Decpcniii(j the Staple Soil. 551 



shorter. On the unsuhsoiled part thecn^p was the most even and 

 had the brightest colour ; the subsoiled part was weak in plant 

 all winter and sprin^-, and although it recovered wonderfully, and 

 looked a fine crop at liarvest, the straw was not so bright nor the 

 grain so plump and good as the rest; on the other parts these ||lefects 

 increased with the depth the lands were ploughed for the wheat 

 crop. The following autumn we attempted to plough this field 

 a foot deep for turnips, but were unal)le with five horses to 

 accomplish it, because the clay subsoil that had been moved 

 by former subsoiling was doughy and adhesive and would not 

 clear the plough. Tliat which had never been moved did clear 

 the plough well, and we could have accomplished the twelve 

 inches on this part, but, wishing to keep to our rule of plough- 

 ing across the line of the former deep ploughing, we ploughed 

 it 10 inches deep again. We tried several similar experiments, 

 both in this country and Ireland, but always found subsoiling 

 clay, if not injurious, at least useless. 



A field of light land (soil made eight inches deep by our 

 former ploughing), drained in 1840; subsoil Northampton- 

 shire ironstone intermixed with clay — we ploughed a foot 

 deep in the autumn of 1843, and subsoiled 9 inches ; the 

 whole was grubbed with Smith's grubber 8 inches deep in 

 March, and again in April, then well manured with 40 

 cubic yards of green or long dung, and planted with potatoes 

 in ridges 28 inches wide, which were four times horsehoed 10 

 inches deep, twice handhoed, and twice moulded up with a 

 deep-bodied Dcanston subsoil-plough, having a pair of mould- 

 boards fixed high enough to allow of stirring the subsoil 10 inches 

 below the bottom of tlie ridge furrow. It will be remembered 

 tiiat this (1844) was an extraordinarily dry summer, scarcely any 

 rain falling from March to the end of September ; in fact, we 

 noted particularly that the land was never wetted an inch deep 

 by rain, from the planting of this crop till October ; yet the 

 whole 25 acres averaged over 15 tons of potatoes (of superior 

 quality) per acre. As a preparation for the seed, this field was all 

 ploughed 4 inches deep, except one acre which was ploughed 10 

 inches : the whole was drilled with wheat, which produced an 

 immense crop of straw — soft and laid as if rolled in that part 

 which was deep-ploughed, the rest only laid badly in patches. 

 There was much blight in those parts that were laid, all the deep- 

 jiloughetl part worse bliglitcd tlian any other of the laid parts. 

 We ditl not keej) it aj)art, therefore the whole was thrashed 

 together, yielding 32 bushels 2 pecks per acre, weighing 02 pounds 

 a bushel. After the wheat it was again plouglied a foot deep for 

 turnips, which were an excellent crop, ab,)ve twenty tons per 

 acre, followed bv oats that yielded above nine quarters per acre, 



