SUBSOIL-PLOUGHING CONNECTED WITH THOROUGH-DRAINING. 129 



the idea of applying the operation of subsoil-ploughing and 

 thorough-draining to light, blow-away sand; and as it is to this 

 latter description of land that I have chiefly turned my attention 

 and experiments, I will confine myself to what I really know 

 and have experienced. 



&quot; I will now mention the mode in which I have brought a 

 considerable tract of sandy land into cultivation ; and I feel so 

 thoroughly grateful to the subsoil-plough for the share it has had 

 in my success, that I cannot do sufficient justice to it without 

 fully explaining the system upon which I worked. 



&quot; The tract of land upon which I began was in extent about 

 400 acres, the principal part of which was rabbit warren. The 

 general character of this tract was, that although, upon the 

 whole, it was nearly a level, yet the surface was undulating ; 

 the sandy swells being covered with heather, and the hollows, 

 a bed of aquatic plants, being for many months in winter entirely 

 covered with water. Of the sandy hills, the soil, as far as I am 

 able to judge, was a sterile, impalpable sand, having been here 

 tofore cultivated, and again abandoned. About six or eight 

 inches below the surface, this sandy soil seemed to become hard 

 ened into almost a sandstone, with the occurrence occasionally 

 of an impervious bed of ironstone ; presenting, wherever it did 

 occur, a complete obstacle to the entrance of the ploughshare : 

 generally speaking, however, these nodules, or beds of ironstone, 

 lay at a depth somewhat below the ordinary ploughings. The 

 marshy hollows were of a totally different nature ; and their 

 cultivation had never been attempted ; an idea apparently having 

 prevailed, that they were below the reach of drainage. When 

 become dry, the soil of these hollows appeared to be a black 

 vegetable mould, extending to a considerable depth ; in some 

 places peaty, in all containing a large proportion of inert vege 

 table matter. 



&quot; Upon considering the character of this tract of land, I 

 thought that the principle of subsoiling would be equally appli 

 cable to the light, sandy hillocks and the marshy levels. Upon 

 the higher grounds, it was obvious that, when under cultivation, 

 the sun had very great power over the six or eight inches of 

 stirred soil, and that thus vegetation was either burnt up, or, if a 

 strong ground-wind came, there was danger of the contents of 

 one field being blown into another. If. therefore, by stirring tc- 



