80 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



CROSS PLOWING is seldom necessary except to break up 

 tough sward or tenacious soils ; and the former is more ef- 

 fectually subdued by one thorough plowing in which the 

 sod is so placed that decomposition will rapidly ensue ; and 

 the latter is more certainly pulverized by incorporating with 

 it such vegetables, and long or unfermented manures and the 

 like, as will take the place of the decaying sod. The pres- 

 ence of these in the soil, lessens the labor of cultivation and 

 greatly increases the products. 



SUBSOIL PLOWING. This is a practic of comparatively 

 recent introduction, and it has been attended with signal be- 

 nefit from the increase and certainty of the crop. It is per- 

 formed by subsoil plows made exclusively for this purpose- 

 The objects to be accomplished are to loosen the hard earth 

 below the reach of the ordinary plow and permit the ready 

 escape of the water which falls upon the surface ; the circu- 

 lation of air; and a more extended range for the roots of the 

 plants, by which they procure additional nourishment, and 

 secure the crop against drought, by penetrating into the re- 

 gions of perpetual moisture. When all the circumstances 

 are favorable to the use of the subsoil plow, an increase in 

 the crop of 20, 30, and sometimes even 50 per cent, has been 

 attributed to its operations. Its maximum influence on stiff 

 soils is reached, only where underdraining has been tho- 

 roughly carried out. Its benefits have been more than doubt- 

 ed when used in an impervious clay subsoil, where it makes 

 further room for storing up stagnant water ; and it is evident 

 they can only aggravate the faults of such subsoils as are na- 

 turally too loose and leachy. 



PLOWS AND OTHER FARM IMPLEMENTS. 



There are plows for almost every situation and soil, in addi- 

 tion to several varieties which are exclusively used for the sub- 

 soil. Some are for heavy lands and some for light ; some 

 for stony soils, others for such as are full of roots ; while still 

 another class are expressly made for breaking up the hither- 

 to untilled prairies of the west. Some are adapted to deep 

 and some to shallow plowing ; and some are for plowing 

 around a hill and throwing the furrows either up or down, or 

 both ways alternately ; others again throw the soil on both 

 sides, and are used for plowing between the rows of corn or 

 roots. Every farm should be supplied with such plows as 

 are entirely adapted to the different operations required. 



