VOL. XXIX.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND.  JUNE 16, 1894.
NO. 24.
MANAGEMENT OF CLAY SOILS.
[The numbers of the essays published
refer to the order of publication, and not
to the awards.]
PRIZE ESSAY  NO. 16.
The first step should be tile drainage if
possible, as tbat will do about one-half the
work of pulverizing by taking out the surplus water and allowing its space to be occupied by the air, which is a good pulverizer. Whether the land is tiled or not the
following plan will, I think, best accomplish the desired results. The land should
be seeded to clover, or blue grass, getting
just as thick a sod as possible. Clover sod
has the following advantages: (1.) It
sends Its roots very deep into the soil,
thereby getting some fertility from the
lower strata, (2 ) When the roots decay
they leave numerous openings which will
assist in carrying off the water from the
upper layers of the soil. (3) When these
openings are free from water they fill with
air, which, as before stated, is a good pulverizing agent. (4 ) If plowed under
green without cutting it furnishes an immense amount of vegetable matter, which
holds the soil up, permitting both drainage and circulation of air, or if the early
crop is cut for hay the stubble will, to a
limited extent, accomplish the same results. (5 ) A sod to turn under can be
had sooner from clover than from any
other grass.
Blue grass has advantages as follows:
It forms a thicker top and root growth
than any other grass; this thick root
growth, filling as it does every portion of
ground, wedges apart or separates the particles of earth much more completely than
those plants having larger but fewer roots
The decay of these leaves leave the ground
in a very porus condition. Timothy does
not make a good sod to turn under, on ac
count of forming in stools and not rooting
deeply. After the crop of hay is cut there
is very little left to turn under.
In addition to turning under a good sod
there should be applied manure, ashes,
either coal or wood, leached or unleached,
and lime or plastering. If coarse manure
is used it is best plowed in, but fine manure and ail of the other things mentioned
should be harrowed in after plowing. Of
course we realize that on very large areas
a man cannot make very much headway
covering the land with manure, etc., but
these can be put upon those portions that
are most difficult to pulverize. About the
best thing to loosen up a soggy swale, or a
sticky knoll, is old plastering.
The greatest step following what hat
been mentioned is: Do not plow when th6
ground is too I wet. If you do, what hae
gone before and what follows will be about
useless, because from mud to clod is a
very short step, and a clod made from mud
is more quickly made than unmade. But
ground plowed in just the right condition,
and not allowed to lay to the sun but a
few hours before being worked, can generally, by use of drag or roller and our
improved harrows, be reduced to fair and
often fine condition. The time from sod
to sod should be as short as possible, but
when it is impossible to re-seed to grass at
once, and is necessary to plow it as fallen,
it should be harrowed before plowing. If
harrowc d with a disc or spading harrow,
to a depth three or four inches, it will not
only reduce the work after plowing but
also pulverize that portion of the soil that
cannot be reached after plowing. This
lower layer of fine earth makes a splendid
reservoir for moisture during the summer
drouth, and in winter the soil being thus
prepared is of uniform solidity and does
not rise*and fall with the alternate freez
ing and thawing, as does cloddy ground.
The cultivation during the summer, when
such  crops  as  corn,  potatoes,  etc,  are
grown,  should level, frequent and thorough.
PBIZE ESSAY NO. 17.
In the cultivation of the common upland clay soil of Indiana two objects should
be kept in view. 1st. The growing of
profitable crops each year and 2d to retain
the original fertility without any foreign
aid. What is meant by "foreign aid" is
that the farm shall not be kept up at the
expense of some other business or profession. The farm shall not only be self supporting but must support its owner and
family, and will if rightly managed.
Profitable crops can not be grown every
year on the same land without rotation of
crops and a return to the soil, in some
form or other of plant food, to compensate
for what is taken off. Just how this can
best and most economically be accomplished is the question that every farmer
should try to solve.
We shall first speak of rotation. The
most common crops grown in this (Sullivan) county are corn, wheat, rye, oats,
clover and timothy. Lind should not be
required to produce the same crop more
than once in four years.
A four year's rotation that I have followed for the past 12 years with slight
variation and with reasonable success is as
follows:
The farm was first fenced off Into four
fields of equal size, not including rreadow
and permanent pasture; and for conven
ience we shall number them 1, 2, 3 and 4.
Field No. 1 was planted in corn the first
year. In the fall one-half was sown in
rye and in the spring the remainder was
sown in oats, and the whole field in clover,
and field No. 2 was planted in corn.
After the clover has a good start, so that
there would be no danger of injuring the
young plants by tramping, a temporary
fence is put across the field and either the
rye or oats "pastured down." A good
plan when fencing off for pasture is to
leave a strip of the crop that you intend to
pasture in with the same field that you intend to harvest, so you will have seed for
the next season without buying. After
the crop is harvested the whole field may
be pastured lightly in favorable weather,
till the next spring, when the part that
was pastured down is saved for hay and
seed and the part that was harvested the
year before is pastured; so that in the two
years one crop has been taken off the
whole field and one crop pastured down
on the whole field, thus equalizing as
much as possible, and at the same time
getting clover hay, clover seed and clover
pasture out of the one crop of two years.
In the fall the temporary fence is taken
from the field No. 1 and taken to field No.
2, which is now in rye and oats and the
whole of field No. 1 is sowed in wheat.
The next spring after the wheat is harvested the field is ready for corn again.
By observing this rotation, corn, rye, oats,
clover hay, clover seed, timothy hay and
wheat can be grown on the farm every
year, each field being treated as field No. 1
just described. In discussing the management of the soil, the question of stock and
stock feeding naturally arises. The
amount of stock kept should be in proportion to the size of the farm. Enough
should be kept however to consume all
the corn, corn fodder, rye; oats (except
what is needed for seed and hay), the
source of revenue being wheat, clover seed
stock, wool, poultry, butter and eggs.
Stock feeding should be done as much
as possible out doors in the fields and pas
tures. It should be done theie at all times
when the weather is not injurious to the
stock, and the stock is not injurious to the
soil. Stock fed in the pastures are lees
liable to disease thau if kept in close
quarters, also the manure is right where
it is  wanted.     All the  manure  that  is
hauled out should be put on the field intended for corn, aud spread as it is hauled.
In farming, as |in politics, we want a
great deal of protection. The soil must be
protected: 1st. From a surplus of water by
drainage. 2d. By keeping stock off when
the ground is soft. 3d, By not pasturing
the grass too closely. 4th. By keeping the
land occupied as much as possible by some
growing crop, or by keeping it well
covered with a heavy stubble or a heavy
coat of corn stalks. Land should never
be exposed to the heat of summer, or the
cold of winter. 5th. By watching closely
for places liable to wash and keeping them
well manured, or if liable to wash and
form gullies, by keeping them filled with
weeds, sprouts, briers or any old rubbish
that would otherwise be a nuisance on the
farm.
PRIZE ESSAY NO. 18.
I see that you are offering a number of
prizes for the best paper on management
of clay soils and fertilizers. This is a lesson we readers should remember. As
I am aware, the columns of the Farmer
are always ready for papers that will advance the farmers' interest.
The old clay farm is what you make it.
You can have a paradise or the reverse.
The first and most essential thing is good
drainage; can't have too much, and the
deeper the better. Never stir or allow to
be tramped by stock when wet. As a rotation of crops will commence with a
clover field that yielded three tons of hay
and four bushels of seed per acre, and is
now broken for corn, and will be sown to
wheat this fall, as it pays at 50 cents; then
we go back to clover. In case we fail with
clover, as we did last year, we make our
own fertilizer, and have always got it
coming. We coat that all over before the
plows. The most profitable fertilizer is
rye. If sown early in fall it makes winter
and early spring pasture; then turn under
for corn. It can't be beat. Always save a
field for rye. There is no better clay soil
fertilizer. Make all the manure you can
and take care of it; protect from the rain
until spring if you can't plow under in
winter. Never burn straw; pass it
through the barn or feed lot. You don't
need factory fertilizers.
Never break the ground less than !)
inches deep, and break the corn ground in
fall or winter if possible.
Prepare the ground well before planting
then plant your corn with a drill and cultivate the corn j ast a few days before it
needs it always. This same rule will work
with anything on a clay farm, unless it
would be a green persimmon.
The clay soil Is as good as we have for
fruits, of all kinds that are adapted to this
clime when the same are well cultivated.
Keep a variety of stock and nothing but
the best strains. Always have something
to sell next month. Don't go hungry, or
allow your stock to.
If you are a farmer stay with it, as it is
the most independent business on earth.
Although a great many farmers want a
change.
PRIZE ESSAY NO. 19.
There appears in your issue of Jan. 13,
under the caption "Prizes for Articles," a
desire on the part of the editor to have its
patrons, especially the faimers, to discuss
1. "The best way to pulverize and cultivate our clay soils. 2. Manures and com
mercial fertilizers."
Now, having been a "clod hopper" for
lo! these many years, and having traveled
up and down through a vast deal of the
world, at home and afar, I have concluded
to contribute my experiences and observations on the subjects. The topography of
this county, Jeffeison, is quite varied; we
have here, perhaps, as great a variety of
clay as can be found in any other county
in the State.   We have first the ashy-gray
on the "flats," the yellow and the red on
the hill tops and slopes, also the blue clay
which usually lies so deep beneath the
surface that the farmers and horticulturists
rarely, if ever, come in contact with it.
Here, too, are found the Niagara and Clinton formations, and the less hard limestone and shale rocks. These all aid in
giving character to the soil and clay.
What Is clay? It is as we see, a glutinous earth, a compound composed of silica
alumine, sometimes mixed with lime,
magnesia, soda or potash, and metallic oxides. These elements not only form clay,
but they aid in imparting hue, or color, to
the clay. These elements, or clay, are the
material, of which bricks, tiles, pottery
and many useful implements and vessels
are made. Clay being composed, then, as
we see, of the various salts, oxides and
acids, becomes one of the difficult earths
or soils with which the farmer has to contend. Notwithstanding it is hard to handle, a limestone clay, when suitably impregnated with saltpetre, potash and iron,
constitutes the best soil for all purposes extant.   It not only produces the best fruits
I do not mean that it produces the largest
and greatest quantity, but the finest flavored  and  most  agreeable  to the taste.
The peach and the pear are naturally
adapted to the limestone clay soils. The
clays also afford the sweetest pasturage
and produce the best hay.
The question looms up as to how the
farmer may the most effectually and easily
pulverize and cultivate this clay land.
The shortest distance between two points
is a strait line, and the quickest way to
perform a duty Is the shortest. As the
?ray coated philosopher, better, perhaps,
known as Horace Greeley, said, "The
quickest way to resume is to resume."
This scribe has seen and handled much
clay. The most rapid and effectual method
of pulverizing clay of which I know is to
throw on to it a sufficient quantity of
water, and it does not require very much,
either.
The next best mode in my judgment is
to plow the land late in the fall or in
winter, and let freezing and thawing do
the mellowing, which it will do quite
thoroughly during the winter. Not only
will this late fall or winter plowing render
the ground mellow, but it will destroy
many destructive parasites and many
annoying insects, which is a matter of
much consideration to the farmer and the
gardner. But it often occurs from one
cause or another that we are unable to
plow all or any of our ground in the season to have it benefited by freezing and
thawing, but are obliged to wait until the
ground is sufficiently dry in the spring,
when the clay is very liable to turn up
hard and lumpy. Now that it is not practicable for us to make it mellow by the ap- •
plication of water we must resort to other
means, hence the roller, harrow and the
drag come into requisition. First, then
comes the spiked roller, which is but the
usual or common roller, having iron
spikes about four inches long, firmly fixed
in and arranged as in the cylinder of the
threshing machine. This roller should be
used when the ground is sufficiently dry
not to adhere to it. It will be readily seen
that by the use of such a roller the clods
instead of being pushed into the ground
as many of them are by the ordinary
roller, will be cut to pices by the spiked
roller. After going over the ground once
(you may go oftener if you please) with
the roller, then take a good harrow, having
long sharp iron teeth or pins, and harrow
at least once over. Lastly go over the
ground with a drag, which for the benefit
of those who have none, I will describe as
follows: Take two scantlings 2x4 inches
about 5 feet long, lay them down flatwise
about 3  feet  apart,   then   take  2   inch
Continued on page a.