XIV. 



PLOWING DEEP OR SHALLOW. 



RULES absolutely without exception are rare ; and 

 they who imagine that I insist on plowing all lands 

 deeply are wrong for I hold that much land should 

 never be plowed at all. . In fact, I have seen in my 

 life nearly as large an area that ought not as I have 

 that ought to be plowed, by which I mean that half 

 the land I have seen may serve mankind better if de- 

 voted to timber than if subjected to tillage. I per- 

 sonally know farmers who would thrive far better 

 if they tilled but half the area they do, bestowing on 

 this all the labor and fertilizers they spread over the 

 whole, even though they threw the residue into com- 

 mon and left it there. I judge that a majority of our 

 fanners could increase the recompense of their toil 

 by cultivating fewer acres than they now do. 



Nor do I deny that there are soils which it is not 

 advisable to plow deeply. Prof. Mapes told me he 

 had seen a tract in West Jersey whereof .the soil was 

 but eight inches deep, resting on a stratum of cop- 

 peras (sulphate of iron,) which, being upturned by 

 the plow and mingled with the soil, poisoned the 



