42 



But although deep ploughing, to a certain extent, is 

 advisable, yet there is a medium in this as well as in 

 other things, and ploughing too deep, has not been found 

 to answer. Mr Hope of Fenton, an intelligent farmer 

 in East Lothian, states, that he repeatedy 'tried the ex- 

 periment of ploughing very deep with four horses, and 

 that the result was far from encouraging a continuance 

 of the practice. In one case, where he ploughed part of 

 a field of fallow with four horses, at fourteen inches 

 deep, the crop of wheat was evidently worse than upon 

 the rest of the field, that was ploughed in the usual man- 

 ner ; the land at the same time was of good quality, suf - 

 ficient to have admitted a furrow much deeper than what 

 was given. The reason of the inferiority of the crop 

 upon the deep ploughed part* appeared to be, in conse- 

 quence of that part of the soil, which had for ages been 

 regularly manured, being turned down below the reach 

 of the roots of the plants, and soil of a poorer quality 

 brought up in its place. He is therefore inclined to 

 think, that it is unnecessary to plough deeper, than where 

 there is a fair probability of the different kinds of plants 

 sending their roots ; and as beans, clover, and turnips, 

 the only tap-rooted kinds usually cultivated in this 



it. Both turnips and corn crops, as well as pasture grass, 

 stand out better, both in wet and dry seasons, when a shal- 

 low surface soil is deepened, even by an under-stratum that 

 may appear very worthless. As proof of the utility of deep- 

 ening surface soils, both wet and dry bottom'-, look at the 

 patches of gardens that have received deep digging or shallow 

 trenching, belonging to the cottages placed on the skirts of the, 

 rnuirs all over Scotland, and you will observe the additional 

 verdure and luxuriance of crop upon these patches, more 

 than upon the lands ;i.!joinin, the surface of which is often 

 very little more than scratched by the plough, and the dung 

 and other manure applied to it, lias not deepness of soil to 

 operate upon, so as to produce a good crop," 



