Tillage

Read about Tillage in the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture

Tillage. The working or stirring of the land, with the purpose to improve it for agricultural purposes, is known by the general name of tillage. There is a tendency to use the word cultivation for these operations. Tillage is a specific technical term, and is to be preferred. In the eager discussions of scientific matters, as applied to agriculture in recent years, there is danger of forgetting that the fundamental practice in all kinds of farming, after all, is the tillage of the land. The knowledge of the importance of tillage has developed late in the world's history. In fact, it was only within the latter part of the last century that the real reasons for tilling came to be popularly understood in this country. Even now there are many persons who think that the object of tillage is to kill weeds. The modern conceptions of tillage probably date largely from Jethro Tull's book on Horse-Hoeing Husbandry," which reached the second and full edition in 1733, in England. This book awakened so much discussion that the system of "horse-hoe husbandry" recommended by it was called the "new husbandry." There had been tillage of land before Tull's time, but his writing seems to have been the first technical effort to show that tillage is necessary to make the soil productive rather than to kill weeds or to open the ground to receive the seeds. He contrived various tools whereby grain crops could be sown in rows and afterward tilled. The tillage of the land in early times was confined very largely to that which preceded the planting of the crop. In the vineyards of southern Europe, however, Tull observed that tillage was employed between the vines during the season of growth. Such vineyards prospered. He made experiments and observations on his return to England and came to the conclusion that tillage is of itself a very important means of making plants thrifty and productive wholly aside from its office of killing weeds. He supposed that tillage benefits plants by making the soil so fine that the minute particles can then be taken in by the roots. On the same hypothesis he explained the good effects of burning or "devonshiring" land, and also the benefits that followed the application of ashes: the minute particles of the ashes are so small as to be absorbed by roots. Although this explanation of the benefits of tillage was erroneous, nevertheless Tull showed that tillage is necessary to the best agriculture and that it is not merely a means by which seeds can be put into the land, weeds killed, and the crop taken out. Tillage improves land in many ways. It divides and pulverizes the soil, gives the roots a wider "pasturage," as Tull puts it, increases the depth of the soil, aerates it, and improves its physical condition with respect to warmth and dryness. Tillage also saves moisture by deepening the arable soil so that moisture is held, and also by checking evaporation from the surface by means of a thin blanket or mulch of granulated earth that is made by surface-working tools. Water is lost from the soil by under-drainage and by evaporation from the surface. The more finely the soil is granulated, within certain limits, the more water it will hold. Its capillary power is increased. As the water evaporates from the surface, the moisture is drawn up from the under surface so that there is a more or less constant flow into the atmosphere. If any foreign body, as a board or a blanket, is spread on the land, the evaporation is checked. A similar result may follow when the soil is covered with a layer of dry ashes or sand or sawdust. Very similar results are also secured when the surface is made fine and loose by means of frequent shallow tillage. The capillary connection between the surface soil and the under soil is thereby broken. This surface soil itself may be very dry, but it may serve as a blanket or mulch to the soil beneath. In some cases this conservation of moisture by frequent shallow tillage is probably the chief advantage of the tillage of the land in the growing season. Land that is well tilled has different chemical relations from that which is neglected. Nitrification, decomposition, and other bacterial activities are hastened. The stores of plant-food are rendered available. The soil is made more productive. The first requisite for the growing of the plant is to have the soil in such condition that the plant can thrive in it. It is only when the land is well tilled and prepared, or when its physical condition is nearly or quite perfect, that the addition of concentrated fertilizers may be expected to produce the best results. Fertilizing, therefore, is a secondary matter; tillage is primary. The ideal tillage is that which is practised by the gardener when he grows plants in pots. The soil is ordinarily sifted or riddled so that unnecessary parts are removed, and most of it is brought into such condition that the plants can utilize it. The gardener adds leaf-mold or sand or other material, until the soil is brought into the proper physical condition. He also provides drainage in the bottom of his pots or boxes. Often the gardener will produce as much from a handful of soil as a farmer will produce from a bushel. CH The above text is from the Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture. It may be out of date, but still contains valuable and interesting information which can be incorporated into the remainder of the article. Click on "Collapse" in the header to hide this text.

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References

• Standard Cyclopedia of Horticulture, by L. H. Bailey, MacMillan Co., 1963

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