THE FARMER'S MANUAL. d 



begun as above ; because these erops strike a shallow 

 root, and will be left to feed on the dead earth which 

 you have brought up to the surface. These are the 

 outlines, or first principles of good ploughing, and 

 the minute attention of every farmer, will soon dis- 

 cover the mode which shall be best adapted to his dif- 

 ferent soils, and different crops, with this general prin- 

 ciple, to deepen his soil at every ploughing, as far 

 as the nature of the substratum, or under soil, and the 

 safety of his crop will admit ; and in this way, he may 

 soon bring his farm into a deep tillage. The suc- 

 cess of one half of any one of his fields, under a re- 

 gular deep tillage, compared with the other half un- 

 der a shallow tillage, will be the most convincing ar- 

 gument in favour of deep ploughing, that can be laid 

 before the practical farmer, fry and see. 



This being the life of a farm, it is impossible to be 

 too particular in improving it. I shall conclude this 

 article with the following remarks. 



1. The depth of your soil being determined as 

 before, plough flat, or ridge, directly according to 

 the nature of your soil. 



2. If your soil is naturally dry, plough flat, and 

 as level as possible, this will give an equal diffusion of 

 moisture throughout your field ; but if your soil is 

 moist, plough into wide ridges of 18 to 24 feet, and if 

 it is a wet soil, let your ridges not exceed 6 to 12 

 feet. The object of ridge ploughing, is to improve 

 the furrows between the ridges, as drains for the wa- 

 ter, therefore multiply your drains, by narrowing 

 your lands, or ridges, according to the moisture of 

 your soil ; and so vice -versa. This is the best, if noi 

 only method of equalizing moist and wet lands. 



3. In ploughing high hills, and steep acclivities, it 

 is generally practised ta^iough directly up and down, 

 with a furrow both ways, (up and down,) this is at- 

 tended with two evils; 1st, it is-vcry^fatiguing to the 

 team to carry a furrow up the hill; and 2d, it ex- 

 poses the lands to be washed, and gullied in the fur- 

 rows, which is sometimes ruinous. 



