212 AGRZCrjLTURAl E€dAT». 



Ploughing. 



In the essay on improvement of land by ploughing, soin6 

 remarks have been made on the proper manner of performing 

 that operation. Although it is believed that the soil may be 

 fertilized by repeated ploughing, yet much will depend on the 

 manner in which that process is executed. No land, excepting^ 

 green sward, should be ploughed when it is so wet that it will 

 not easily crumble. The principal design of ploughing is tfe- 

 break the cohesion of the soil, and so loosen the particles froift 

 each other, that the smallest and tenderest roots of plants may 

 find their way between them in quest of their nourishment. 

 Neither should land be ploughed when the furrow turns over 

 like a dead mass of mortar ; as the soil becomes no lighter or 

 looser by it, but rather heavier and more compact On the 

 contrary, land should n«t be ploughed when it is too dry, as 

 the furrows in that case cannot be so well turned over, and it 

 requires the more strength of team to perform it. 



Green sward land may be ploughed at any season of the 

 year, if it be not too dry, nor too much frozen. 



The English farmers practise ploughing green sward ill 

 January, not only because they have leisure, but because it is 

 BO wet as to plough easily. They call it ploughing in lays ; 

 and it is said to be well performed, when the sward is all com- 

 pletely turned over, without lapping one furrow on another. 



t3ur farmers are sometimes led to plough too shallow to save 

 ft little labor. And some are too much afraid to turn up what 

 they call dead earth. But it is believed that all the soil above 

 the hard pan may be well employed in tillage for some crops 

 •or other; and that if they turn up a red soil, it will in a year 

 or two become dark, and fit to nourish plants, by being exposed 

 to the sun and to the weather, and imbibing rich particles frona 

 the atmosphere. 



