MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS. 409 



cently, so why make reservoirs to hold more moisture ? Bat there are 

 thousands of fields in the west that that succumbed to drouth this year 

 which probably would not have done so bad had they been subsoiled 

 in the fall of 1896. Many are beginning to realize this, too, although, 

 as is too commonly the case, the realization comes too late to do any 

 good except to those who can permanently store up their experience 

 for future guidance. 



Among this class of farmers it is probable that some subsoiling 

 will be done this year. The time to do it will be shortly at hand. 

 Nearly or quite all the experiments that have been made in subsoiling 

 in the West have shown that the work should be done in the fall. The 

 opportunity for accumulating moisture is better and, with our present 

 knowledge of the subject, it seems pretty certain that the land needs 

 time to settle after the work is done and before the crop is planted. 

 This makes it necessary to do in the fall such subsoiling as may be 

 done. It should be remembered, too, that not all soils are benefited 

 by subsoiling. Lands that are sandy or gravelly underneath and have 

 a tendency to leach, are probably injured rather than benefited by sub- 

 soiling. On the other hand, lands in which the subsoil is most com- 

 pact, and from which water finds a difficulty in escaping except by 

 surface drainage, are most benefited by thisjtreatment. Everyone' who 

 thinks of subsoiling should study the character of his own land and 

 try and determine whether it will in his case be beneficial. In case of 

 doubt a little subsoiling may be done in an experimental way upon a 

 small area. 



No more individually instructive experiment could be made by the 

 farmer than to subsoil a strip in a field this fall and then watch the re- 

 sult next season to see how the yield compares with that of the re- 

 mainder of the field on which no subsoiling has been done. We are 

 not prepared, and we do not think anybody in the West is prepared, 

 to say with any degree of positiveness under just what circumstances 

 subsoiling is profitable and when it is not. That is a question that can 

 only be determined after the collection of a good deal more experience 

 than has yet been recorded. We think, however, that the treatment 

 is one that will be profitable on many soils, and we would be glad to 

 have any of our readers who have tried it, or think of trying this fall, 

 give their experience with it as soon as they attain results from which 

 deductions can be made — Live Stock Indicator. 



