entyre tire tyre subject Dr Albrecht con concludes eludes The end ind of the plo v by the book Plowman s Folly wIll not stand against the facto fact of SCIence science ence nor the judgment of expert farmers ThIs publication will fall far short of helping us to realize that the Garden of Eden almost literally lIes under our feet almost anywhere on earth we care to step provIded we allow t on to grow and cling to the d sk harrow as a means of turning It under rath rather rathen I er en than to the mold board plow