Show To Get Bigger Finer anners Should Toss Their Plows on Says Expert I e By ELMO SCOTT WATSON Released ele el ed cd by Western Newspaper Union OMAS GRAY the faJT famous fa- fa JT InUS English poet has made immortal the plowman who homeward plods his weary way and for two centuries centuries centuries cen cen- the plowman and his plow have been the theme of song and story building up the idea that they are the benefactors benefactors bene bene- f factors of mankind In fact Venerate V the plow was the motto eng engraved aved upon the medals medals medals med med- als offered by the Agricultural Agricultural Agricultural tural Society of Philadelphia early in the Nineteenth century century century cen cen- tury to stimulate agricultural experimentation and more than a dozen of our states have the plow as one of the symbols in their great seals In the face of this tradition It may come as a shock to most Americans to be told that instead of venerating the plow we should look upon it as an enemy of agriculture and the tool that is r responsible ble for all wall of the erosion eros erosion on the sour soils the mounting floods the lowering water table the vanishing wild l life e the compact compact compact com com- pact and impervious soil surface surface surface sur sur- face which have bedevilled the American farmer in recent recent reent re re- re- re cent ent years Yet that is exactly exactly exactly exact exact- ly what an agricultural expert expert expert ex ex- ex- ex pert tells us in a new book He is 15 Edward H. H Faulkner and his revolutionary idea Is developed in the book Folly published published published pub pub- recently by the University of Oklahoma Press And lest it be bethought bethought bethought thought that he is only a theorist a visionary and a book farmer let it be added immediately that he heis heis is js the son of a a. a successful farmer that he was trained in agriculture at Williamsburg Baptist institute now Cumberland Cumberland college 0 college and at atthe atthe atthe the University of Kentucky y that he has been bee a county agent in Kentucky and Ohio a Smith Hughes teacher of f agriculture and a soil and crop Investigator in private employment Moreover he has carried on his experiments experiments ex ex- in garden plot and on a alarm farm larm scale on land which he owns in Ohio hIo and by his crop yields has translated theory into solid soUd fact At the beginning of Folly Polly Mr Faulkner says that his book sets out to show that the moldboard moldboard moldboard mold- mold board plow which is in to use on farms throughout the civilized world is the least satisfactory implement for the preparation of land for the production production tion Lion of crops This sounds like a paradox perhaps in view of the fact that for nearly a century there has been a science of agriculture and that agricultural scientists almost to toa toa a man have used and approved the use of the moldboard plow Nevertheless Nevertheless Never Never- the statement made above is js true and capable of proof Much of f the proof as a matter of fact bas has come in left handed manner from scientists themselves The truth is that no one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing He then proceeds to examine all the reasons that are given for plowing plowing plow plow- ing lag and points out their inconsistencies absurdities Assuming Assuming Assum d cies es and even ing mg plowed land to be better for plant growth we should find grass growing more mere freely on plowed land than on similar unplowed land near nearby nearby by he points out Weeds too should Would show preference for plowed land Volunteer growth should take takeover takeover takeover over and develop more rankly after land had been plowed than before Is this so Observation is that until until un un- til W plowed land has subsided again to 10 its former state of firmness plants develop in to it quite tard tardily ly if at alL When dry weather follows the plowing plowing plowing plow plow- ing it may be weeks or even months before either natural vegetation or a planted crop will make normal growth The fact is that bare land which notably erodes worse than soil in any other condition consists almost almost almost al al- al- al most wholly of land that has been gently by plow or cultivating cultivating cultivating tt inn Irn The only other bare land Js that which has been denuded of top soil by erosion or orther other ther forces There is significance in the fact that erosion and runoff are worse on bare land and that bare land is defined above The effect which plowing has upon this top soil is the principal reason why the author of Folly Folly Folly Fol Fol- ly considers this instrument an enemy enemy enemy en en- emy rather than a benefactor of agriculture In fact the principal thesis of the book is that it is wrong to plow natural fertilizers deep Into the soil and that this natural fertilize fertilizer er er- er crop er-crop crop rop residue and green manure crops should crops should be Incorporated into L This pretty girl seems f to be he r heeding the an ancient injunction injunction Ven Venerate erate the plow as she y exam examines Ines what has I been preserved of one y of the first firs t three plows made by John Deere the Yankee blacksmith who invented the first successful steel a plow in 1837 5 Y Jd s t S W M I W the top soil which as everybody recognizes is the really good soil just as Mother Nature does it in a forest or a meadow Disk Harrow v Better We have developed some useless theories in that field declares Mr Faulkner Men have come to feel for example that centuries are necessary necessary necessary essary for the development of a productive productive productive pro pro- soil The satisfying truth Is that man with a team or a tractor tractor and a good disk harrow can mix into the soil in hi a matter of hours sufficient organic material to accomplish accomplish accomplish ac ac- ac- ac I results equal to what is accomplished by nature in decades In fact it is the disk harrow rather than the plow which should be the farmers farmer's principal instrument In producing producing pro pro- more and better crops Here is why The organic matter disked into the top of the soil not only decomposes and adds to the fertility of the soil but acts as a sponge to hold moisture where it is needed Faulkner believes believes believes be be- there is a capillary movement of water upward from the subsoil When the surface of the soil contains organic matter this top layer not only holds water but is able to receive receive receive re re- re- re it from below Conversely when the soil has been plowed the loose layer at the surface loses its capillarity while the layer of green manure plowed under actually Insulates insulates insulates lates the upper surface of soil from the subsoil This blotter is often the reason why a crop shows lack of moisture when there is moisture in the sub sub- soil The crop has used all the moisture in the loose layer of top topsoil topsoil topsoil soil but can get no more from below until the organic matter plowed tinder un un- under under der has become completely decomposed decomposed decomposed posed and packed Although the author of Plow mans man's Folly believes that the disk harrow is the farm tool which should more and more replace the plow he admits that it does have its limita limita- It is difficult to handle on onside onside onside side hills and it wont won't work so well wellon on stony soil Nor is it the complete answer to the question of how to get rid of weeds He concedes that there is no such thing as completely weed weed- less farming but he does docs believe that the system of farming which he advocates advocates advocates ad ad- tends to get rid of weeds while the plow tends to encourage them For every time land is plowed seeds are burled for future sprouting Then when it is plowed again some of the seeds are brought to the surface for growth while more marc seeds are turned under to await their turn to sprout and so on ad in in- CUnder t C Under Faulkner's plan of using the disk harrow rather than the plow the weeds are mixed up Into the top soil and their seeds are never very far below the surface When such seed grows Into a plant and the plant is cut then there is no reservoir of seed far under the surface to take its place Gradually a field may get rid of weeds entirely if they are cut before they mature although of course there will al always always al al- ways be some weeds grown from seed that is blown or carried into the fields Not a 1 New Idea But the problem of weed control Is after all of lesser importance than the problem of preparing the soil so that it will be more tive In advocating his plan Faulkner Faulk Faulk- ner does not claim that it is new No new technical discoveries are areto areto areto to be aired here he says in his first chapter The discussion Is concerned concerned con con- concerned wholly with reducing to practical practical practical terms employable in any any- l T. T n body's backyard yard or on any farm I the scientific information possessed for decades but hitherto not put to any extensive use Moreover he docs does not just advocate advocate advocate cate a theory but he cites his own experience to prove that his theory is practicable For example there was the way he demonstrated its I validity with the tomatoes which he I transplanted even though he shocked some of his neighbors with what they I considered his bis careless methods I First he harrowed down do a crop of rye that had grown three feet tall mixing rye and soil until hardly a trace of vegetation remained Then he marked the land of off in hi rows using an instrument he designed himself to pack the worked soil of the I rows firmly This was done to patch the soil back together so natures nature's capillary action action- carried action carried on by the plant root system system could could keep on I elevating moisture to the surface for his tomatoes He cleaned all the dirt from the roots of his tomato plants and laid them along the rows rowson rowson rowson on the surface He covered the roots with rich soil and packed it down by foot By late afternoon every plant set setIn setin setin in the forenoon was pointing toward the sky and by the following morning morning morning morn morn- ing every plant without exception was standing upright No water was used in transplanting and that was sufficient evidence that natures nature's own 0 watering system was at work Prize Tomatoes Not only did the tomatoes live but his neighbors who had been dubious dubious dubious du du- du- du bious of his careless methods had to admit that hi his was the finest field of tomatoes in hi the neighbor neighbor- hood There was further proof of the fact when he sold his tomatoes for he received as much as 25 cents a peck above the top price in the Cleveland market One reason for this was the exceptional weight of my packed pecks Mr Faulkner explains Fifteen pounds is the standard weight of a peck of to to- to matoes It was not unusual for a apeck apeck apeck peck of my tomatoes to weigh 16 i pounds and many weighed 17 Most local tomatoes that year weighed from 10 to 14 pounds to the peck I What the author of Folly did with tomatoes he also I did with sweet potatoes cucumbers cucumbers bers and beans And lest it be bethought bethought bethought thought that his methods apply only to garden truck let it be recorded that they apply also to field grain Several years ago he began nudging nudging nudging ing the United States department of agriculture to experiment with his theory of surface Finally one of the leading agronomists agronomists agronomists mists of the department set up a demonstration tion Perhaps the intent was to disprove disprove disprove dis dis- dis- dis prove my theories writes Mr Faulkner On the contrary the outcome of the tests completely confirmed confirmed confirmed con con- I firmed them The results of this official experiment proved that by working organic matter into the surface instead of plowing it in the resulting grain yield could be beas beas beas as much as 50 per cent greater The very first year of this trial showed such a result And these are only a few of the il illuminating illuminating illuminating il- il facts to be found in the pages of Folly But they all aU lend emphasis to its authors author's contention that the sooner we make ancient history of many of our present present present pres pres- ent farm practices the earlier we will realize that the Garden of Eden almost literally lies under our feet almost anywhere on the earth we care to step We have not begun to tap the actual potentialities of at the soil for producing crops |