]?LOUGHING^ , 2i'i 



French ploughing is sometimes practised to advantage ; and 

 the culture of some plants with tap roots requires it. This ie 

 done by passing a plough twice in a furrow. Ground may be 

 thus ploughed to the depth of twelve or fifteen inches. But 

 instead of this double labor of the plough, where laborers are 

 plenty, the furrows may be deepened with shovels, by a number 

 of hands following the plough. 



In old countries, where lands have been tilled for many 

 centuries, and have been frequently manured, the rich black 

 soil has been growing deeper and deeper, so that trench 

 ploughing may be very necessary, to bring up the strength of 

 manures, which has subsided to a greater depth than common 

 ploughing reaches. Where this practice is once begun, it 

 should be continued, at least through a course of tillage; or 

 ^Ise the first ploughings will be in some measure lost. The 

 best of the soil would be buried at such a depth as to become 

 almost useless, unless it were alternately'^ brought near the 

 surface, by after ploughings equally deep. 



Green sward ground that is broken up in the fall, is usually 

 cross ploughed in the spring following. But this should not 

 be done without caution. For if the turf be not considerably 

 rotted, cross ploughing will only drive it into heaps, instead of 

 cutting it to pieces. Neither will the harrow reduce the turf 

 to powder. In this case it would be best to omit the cross 

 ploughing t and after a heavy harrowing lengthwise of the 

 furrows, seed the land with peas, potatoes, or maize, or any 

 thing that will do well with such culture. 



For a crop of winter wheat, the tillage ground should be 

 ploughed in the spring, again in June, and lastly just before 

 aowing. Neither should this practice justify the omission of 

 ploughing the same ground the preceding fall, before the com- 

 mencement of the hard frosts, which should always be done 

 when circumstances v.'ill admit. 



Whatever manure js put on, it should be done just before th& 



