192 



of which may be depended on. His sam])les were taken from a high point on 

 the prairies: 



Soil 4 inches below surface. Sub-soil 10 inches below surface. 



Water of absorption 1 1.0 10.5 



Decayed vegetable matter (humus) . . 12.5 6.5 



Soluble Salts, mostly lime 3.5 6.0 



Clay (aluminum). 25.0 28.0 



Silicious saud 48.0 49.0 



100 - 100 



SuBSoiLiNG REQUISITE. — From this analysis, it will very readily be seen that 

 our suiface soil is, as a general thing, too " fat" for a wheat crop ; and that the 

 subsoil of itself is better adapted to the production of that grain. Hence the 

 utility of subsoiling our prairie land, is most manifest. 



Geology oV Racine County. — In Dr. Hoy's note communicating the analysis 

 given above, he thus notices the geological characteristics of this county : " Racine 

 County is underlaid by the ' mountain lime-stone formation,' which comes to the 

 surface at several points, affording a superior quality of lime, as well as stone for 

 ordinary building purposes." He remarks, in continuation, " that the surface-soil 

 of the upland pi-airie is of a dark color, containing an excess of organic matter. 

 Lime is found in but small quantities near the surface, but as you descend it 

 increases, which, when mixed by subsoiling with the abundance of decayed vege- 

 table matter of the surface, will foi-m a superior wheat loam. The want of suc- 

 cess in groAving winter wheat, is mainly owing to the superficial manner in 

 ■which the land is now cultivated. The wheat is sown upon the surface of the black 

 vegetable soil, and the roots penetj'ate but a few inches ; when winter comes, the 

 plants are either blown out by the roots, or the black soil absorbs so much heat 

 when the sun shines, that it is constantly subjected to freezing and thawing, and 

 its vitality is soon destroyed. Now the remedy for this is subsoiling, whereby a 

 soil is brought to the surface that has more consistence, containing more lime and 

 clay, and affording the roots of the plant a deep and permanent footing." 



This then will explain more than half the secret of short wheat crops with 

 us. Sub-soiling is undoubtedly among the most important of the remedies. A 

 ready method of doing this, is to cut a furrow seven or eight inches deep at first, 

 and then six or seven inches more at the bottom of the first furrow — thus turning 

 up the subsoil to the depth of some fourteen inches. From the report of an 

 Agricultural Society in Guernsey, England, in November last, I perceive they use 

 heavy sub-soil ploughs there drawn by eight cattle, cutting a single furrow twelve 

 inches in depth and fourteen in width. Might not the same ploughs, and same 

 number of cattle used in breaking up our prairies, be employed to do sufficiently 

 thorough work in sub-soiling here, after the fashion practised in England? 



