41 



" ever found deep ploughing attended with good crops, 

 " when ridges, shallow ploughed, in the same field, were 

 " but indifferent. A decisive proof in favour of deep 

 " ploughing *." 



' The Norfolk farmers, generally possessing a thin light 

 soil, with a poor and barren subsoil, prefer shallow plough- 

 ing at all times, and argue that it is easier to keep a small 

 quantity of soil in good hearr, than a greater quantity, which 

 would be formed by deep ploughing, and also that it is easier to 

 keep it clean of root-weeds. Mr Church has heard the farmers 

 in that county say, that the land was ; Iways injured when the 

 pan, or surface of the subsoil, was broken by deep ploughing, 

 which was never done but by a careless, or bad ploughman. 

 There may be some ground for their partiality in favour of 

 their mode of ploughing thin and light soils ; and it would not 

 be advisable for them to alter their system, unless they fallowed 

 their lands, gradually deepened them, and limed and dunged 

 the new soil. But if on these principles they were to increase 

 the surface of their soil, their crops would be more certain 

 and abundant, more especially in dry seasons. The follow- 

 ing valuable hints on this subject, is drawn up by one of the 

 most intelligent farmers in Scotland, whose name, if he had 

 permitted me to use it, would have done credit to any publi- 

 cation. 



" After shallow ploughing, the crop, in heavy rains, is very 

 apt to be socked about the roots, in consequence of which 

 the straw is whitened prematurely, and the grain does not 

 come to perfection ; hence the necessity, when the surface is 

 thin, of thickening it by deep ploughing. I have seen deep 

 ploughing this kind of land, for the first, and even the se- 

 cond year, after ploughing up the under-soil, produce a team- 

 ing crop of thirties, which was hurtful to ihe corn crop ; but 

 after the cold soil is well mixed with the old surface soil, and 

 after the lime and dung applied to it, ivhcn summer-fallowed, 

 has begun to operate on the new soil, I have found great be- 

 nefit from this operation ; but it is the winter furrow before 

 the summer fallow that should be ploughed deep; the lime 

 and dung applied to the fallow, as I have already mentioned, 

 operate strongly on the fresh soil. I would recommend 

 ploughing even light lands, although thin, to a proper depth, 

 though gravel, stones, or dead sand, is turned up and mix- 

 ed with the surface soil. I have found no inconveniency by 



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