THE WHEAT CULTURIST. 161 



have been locked up for unknown ages. Almost all of 

 our cultivable fields could be rendered vastly more pro- 

 ductive by a thorough subsoiling. The deeper the soil 

 the more productive it is likely to be, whatever may be 

 the crop, except where the subsoil is already so porous 

 and light that the roots of plants find little or no diffi- 

 culty in striking as far downward as the tops extend 

 upward. Almost all our wheat fields, when the soil 

 rests on an impervious and calcareous substratum, should 

 be subsoiled until a mellow seed-bed is prepared, six- 

 teen or eighteen inches in depth. Subsoiling should 

 always be performed with a suitable plough, and not 

 with an implement that was made expressly for plough- 

 ing the surface soil. Some kinds of soil will be well- 

 nigh ruined if turned upside down. Others will not 

 be injured by deep trench ploughing. Every farmer or 

 gardener should understand the character of his soils 

 before he ploughs them. 



A correspondent of the " Germantown Telegraph" 

 makes some observations on subsoiling worthy of con- 

 sideration : " We can readily see that the effect of sub- 

 soil ploughing and trenching will vary with the char- 

 acter of the subsoil; if the latter is hard and compact 

 it will probably arrest the downward passage of the 

 water containing the valuable portions of the surface 

 soil, which upon being again brought to the surface will 

 of course enrich the surface soil ; but if, on the other 

 hand, the subsoil is light and loose and of a texture not 

 calculated to retain the saline constituents brought from 

 above, they will pass through it, and when it is turned 

 up it may for a time decrease the crops — for the only 

 benefit gained seems to be that of deepening the surface 

 soil, which even of itself is an important one. This 



