The midland journal., August 07, 1885, Image 1

About The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947

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||he|l piMAND] j|o IT FINAL. [
E. E. Ewing, Proprietor; [Entered at the Post Office in Rising Sun, Md., as Second-Class Matter.] One Dollar per Annum in Advance.
VOL. VII. RISING SUN, CECIL COUNTY, MD., FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 1885. NO. 43.
Fall Plowing.
Profit Resulting From a Prop
er Cultivation of the Soil.
4 v
>. ■ ■ ..
By HENRY STEWART.
From The Frm and Fireside, March 1.1884.
Plowing is the most Important work
of the farm, because the successful
growth and yield of the crops sown
depend upon the manner in which
the work is performed. Itjs a great
help when one knows why a certain
work or operation should be done,
and for what purpose it is performed.
A farmer is then able to choose the
method or manner of doing the work
so that it may serve the required pur
pose in the best .manner. Now, we
plow soil simply to make a proper
bed for the seed, and the better we do
this, the better the seed will gerrai
nate; the better the plants will grow;
the better they will be able to pass
through the rigors of the winter, and
the better will be the harvsst. Then,
it is of great interest to know pre
cisely what the seed requires for its
complete germination; for the spread
of its roots in the soil; for its strong
est attachment to the soil, and for its
most abundant nutriment. When the
seed falls into good and well prepar
ed soil—that is. one thoroughly
broken up into fine particles—and is
closely packed, it immediately ab
sorbs moisture, swells and puts forth
a root and then a spire.
The root puts forth off-shoots in
' fevery direction; and these work their
way among the fine particles of the
soil, and imbibe moisture from them
which supplies food to the young
plant. The green spire appears above
the surface and is supported by the
roots. It must be evident that the
growth of the spire or young plant
depends upon the.growth and vigor
: of the roots. The more roots ttie
stronger they are, the more food they
gather irom the soil and convey to
the plant above the surface. But
into the plant except through the
roots, and nothing enters into Ihe roots
except with ihe moisture which they
imbibe or suck up from ihe soil.
This is the great point upon which
all we have to say here depends.
young plant has put forth
P|rcst roots and sent its spire above
surface, a new set of roots are
put forth, several inches down in the
soil, and there they spread far and
wide; the farther and wider as the
IWSner and more compact and moister.
(All this is shown in Figure 1)
Then it is necessary, first, for the
germination of the plqnt; second, for
the safe and vigorous growth of the
roots; and third, for the proper feed
ing of the plant, that the soil should
he nmde fine and compact. Now let
us see how this necessary condition
of the soil may be produced. The
fanner plows his soil and lays over
the furrows. If the plowiog is well
done, the soil is cut into slices which
are laid on edge at varying angles.
(Usually they appear as shown in
If the soil is stiff these slices re
tain much the shape of a brick, if we
could see them cut across as they
arc laid over. If the soil is lighter
it is more or less broken into frag
ments, but still there are hollows and
vacant places at the bottoms of the
furrows, in the very best plowing,
and in the general run of plowing
these openings are in numerous
places fr< in the surface to the bottom
of the furrow. The farmer cannot
sow his seed successfully upon land
like that. He therefore harrows it.
The harrow levels the surface; the
teeth iiit a clod and the harrow
jumps over it, or it is pulled to the
surface The harrowing does not
please the farmer, but he says to him
self, 4 *l will fix that all right with the
roller, by and by.” Then he sows
his seed and harrows it in, or drillit;
it is all the same. The harrow teeth
disturb the soil and the seed falls
down into the open spaces at the bot
tom, and is covered withfthe soil that
settles over it. Then the roller is
drown over the field, and smooths
and levels—the surface let us re
member— but not the soil. For
awhile the surface was made hard and
smooth, the soil below is not affected
in tiie least, or very little, and the
openings and vacigrt spaces sti 11. re
main. And thousands of seeds lie
1 ■ j
in these spaces without any r fine sbM f
in contact with them and are there
fore entirely unable to sprout; pr if
they do send out a rootlet, it wanders
here and there for a little time and
then dries up because it is exposed
to the air and it perishes, and with
it perishes the weak spire which may
have appeared above the surface, all
yellow and sickly looking, living
only upon the substance of the grain;
and when this is used up it also dies,
because the roots are unable to get
any food irom the dry clods and frag
ments in which it lies loosely. (This
is shown in Figure 3 )
I
, * i
a/
And this is the unsuspected and un
known secret of the failure of thou
sands of fields of fall-sown grain, the
cause of which is attributed to the
weather, to insects, to poverty of the
soil, and to other unreal and imagin
ary conditions, instead of to the im
perfect preparation of the soil.
Then how should the soil be prop
erly prepared for the fall crops ?
This is a yery important question.
First, it may be replied, it should be
thoroughly well plowed, so that every
portion of the ground is turned over
i evenly, regularly and completely.
Then it should be thoroughly well
pulverized and settled and made
compact. And this cannot be done
with any of the common tdbth har-
rows. Only one implement of this
kind (but one which also levels the
surface, breaks the clods, settles |)ie
soil and makes it compact at one
operation) can properly serve the pur
pose.
This is the “Acme” Pulverizing
Harrow, Clod Crusher and Leveler,
and which does the work for which
■it is designed in the most thorough
and effective manner. Its leveling
bar, furnished with cutters, crushes
the clods, levels the surface and cuts
up the soil. The hind bar, famish
ed with scrapers and curved steel
knives, works completely into the
soil as deep as the plow has broken
it, and these cut the furrow-slices and
pulverize them, and turn the fine soil
over as so many plows, the cutting
plates being curved in the manner
of the mold-board of a plow for this
very purpose. The effect is to make
a compact bed of mellow, fine soil
down to the subsoil, in which the
seed finds Ihe most appropriate bed
for its germination and the spread
ing of its roots. Moreover, as a
plant, like au animal, can digest its
food the better as it is brought into
a finer condition, so that the soil thus
prepared offers to the roots an .infi
nitely greater feeding surface, and
so encourages the formation of a
mass of fine feeding roots, which
supply the plants abundantly with
the food they require.
But it is not every farmer who
uses the plow to put in his fall crops.
A corn stubble which has been well
cultivated does uot require plowing
if it can broken up and mellowed
leveled ready for the seed. And this,
which is done sometimes imperfectly
by the common iiarrow, may be per
fectly done by the ‘, A.cme” Pulveriz-
Clod Crushes rind Lev
eler which combines the plow’—or
rather a series of gang plows, with
the most effective iiarrow in one im
plement. The writer has thus pre
pared a corn stubble for fall rye with
better results as to yield of crop than
an adjoining field that was plowed;
for the soil being cupmact. was not
affected by the frost and not a plant
was thrown out or heaved by the
winter. And just here attention
might be directed to this point.
Winterkilling is universally disas
trous to fall crops; But if a farmer
will observe the cauSe and effects of
this lie will find it will be due to the
lifting and bursting of the sail by the
freezing of the water in it. And this
occurs where the ground is loose and
puffy and gives opportunity for the
water to collect in small quantities
here and there. It is a very common
experience that the headlands of a
field, or the angles of fields which
have been plowed around, always
yield better grain and suffer less in
jury than the other portions. This
is because of the treading of the
ground which makes the soil com
pact. And it is indispensible that
the soil all over the field should bo
brought into this condition. And it
is very certain that the plow and the -
harrow and the roller will not do i., '
or that these have not done it and cl.. ]
not effect it. But it is quite certain. t
if many years practice and experience '
of thousands of farmers, and the t
scientific principles of mechanics, i
which are abundautly corroborated
by these experiences, are to be relied
upon, tha this comi act yet mellcw
and fine pulverulent condition is pro
duced upon all kinds of soils by the
“Acme” Pulverizing Harrow, Clod
Crusher and Leveler.
One word might be added in re
gard to the profit resulting from a
proper preparation of the soil. And
as one example'will go farther than
a grea. many precepts, the case of a
farmer in Shawnee County, Kansas
may be mentioned/ He took espec
ial pains to make the s< il compact and
fine over his wheat sown October.
1882. At the harvest in July, 1883.
he threshed out fifty-six bushels and
thirty pounds per acre of wheat,
weighing sixty-one pounds per bush
el, And no doubt the majority of
farms in the United Slates are fertile
enough to produce as much as this,
if the crops were nt damaged
through the poor mechanical prepara
tions of the ground, against which
manure or natural fertility cannot
prevail. The average yield of wheat
is fifteen bushels to the acre. No
doubt with perfectly prepared soi,l
this j’ield would be double. What
then is the actual value to the farmer
of an implement that is perfectly
adapted to this requisite preparation
of the soil, such as the ‘‘Acme” Pul
verizing Harrow, Clod Crusher and
Leveler has proved itself to be beyond
all question or doubt ?
> ,
A TERRIBLE STORM.
The cenlral pat of this county was swept
by a cyclone on Monday last, which did an
immense amount of damage. A genuine
cyclone of the western stripe, such as the
ocople of Kansas, Nebraska and oilier dwel
lers on the plains west of the Misouri river
are too familiar with, hut which the deni
zens of this part of the country seldom wit
ness. •
The rain commenced in the morning and
was a succession of thunder gusts
Sometime between twelve and one o’clock
a genuine cyclone showed itself in Elk
Neck. The track of the cyclone was about
a hundred yards wide. It traveled in zig
zag course, its general direction being some
what wes of north. AtWilna, where the rew
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad crosses the
valley of the Little Elk creek, the storm
seems to haveheen of unusual violence. Wil
nabe’ongsto Dari. Harvey, formerly of Bal
timore: The old Wilna mansion, now oc.
cupied by his son Daniel, is a substantia!
stone structure, surrounded by what was un
til the hour of the storm a beautiful grove
of old forest trees, not one of which is now
standing. At the foot of the eminence on
which the mansion house stood was the
grist mill. Arthur Harvey and the miller
heard the storm coming, and took refuge
in the lower story of the null just in time to
escape being blown into eternity, Ur
when the force of the storm abated
a few minutes afterwards all the upper
stories oftiie mill, which were of frames, were
found to have disappeaaed, as had also the
barn, a frame structure, which stood no*
very far from the mill. Some of the build
logon the farm of Dr. Justus Dunot, close by
Wilna were unroofed. A traiu of six pr
seevn cars on the new Baltimore rnd Ohio
Railroad, near Wilna, was blown along the
track for. abont three- Jityadred.
withstanding the brakes wye screwed Hown
-s hard as possible. The hands on the cars
jumped off and grasped the rails on the
track to keep from being blown away.
At Marley, just above Wilna, the Ledger
paper mill of G. W. Childs was unroofed ■
and the smokestack blown down. Three i
men working in the ipJll were injured by i
the falling debris. The baraon the Spenje f
property, northeast of Marley, was blown (
down. The cyclone passed near Andora,
on the road leading from this place to Fair
Hill, and completely demolished the orch
ard of Daniel Arbuckle" The roads for as
much ns half a mile in some places were lit
erally covered over with fallen trees. The
growing corn is terribly injured, and in some
eases the oats which were in the shock have
been entirely blown away and destroyed.
The storm was the most terrific ever exper.
■enced in this part of the country.. It was
accompanied by a roaring or humming
sound, which added much to the terror of
those who heard it. and lasted for two or
three minutes.
The damage to George W. Child’s Marley
paper mills by tl>e cyclone is estimated at
from $2,01)0 to $3,1)00. The loss of Daniel
Harvey, wlu.se barn was demolished and
grist mill partly destroyed, is between $6,-
000 and SB,OOO ’ *
The roads are badly washed in many
places, and the high wind which accompan
ied the rain has prostrated many fields of
corn. Tlte barn of Peter Gillespie, in Band
box Hollow, about five miles from Port
Deposit, was blown from its foundation and
partly destroyed.
HAKFOKD COUNTY-STORM —ONE HUNDRED
THOUSAND DOLLARS DAMAGE.
The most destructive flood ever known ip
Harford county occured on Monday morn*
iug. Nearly every bridge and mill-dam OB
Deer creek, Winter's run and Little creek
were swept away, hund.-eds of acres of corn
were damaged, fences were destroyed and
roads made impassible. The most serious
loss was the destruction of Han.way’s wool
en factory on Winter’s run, six miles from
Belair.
Samuel Harman’s blacksmith shop and its ,
contents were swept oil’. Deer creek rose V
above the highest water mark, the flood
carrying away nearly every bridge from the
Harford county line to the Susquehanna
liver.
The stable at Preston’s mill was curried
ofTalld tlie mill and dam injured.
Ev’ery bridgo of Little creek is gone and
the lands along the stream were flooded.
The injmy to the roads by the rain of
Sunday night was chiefly confined to the
upper part of the county, but on Monday
afternoon a thunder-storm of almost unpre
cedented severity passed over the centre of
the county, tearing the roads to pieces.
The damage to public and private property
will amount to at leat SIOO,OOO.
De&r Town Lots.
Every little town is afflicted and re
tarded in.its prosperity and growth by
the speculative value which theavarice
of its real estate holding citilens place
upon the lots. A writer in .the Whig
last week commenting on this evtl,
suggests that those speculative v&lues
be made the basis of taxation. If John
Smith's Jot on the corner sells forasl,- /
000, as toon as the money is paid over
the assessor taxes it for the full amount.
Why should the ass . ssor the day
have valued the lot at S2OO, when Smith*
all the time had been rating its cask
value at $1000? The law says, asseef
property at its actual cash value. If
the selling or cash price is fixed by the
owner, and is accepted Ly the assessor,
there should be no room for complaint.
This rule, if adopted would lessen the
tax burthens of productive industry,
aud increase the revenues from proper,
ty that inddsiry is steadily improving
with no compensation from, or expense
to, the owners.
Why do Doctors Prescribe Liquors?
Because they do not know what else
to do or because sometimes a little liq
uor serves to kiudlo the exhausted fires
fdigertion. But this liquor prescription
is a bad business for the patients, for it
makes drunkards out of a large majority
of them. Brown’s Iron Bitters does
not kindle a te&pbrary fire. It nourish
es, enriches, strengthens, purifies. It
dVives out debility and dyspepsia, and
sets* the invigorated system atjjwjk,
oa a basis of health-