Deepening the Staple Soil. 553 



limestone mixed with sand. In July and August, 1S32, we 

 trenched one-fourth of this by spade and one-fourth by phjugh, 

 14 inches deep ; that trenched by spade cost 4/. 3^. 4c?. an acre, 

 the subsoil nearly all requiring to be worked with the pickaxe, 

 and then shovelled over the top of the black soil. The trench- 

 ploughing was done with two ploughs, the first drawn by two 

 horses, going 7 inches deep and 10 inches wide ; the second 

 plough loaded with a cwt. in tlie body of it to keep it steady, 

 and drawn by four horses yoked with equalizing swingle-trees ; 

 in fact, it was here we were driven to the invention of these in- 

 dispensable appendages to deep ploughing with high-spirited 

 horses. The last, or trench-plough, took up 7 inclies out of 

 the bottom of the preceding plough's furrow and laid it on the 

 top ; t])us the soil was completely covered with subsoil, making 

 a white field out of a black one. The rest of the field was 

 ploughed 3 inches deep with a double-coulter plough, that is, 

 one coulter in advance of the regular one, cutting the furrow- 

 slice along the middle about 2 inches deep ; tiius each funow- 

 sljce was cut longitudinally nearly in two, making strips 4 

 inches wide, while the ploughing was done 8 inches wide. 

 This part was then well rolled with a heavy stone roller and 

 left until November, when it was ploughed across 11 inches 

 deep with six horses, three and three abreast, the plough 

 being loaded with a cwt. in the body to keep it from rising out 

 of the hard gravelly subsoil. Tlie whole field was reploughed 

 across and well prepared and sown with turnips, manured with 

 20 bushels of bones mixed with bog-mould and saturated with 

 dung-water for several weeks before use. The crop of turnips, 

 white globe and red Norfolk, was excellent ; but the half that 

 was first plouglied shallow and then deep produced much the 

 best crop, and the crop of oats afterwards was also the best ; but 

 after being again ploughed 10 to 12 inches deep, and subsoiled 

 8 inclies under that, a crop of swedes grown with 40 cubic vards 

 of dung was much the best on the half of the field that was 

 trenched for the former turnip crop ; though we could not see 

 any difference in favour of the spade over the trench-ploughing, 

 although the expense was more than double. After the swede 

 crop we never could discern any diff('rcnce in favour of tlie 

 trenchings. It is right to observe, that, from the de(av of the 

 vegetable matter of the boggy soil causing it to subside, every 

 time the land has been ploughed 12 inches deep a little fresh 

 gravel was brought up : this field has produced crops nearly 

 equal to those of the best land. 



Another field, where the grass was of the very roughest de- 

 scription and the bog-soil 10 inches deep, after drainage was 



