70 LARGE AND SMALL FARMS. 



is necessary in order to insure success, or even 

 render spade husbandry practicable in all cases. 

 On some soils, the system can be profitably in- 

 troduced without any preparatory improvement 

 being effected: they are naturally adapted 

 for it. The saving of horse-work, and conse- 

 quently the prime cost of horses, carts, ploughs, 

 &c., and the keeping up of the same, will do 

 more than cover the whole expense of digging 

 in the outset ; so that by this system less capital 

 will be required to commence with than by the 

 present. In other cases, it is very different. 

 The expense in the outset for digging, owing 

 to the quality of the soil, is more than double, 

 w r hile the returns in harvest are less in favour of 

 the spade system than the other. Such soils, 

 too, are those which stand most in need of spade 

 husbandry. 



On the majority of soils, before the system can 

 be profitably carried into operation, they ought 

 to be effectually drained and subsequently 

 trenched or subsoiled. This will not only confer 

 a permanent value upon their productive capa- 

 bilities, but render them more easily and cheaply 

 dug afterwards. Great caution, however, must 

 always be observed in trenching land incum- 



