| Show I The Plow Is NOT the Enemy of the Farmer Says a Noted Agronomist Who Replies to That Charge in a Recently Published Book By y ELMO ELl SCOTT WATSON ATSON V Released by Western Newspaper Union I TS S THE plow the villain arch-villain J- J Is Jin in the ti t of soil ero ero- erosion erosion sion that costs American agriculture agriculture agriculture agri agri- culture two billion dollars a year through the loss of precious precious precious pre pre- cious nitrogen phosphorus and potash from the nations nation's farms Or is it one of mankind's mankind's mankind's man man- kinds kind's traditional benefactors benefactors benefactors tors Will the plow eventually eventual eventual- ly become an obsolete implement implement implement ment and a museum piece or orwill orwill orwill will it continue to be one of farming's main Americans especially farmers who have learned to revere the J plow and who read rend the book Plow mans man's Folly written by Edward H. H Faulkner and published recently by bythe bythe bythe j the University of Oklahoma Press or who saw articles in the newspapers newspapers newspapers I pers based upon that book no doubt were startled when Mr Faulkner I told them that the plow was an enemy enemy enemy en en- emy rather than a friend of agri agrI- culture But the old saying about there being two sides to every question question question ques ques- tion has proved true again for no noless noless noless less pin authority than Dr William WilliamA A A. Albrecht head of the soils department department department de de- of the University of Missouri Missouri Mis tills sours now comes forward to defend the plow and to offer a rebuttal to Mr Faulkner's charges against It Dr Albrecht both agrees and disagrees disagrees disagrees dis dis- agrees with the author of Plow mans 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 sale to make hasty generalizations in any other respect while dealing with this subject The crux of the whole question lies in inthe inthe the soil and climatic conditions of the geographical region Involved lYe Wo need to plow less on some soils sons and conversely we need to plow more and more and deeper deeper on on others asserts Dr Albrecht We need aced to learn earn that the differences differences dif dif- in degree of or soil soU devel devel- development development according to climatic differences differences dif dif- differences are factors in determining determining determining deter deter- mining how Important the plow Is In Folly FoUy Mr Faulkner Faulkner Faulknor Faulk Faulk- ner nor charged that the moldboard plow now in use on farms throughout the civilized world is the least satisfactory satisfactory satisfactory satis satis- factory implement for the preparation preparation preparation tion of the land for the production of crops The truth is that noone no noone noone I one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing Moreover he says that the plow is responsible for all the erosion the sour soils the mounting floods the lowering water tables the vanishing wild life rue the compact and Impervious soil surfaces sur- sur surfaces surfaces sur sur- faces that have harassed American American Ameri Amer- C can ln farmers for a generation And there the University of Mis Mis- Missouri Missouri scientist disagrees He holds that even though the average farmer cant can't give a n scientific answer to the question Why plow the men mm of at science can provide plenty of valid reasons for doing so High on his list of reasons is the fact that this practice supplies the soil with oxygen oxygen oxygen oxy oxy- gen which helps transform Its chemical chemIcal chemical chem chem- ical components Into usable plant food for growing crops Aerating the Soil Soli Any microbiologist will testify that plowing aerates the soil he says cays As a consequence of the change of atmosphere In the soil and because cause of the stirring by the mold mold- moldboard b board and ard plow there is new life The soil is a factory in which energy Is expended Tons of carbon carbonare are being burned to form carbon dioxide Sulphur Is oxidized into sulphur sulphur sulphur sul sul- dioxide Ammonia is changed to nitrate Other similar combus combus- are taking place A acre 40 corn field under maximum maximum maximum maxi maxi- mum growing activity in July burns an amount of carbon equal to the coal used in running a horsepower 40 steam engine In order to form carbon carbon car car- bon dioxide Can anyone deny the necessity of air for such a performance perform perform- 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 soU by means of oxygen from the air must go on if it the plant nutrients nutrients eats tied up in chemical combination with carbon are to be released for repeated use by other plants that follow Were this performance not proceeding in the soil soU life on the globe would soon become extinct The soils soil's productive power would 1 l tz y rt t F n t A 1 11 C Plowing scenes such as this will not soon so vanish from the American scene says sn's a noted agronomist who refutes the charges In a recently published book that the plow is the enemy of or agriculture soon be expended As a result the soil solI could offer nothing and no growth could occur Plowing has the further scientific value of helping the soil solI supply a larger amount of soluble nitrogen for growing crops than would otherwise otherwise other other- wise be available according to Dr Albrecht Studies of the nitrate supply supply supply sup sup- ply in soil planted to corn forcefully support this finding i Tests were made on three adjoinIng adjoining adjoining adjoin adjoin- i ing plots planted to corn One plot was unplowed The second was plowed The third was both plowed and cultivated The soluble nitrogen supply in the plot that was plowed and cultivated was at least 30 percent per percent percent cent gr greater ater than In n the unplowed tract In the plowed tract it was between 25 and 30 per cent greater Crop yields correspond to the level of these nitrate supplies says Dr Albrecht The farmer may not know that these higher lev levels cIs of nitrate ni ni- nitrate ni-I ni are responsible for lor his Improved improved Im im- improved proved crop yield Nor may he understand that they are the result of his making the soil turn turtle with his plow He simply 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 docs not put the plow into bad repute in his eyes Surely the hundreds of thousands of corn producers will not suddenly discard so ancient an nn Implement merely because they cannot call to 1 A w n ay I I t. t r I N I i i DR WILLIAM 1 J A. A ALBRECHT their aid scientific evidence when someone concludes for them that the plow is the cause of increased erosion erosion erosion ero ero- sion and other devastation that isso isso is isso so easily associated with it Villains of or Erosion To Mr Faulkner's charge that plowing Is solely responsible for erosion erosion erosion ero ero- sion Dr Albrecht counters with the assertion that the real villa villains ns are continuous cropping and the steady removal of plant food elements clements yea after year without any effort to replenish replenish replenish re re- re- re the soils soil's resources of nitrogen nitrogen nitrogen nitro nitro- gen phosphorus and nd potash It is true that plowing and cropping cropping crop crop- ping a soil year after year bring with them declining crop yields he says says For IFor these one might readily pounce upon the plow as the culprit in the case But the fact is that declining crop y yields elds have other causes than merely the plowing op op- They cannot be explained away by the simple belief bellef that the explosive separation of the soil mass wrecks all capillary connections tempora temporarily ily and that the organic matter sandwiched In further extends extends extends ex ex- tends the period of sterility of the soil due to dryness Crops are not declining or failing because plowing I is drying out the soiL The forces that turn plowed land I Into bare eroded fields are arc not the I moldboard mold plow and the horses or tractor that pull it They are the continued removal of soil fertility with little or no return of needed plant foods Plowing is not the cause of the depletion of the fertility supply Depletion occurs because of the fertility removed when the crop cropis is hauled off to market The plow Is not the exploiter rather it Is the farmer The plow Is merely the tool that facilitates his exploitation at a faster taster rate and over more acres than before the plow was given ghen him The plow has hns helped him feed many ofus of ofus ofus us too far removed from the land to appreciate its exploitation In urging that the plow be Junked as an agricultural implement Mr Faulkner's book advocated the use of the di di harrow as a means of producing more and better crops because it would incorporate drop residues green manures and organ organ- organic organIc ic matter into the top soil To this suggestion Dr Albrecht had the following following following fol fol- lowing to say The author of PIO Folly FoUy condemns the plow because it inverts completely the upper portion of the soil profile In its place however he advocates the use of the disk harrow harrow harrow har har- row which carries out a similar process differing only in degree To Mr Faulkner's contention that crop residues or organic matter from plants allowed to grow of their own accord should be incorporated into the top topsoil soU without the addition of manure lime or other fertilizers Dr Albrecht replies Such a proposal docs does not take Into account differences In vegetation vegetation vegetation tion in type or quality Weeds or forest trees as ancient as the sequoias sequoias se se- sc- sc quotas are taken on a par in the Folly FoUy thesis with legumes legumes leg leg- umes as soil solI rejuvenating agencies The author cites every wooded country as a perfect example of soil solI maintenance but neglects to mention the low level of fertility and the difficulty involved In maintaining maintain maintain- ing fag tile life f Mr Faulkner's belief that the preval prevalence nce of wild life Ilfe on the on the western western western west west- ern plains was due to the fact that this region was unplowed comes in for some critical analysis also Dr Albrecht points out that the Unplowed unplowed unplowed un un- plowed wooded areas of New England England England Eng Eng- land which our Puritan ancestors first settled supported only a few wild turk turkeys ys and squirrels In further refutation of the contention contention contention con con- in Folly that principles which are valid in the forest are valid In the field Dr Albrecht asserts In view of the fact tact that the soils differ as widely as they do under forest and under prairie we surely cannot subscribe to the belief that all principles valid for the forest are valid for the fields Summarizing his views on the entire entire entire en en- tire subject Dr Albrecht concludes con con- etudes eludes The indictment of the plow by the book Folly will not stand against the fac facts of science science sd ence nor the judgment of experienced experienced experienced 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 vegetation to grow and cling to the disk harrow as n a means of turning it under rather rath rath- rather er than to the mold-board mold plow |
