FARM EXPERIMENTS. 559 



was drier at the surface tbaii the compact soil, but at the depth of one 

 foot is more humid than the latter, the upper layer of cultivated earth 

 serving as a screen or mulch to the sub-layers. It is in accordance vrith 

 the principle thus illustrated that the roller, passed over the field after 

 sowing, secures to the seed-bed a suitable moisture ; stirring the soil 

 by harrows, &c., being in order when the roots have struck into the 

 layer below. 



DEEP TILLAGE FOR A COURSE OF TEARS. 



Mr. Samuel M. Wherry, of Shippeusburgh, Pennsylvania, reports his 

 experience in subsoiling for eight years on a rolling upland farm, pos- 

 sessing a rich heavy clay soil C to 8 inches deep, with a yellowish red 

 clay subsoil almost impervious to water and impenetrable by plant- 

 roots. Limestone crops out frequently and nowhere lies more than 4 to 

 8 feet below the surface. The following is his statement of the effects 

 of deep tillage on his crops : 



Corn. — In ordinary seasons no appreciable gain in yield, but in seasons of extreme 

 drought a gain of '30 to 50 per cent. In all seasons there is a notable disposition on the 

 part of the corn on snbsoiled ground to continue green, not even the blades turning 

 brown until the frost comes. Consequently the ears do not harden so well on the 

 standing corn, and care is required in cutting up. But the corn comes out iu good con- 

 dition at huskiug-time, and the fodder is excellent. 



Wheat.— h. slight gain in yield, due to increased length of head. The strayr is much 

 stiffer and brighter, and the grain ripens from six to eight days earlier. This last is a 

 decided advantage here. 



Timotluj and clover — separate and mixed. — A large increase in yield, but greatly at 

 the sacriiice of quality. In dry seasons, such as ldC6 and 1871, a gain of 100 per cent. 

 The stems on subsoile'd ground are much, longer, coarser, and harder to cure, while the 

 leaves have a peculiar and very distinct sickly bluish-green color. Clover never seems 

 to reach a state of maturity — never comes to full bloom — for the reason that green 

 stems are all the while shooting up and overshadowing the blossoms. In 1870 snbsoiled 

 laud, after first mowing, bloomed simultaneously and yielded a fair crop of clover-seed. 

 The other half of the field was barren. The season was dry. It is certain that cattle 

 and sheep prefer the snbsoiled side of the field in pasturing the aftermath, (the only 

 pasturing done.) 



Miscellaneous _2>a''/!0it?a)-s. — Spring plowing can be commenced on snbsoiled land from 

 three to six days earlier than on land not snbsoiled. After-plowings are much lighter 

 on the teams, but the plow does not run so steadily, and the furrow breaks irregularly, 

 leaving the plowed surface ragged and uneven. In i^lowing oat stubble for wheat, 

 deci), (as is done,) considerable of the previously broken subsoil is thrown to the top 

 in very hard lumps, necessitating much additional labor in prepariog a proper seed-bed. 

 This has been the most serious diificultj^ encountered. 



The most curious fact observed is that the clover-plant on snbsoiled land does not, 

 as in unsubsoiled land, send dov\'n vertically a single long carrot-shaped tap-root end- 

 iug in a straggling bunch of irregular rootlets ; but the primary root begins almost im- 

 mediately to Vlivide olf into many (six, eight, and ten) side branches, each of itself a 

 perfect main or tap-root with side branches. These main roots do not descend verti- 

 cally into the ground, but incline stronglj- outAvard from the i>rimary, and fill the whole 

 surface-soil with thread-like roots. The'diiierence is quite observable some time after 

 I)lowing is done, when the unsubsoiled parts are covered with the severed roots, stand- 

 ing upright iu the air, while the snbsoiled parts are, apparently, as devoid of roots as 

 stubble ground. A closer inspection shows the true state of the case, and it is probable 

 that a cubic loot of snbsoiled ground will contain in weight more than twice as much 

 root matter as a cubic foot of the unsubsoiled. 



Mr. Wherry remarks that the question of deep tillage is not to be 

 decided by the results of one or two seasons only. 



IRRIGATION IN ENGLAND. 



At Stoke Park, England, in 1871, 40 acres were put under irrigation, 

 so managed as to temper the soil when dry weather came iu, about the 

 last of March, supplying moisture regularly, and in sufficient quantity 



