88 [Senate 



dian corn, ruta-bagas, and some other crops, succeed best upon them. 

 Sandy soils are very easily tilled, but are generally not strong 

 enough. When made rich, they are fine for some succulent crops. 



Peaty soils are generally light and free, containing large quantities 

 of decayed vegetable matter. They are made by draining low and 

 swampy grounds. They are fine for Indian corn, broom corn, barley, 

 potatoes, and turneps. They are great absorbers, and great radiators 

 of heat ; hence they become warm in sunshine, and cold on clear 

 nights. For this reason, they are peculiarly liable to frosts. Crops 

 planted upon them must, consequently, be put in late — after spring 

 frosts are over. Corn should be of early varieties, that it may not 

 only be planted late, but ripen early. 



Each of these kinds of soil may be variously improved. Most of 

 heavy soils are much improved by draining ; open drains to carry off 

 the surface water, and covered drains, that which settles beneath. An 

 acquaintance covered a low, wet, clayey field with a net-work of un- 

 derdrains, and from a production of almost nothing but grass, it yield- 

 ed the first year forty bushels of wheat per acre — enough to pay the 

 expense ; and admitted of much easier tillage afterwards. Heavy 

 soils are also made lighter and freer by manuring ; by plowing under 

 coatings of straw, rotten chips, and swamp muck ; and in some rare 

 cases, by carting on sand — though this is usually too expensive for 

 practice. Subsoil plowing is very beneficial, both in wet seasons and 

 in drouth ; the deep, loose bed of earth it makes, receiving the wa- 

 ter in heavy rains, and throwing it off to the soil above, when needed. 

 But a frequent repetition of the operation is needed, as the subsoil 

 gradually settles again. 



Sandy soils are improved by manuring, by the application of lime, 

 and by frequently turning in green crops. Leached ashes have been 

 found highly beneficial in many places. Where the subsoil is clayey, 

 which is often the case, and especially if marly clay — great advan- 

 tage is derived from shoveling it up and spreading it on the surface. 

 A neighbor had twenty bushels of wheat per acre on land thus treat- 

 ed, while the rest of the field yielded only five. 



Manures. — These are first among the first of requisites in success- 

 ful farm management. They are the strong moving power in agri- 

 cultural operations. They are as the great steam engine which drives 

 the vessel onward. Good and clean cultivation is, indeed, all-impor- 



