Show The Plow Is NOT the Enemy of the Farmer Says a Noted Agronomist Who Replies to toL L That Charge in a Recently Published Book By ELMO SCOTT WATSON VATSON Released by Western Newspaper Union I S THE plow the villain arch in the tragedy of soil erosion that costs American agriculture agriculture ture two billion dollars a year through the loss of precious ni- ni nitrogen nitrogen trogen phosphorus and potash from the nations nation's farms Or is isit isit it one of mankind's traditional benefactors Will the plow eventually become an obsolete implement and a museum piece or will it continue to be one of farming's main Americans especially farmers who have learned to revere the plow and who read the book Plow mans man's Folly written by Edward H. H Faulkner and published recently by the University of Oklahoma Press or who saw articles in the newspapers newspapers pers based upon that book no doubt were startled when Mr Faulkner told them that the plow was an en- en enemy enemy emy rather than a friend of agri- agri culture But the old saying about there being two sides to every ques- ques question question I tion has proved true again for no noless noless less an authority than Dr William A. A Albrecht head of the soils de- de department department of the University of Mis- Mis Missouri Missouri now comes forward to defend the plow and to offer a rebuttal to Mr Faulkner's charges charge's against it Dr Albrecht both agrees and dis- dis disagrees disagrees agrees with the author of Plow mans man's Folly He acknowledges that farmers in the silt sUt 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 o plow cannot be answered yes or no nor is it safe 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 We need to plow less on some soils and conversely we need to plow more and deeper on others asserts Dr Albrecht We need to learn that the dif dif- differences differences in degree of soil devel- devel development development according to climatic dif dU- differences are factors in deter deter- determining determining mining how important the plow is is In Folly Mr Faulk- Faulk Faulkner ner charged that the moldboard plow now in use on farms throughout the civilized world is the least satis- satis satisfactory ra factory tory implement for the preparation preparation tion of the land for the production of crops t The truth is that no noone one has ever advanced a scientific reason for plowing Moreover he says that the plow is responsible for all all the erosion the sour soils the mounting floods the lowering water tables the vanishing wild life the compact and impervious soil sur- sur surfaces surfaces faces that have harassed Ameri- Ameri American can 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 scientific answer to the question Why plow the men of 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 oxy oxy- oxygen oxygen gen which helps transform its chem chem- chemical chemical ical components into usable plant food for growing crops Aerating the Soil Any microbiologist will testify that plowing aerates the soil he says As a consequence of the change of atmosphere in the soil and because of the stirring by the mold mold- moldboard moldboard board 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 sul- sul sulphur sulphur dioxide de Ammonia is changed to nitrate Other similar combus- combus are taking place A acre 40 corn field under maxi maxi- maximum maximum mum growing activity in July burns an amount of carbon equal to the te coal used in running a horsepower 40 steam engine in order to form car car- carbon carbon bon dioxide Can anyone deny the necessity of air for such a perform perform- performance ance Surely no one would dose 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 nutrients 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 life on the globe would soon become extinct The soils soil's productive power would soon be expended As a result the t vr r l' l R. R 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 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 other- otherwise otherwise wise wise be available according to Dr Albrecht Studies of the nitrate sup sup- supply supply ply in soil planted to corn forcefully support this finding Tests were made on three adjoin adjoin- adjoining adjoining 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 per percent percent cent greater than in 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 levels of ni- ni nitrate nitrate are responsible for his im- im improved 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 ou out the underlying scientific channels through which the effects of plowing are transmitted to the crop does 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 implement merely because they cannot call to toN N k v x r Kt DR WILLIAM L A. A T their aid scientific evidence when someone concludes for them that the plow is the cause of increased ero- ero erosion erosion sion and other devastation that is isso isso so easily associated with it Villains of Erosion To Mr Faulkner's charge that plowing is solely responsible for ero ero- erosion sion Dr Albrecht counters with the assertion that the real villains are continuous cropping and the steady removal of plant food elements year I after year without any effort to re- re replenish replenish the soils soil's resources of nitrogen nitro nitro- nitrogen gen phosphorus and potash It is true that plowing and crop crop- cropping cropping ping a soil year after year bring with them declining crop yields he says For these one might readily pounce upon the plow as the culprit in the case But the fact is that declining crop yields have other pauses auses than merely the plowing op- op They cannot be explained away by the simple belief that the explosive separ separation tion of the soil mass wrecks all capillary connections temporarily and that the organic matter sandwiched in further ex- ex tends the period of sterility of the soil due to dryness Crops are not declining or failing because plowing is drying out the soil The forces that turn plowed land into bare eroded fields are not the moldboard mold plow and the horses or I tractor that pull it They are the continued removal of soil fertility I 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 I 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 rate and over more acres than before the plow was given him The plow has helped him feed many of ofus ofus us too far removed from the land to its appreciate In urging that the plow be junked as an agricultural implement Mr Faulkner's book advocated the use of the disc harrow as a means of producing more and better crops because it would incorporate crop residues green manures and organ organ- organic ic matter into the top soil To this suggestion Dr Albrecht had the fol- fol following following lowing to say The author of 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 disk har- har harrow harrow row which carries out a similar process differing only in degree I To Mr Faulkner's contention that crop residues or organic matter from plants allowed to grow of their o own accord should be incorporated into the top soil without the addition of manure lime or other fertilizers Dr Albrecht replies Such a proposal does not take into account differences in vegetation tion in type or quality Weeds or forest trees as ancient as the se- se sequoias sequoias are taken on a par in the Folly thesis with leg leg- legumes 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 fertility and the difficulty involved in maintain maintain- maintaining n- n ning ing life Mr Faulkner's belief that the prevalence of wild life on the west west- western western 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 un- un unplowed unplowed plowed wooded areas of New Eng Eng- England England land which our Puritan ancestors first settled supported only a few wild turkeys and squirrels In further refutation of the con con- contention contention in Folly that principles which are valid in the forest are valid in the field Dr Albrecht asserts In view of the fact 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 en- en entire entire tire subject Dr Albrecht con eludes The indictment of the plow by the book Folly will not stand against the facts of science ence nor the judgment of experienced farmers This publication will fall far short of helping us to realize that the Garden of Eden almost literally lies under our feet almos' almos anywhere on earth we care to step provided we allow vegetation tc grow and we ve cling to the disk harrow harro as a means of turning it under rath rather er than to the moldboard mold plow |