The nature and management of soils must be measurably understood by any
one who would be a thorough cultivator. The productive power of a soil
depends much upon the character of the subsoil. A gravelly subsoil is,
on the whole, the best. A thin soil lying on a cold clay subsoil--the
hardpan of the East, and the crowfish clay of the West--however rich it
may be, will be unproductive; while the same soil, on a gravelly
subsoil, would produce abundantly. The best soils, for all purposes, are
the brown or hazel-colored. Plowed in wet weather, they do not make
mortar, and in dry weather they will not break in clods. Dark-mixed and
russet moulds are considered the next best. The worst are the dark-gray
or ash-colored. The deep-black alluvial soils of the Western prairies
are an exception to all other soils, possessing, under proper treatment,
great powers of production. Soils do not, to any considerable extent,
afford food for plants. A willow-tree has been known to gain one hundred
and fifty pounds' weight, without exhausting more than two or three
ounces of the soil, and even that might have been wasted in drying and
weighing.
In our article on manures, we have shown that it is the texture of
soils, and their power to control moisture and heat, that renders them
productive: hence, no soil can be poor that is stirred deep and kept in
a friable condition, without being too open and porous; and no soil can
be good that is hard and not retentive of moisture, without having water
stand upon it. Hence, the great secret of successful farming, is, such a
mixture of the soils, and of fertilizers with the soil, as shall keep it
friable and moist, and such thorough drainage as will prevent water from
standing so as to become stagnant, and to unduly chill the roots of
growing plants. Nature has provided, near at hand, all that is essential
to productiveness; all that is necessary is to properly mix them. We do
not believe that there is an acre of land now under cultivation in the
United States, in a latitude where corn will grow, on which we can not
raise a hundred bushels of shelled Indian corn, without applying
anything but what may be raised out of that soil, and procured in the
shape of manure by animals in consuming that product. The poorest farm
in America may be brought up to a state of great fertility, without
applying one dollar's worth of any foreign substance. Plow _deep_, turn
under all the green substances possible, and feed out the products on
the farm and apply the manure, and mix opposite soils, that may be found
in different localities. Three years will secure great productiveness,
and the same course will increase its value, from year to year, without
cost. Three things only are essential to convert poor land into the
best; deep and thorough stirring and pulverization, suitable draining,
and thorough mixture of soils of different qualities, and the
incorporation of such animal and vegetable substances as can be produced
on the land itself. We would not declare against foreign manures, but
insist that the necessary ingredients are found, or may be manufactured
near at hand. The philosophy of deep plowing and thorough pulverization
is obvious. A fine soil will retain and appropriate moisture in an
eminent degree, on the principle of capillary attraction, or as a sponge
or a piece of loaf sugar will take up water. There is also room for
excess of water to sink away from the surface, and return again when
needed. It also affords room for the roots of plants. Such a soil also
receives moisture from the atmosphere. The atmosphere also contains much
water, and more in the heat of summer than at any other time. The air
also, with a constant pressure of fifteen pounds to the square inch,
enters to a considerable depth into the soil, and the deeper it is
stirred, and the more thoroughly it is pulverized, the more it will
enter. In coming in contact with the cool moisture below, it is
condensed and waters the soil, on the principle that a pitcher of cold
water in a warm room has large drops of water on the outside; that water
is a mere condensation of moisture in the atmosphere. The cool subsoil
acts in the same way upon the atmosphere at night. A deeply
disintegrated soil, also, seldom washes by rain. Shallow-plowed and
coarse land sends off the water after a slight rain, while deep-plowed
and thoroughly pulverized land retains it. The philosophy of manures
involves the same principles. All the fertilizers act upon soils in such
a manner as to render them fine, and open an immense surface to the
action of the atmosphere, and form large reservoirs for moisture through
their innumerable fine pores. Draining is to carry off an excess of
water that would stand on an unfavorable subsoil. That water, on
undrained land, causes two evils; it stagnates and renders plants
unhealthy, and it is too cool, rendering land what we call cold. Thus,
the deeper you plow land, and the finer you make it, the warmer it will
be, and the more perfectly it will control moisture. Mixing soils by
subsoiling, trenching, and deep plowing, and by carting on foreign
substances, is wholly on this principle. Sand that drifts about with the
wind is too light to retain moisture, and needs clay carted on. By this
means the poorest white sand has often been converted into the most
productive soil. Definite rules for this mixture of soils can not be
safely given. The rules must differ in different localities and
circumstances; it must, therefore, be determined by experiment.
Analyzing soils is sometimes of use, but usually has too much importance
attached. We do not advise farmers to study it. Let them try
applications and mixtures, at first on a small scale: they will soon
learn what is best on their farms, and may then proceed without loss.
Some lands are of such a character that the carting on, and suitably
mixing, the substances in which they are deficient, may cost as much as
it did to clear the land of its original forest; but it will pay well
for a long series of years. So well are we persuaded of the utility and
correctness of these brief hints, that, in selecting a farm, we should
regard the location more than the quality of the soil. The latter we
could mend easily; while we should find it difficult to move our farm to
a more favorable location. Poor land near a city or large town, or on
some great thoroughfare, we should much prefer to good land far removed
from market, or in an unpleasant location.