No. 85.J li5 



cherished — hopes early disappointed, and soon abandoned. No bene- 

 fit to any of the crops on 1 or 3 has yet been realized. 



'This shows that with a medium depth of soil already under good 

 cultivation — with a subsoil not unusually hard and stubborn — with 

 ten loads of good manure to the acre as a top dressing, and with a 

 favorable season to crown the whole, we need not look for profitable 

 results from subsoil culture, at least the first season. And yet, I con- 

 fess I shall be disappointed if the clover do not feel and show the 

 benefit of it the coming season, a fact that can be certainly and readi- 

 ly determined, for the pieces subsoiled are all accurately marked. 



None ol that portion of my farm where subsoil culture is expected 

 to be most beneficial, has been under the plow the past season — but 

 in the course of the approaching spring, it is designed to try it on a 

 more extensive scale, and on land better adapted to prove its value. 



There are three sizes of the subsoil plow. When selecting mine, 



1 judged that either of the large sizes would require more than a 

 single team to work it, but from the ease with which a single span of 

 horses draws No. 1, in all ordinary work, I am now satisfied that No. 



2 would have better answered my purposes — the greater width of its 

 work, and of course the more complete displacement of clods effected 

 by it, constituting an obvious advantage, and at very trifling cost. K 

 needed, one or more, additional team may be attached without risk, 

 the plow being designed to resist the severest strain. 



Several of my neighbors witnessed my experiments, and among 

 them were Chief Justice Savage, late President of our County Agri- 

 cultural Society, and Doctor Fitch, its indefatigable and intelligent 

 Secretary — all of whom with one accord pronounced the new plow 

 a very perfect implement, admirably fitted to deepen and to dry thin, 

 hard, and wet soils. 



My own conclusions, based on repeated trials of the plow, are — 



1st. That subsoil culture is the only practicable mode of deepen- 

 ing the soil. 



2d. The expense attending it is not materially greater than that of 

 common plowing. 



3d. It is entirely practicable to break up the most indurated sub- 

 soil, to any required depth. 



4th. The harder the material, the more perfect the breaking up, 



and the more complete the displacement of the clods. 

 [Senate, No. 85.J K 



