SUBSOILING AS A PREPARATION FOR FRUIT CULTURE. 207 



water, and the surface irregular so as to form basins where water 

 remains in pools until removed by evaporation, it should be ditched 

 and tiled to carry off all surface water. 



Thorough preparation of the ground, by draining where neces- 

 sary, and deep culture of the soil and subsoil is the key to success 

 in fruit culture. 



Franklin, in his Poor Richard, said : "Plow deep while slug- 

 gards sleep, and you shall have corn to sell and keep." This couplet 

 of Franklin's so far as it relates to deep plowing applies with much 

 force in the preparation of ground for fruit culture. 



Horticulturists are generally agreed as to the advantage of dig- 

 ging a broad, deep hole where young trees are to be set, and then 

 filling it in part with fresh pulverized earth, for the young rootlets 

 to rest on in planting the tree. But if it is good to thus loosen the 

 earth when the young tree is planted, it is equally beneficial and, 

 I may add, important to loosen the subsoil to a considerable depth 

 and for a much greater distance, for the benefit of the tree in after 

 years, when through growth the roots have extended far beyond 

 the limits of the hole in which at first planted. 



It does not need argument to convince members of this society 

 that during periods of severe drought a loose, porous soil and sub- 

 soil retain moisture much better than a hard compact soil. Our 

 observation and experience have demonstrated this fact. 



According to Prof. Ansted, "A good soil should be composed 

 of nearly equal parts of three earths, sand, clay and lime ; it should 

 imbibe moisture and give it back to the air without much difficulty ; 

 it should have depth sufficient to permit the roots of the plants to 

 sink and extend without coming to rock, to water or to some in- 

 jurious earth ; the subsoil should be moderately porous, but not 

 too much so ; and in case of need the subsoil should be able to im- 

 prove the soil by admixture with it. Three essentials to plant growth 

 most likely to be lacking in cultivated soils are nitrogen, phosphoric 

 acid and potash." 



By chemical analysis, made by the Commissioner of Agriculture, 

 of soils and subsoils taken from ten different localities, it is demon- 

 strated that potash equals an average of two per cent, and that the 

 subsoil contains slightly more potash than the surface soil. 



As potassium sulphate is one of the best and most extensively 

 used of the commercial fertilizers, and, as has been demonstrated by 

 analysis, the average subsoil CQjitains a larger per cent of potash 

 than the surface soil, it follows that pulverizing of the subsoil and 

 mixing with the surface soil increases fertility and is in most soils 

 beneficial. 



