350 



Deep Ploughing. 



Vol. IV. 



will cause them to wilt, and very much in- 

 jure their growth. No skilful horticulturist 

 will permit the hoe to he used in his garden 

 during the intense heat of the day. This 

 work should only be done early in the morn- 

 ing, and as the sun declines in the afternoon. 

 So in the cultivation of corn, the labourers 

 should enter the field at the dawn of day, 

 and no work should be done to the plants 

 after ten or half past ten o'clock ; then man 

 and beast should take their rest, until three 

 or half after three o'clock, before they re- 

 sume their work again. 



In my opinion this is the true way to cul- 

 tivate corn to tlie best advantage. In follow- 

 ing this plan the corn will be seldom seen to 

 wilt even in the driest season, but will con- 

 tinue increasing in growth. 



An excellent old man whom I employed 

 as the boss or foreman of my labourers when 

 1 first engaged in farming, and who had been 

 in the employ of my father for many years, 

 often upbraided the men for not getting to 

 work as soon as he required, telling them 

 that they must and should be in the field 

 with their teams "by the time the stars 

 went to bed," (this was his usual expression,) 

 meaning by the peep of day. The labourers 

 now-a-days most generally prefer waiting 

 until the dew goes off the grass before they 

 willingly turn out to work; — but the farmer 

 who is really inclined to be a stirring man, 

 should endeavour, if possible, to set his men 

 to work in the morning as near as he can to 

 the time "when the stars go to bed." 



If what I have written may be of any 

 benefit to the agricultural interest of our 

 country, you are at liberty to communicate it. 



R. G. J. 



Salem, May 20, 1840. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Deep Ploughing. 



Farmer TV. — Well, say what you will, I 

 am an advocate for deep ploughing. 



I). — Ah, you speak comparatively, of 

 course. 



W. — No, I speak positively — there are 

 times and seasons when I would go deep 

 into the sub-soil, turning up inches of it in 

 depth, if you please. 



D. — And yet, I have often heard you laugh 

 at the directions which we so often meet 

 with in books for ploughing deep, without, 

 as you observe, the writers being by possi- 

 bility able to judge of the actual depth of 

 the surface-stajde of the soil, and when, for 

 aught tlu^y know, three inches might be too 

 deep; while again, as many feet in depth of 

 other soils might be turned to advantage — 

 now, how is this .' 



If. — I believe that all good farmers in this, 

 and in every other country, will one day 

 plough up every acre of their uncropped 

 arable land before winter, as is the custom 

 in every well-farmed district in England; 

 for this system will apply to every country, 

 be its climate and circumstances what they 

 might. I know many large farms, where it 

 is the custom to make the Christmas cheer 

 to depend on the due and seasonable perform- 

 ance of this necessary part of their routine, 

 and which if not fulfilled at that time, then 

 there is no treat. Now, of that season of 

 the year, and particularly in this country, 

 where the soil has not generally been stirred 

 to the necessary de])th to sustain the crops 

 in a dry season, I would recommend very 

 deepploua:hing, in large and straight furrows, 

 and as unbroken as possible, turning up the 

 sub-soil to a depth which, to an un])ractised 

 eye, would have the appearance of dead ruin ! 

 leaving open water-furrows, and well defined 

 head-lands, so to lie until the season of 

 spring tillage, for the purpose of being pul- 

 verized by the winter's frost and rain, which 

 would be about as good as a covering of 

 manure. In the spring, then, I would very 

 carefully turn back these furrows, as un- 

 broken as possible, to the place from whence 

 tliey were taken; after which, the surface, 

 in fine order for working, may be ploughed 

 and properly cultivated for the reception of 

 the seed, being extremely careful not to go 

 so deep as to disturb the returned sub-soil, 

 which will thus be in fine order to receive 

 the tap-roots of the crop, having received a 

 deep stirring and melioration from atmo- 

 spheric exposure, of incalculable benefit to 

 whatever crop might be planted on the land. 



I conceive that the office of the tap-roots 

 of plants is, to send up moisture from the 

 sub-soil ; and during the great heats of sum- 

 mer, I have no doubt a large portion of their 

 support arises from this source; while their 

 lateral roots are busily engaged in providing 

 them fond, by pushing their ramifications in 

 all directions, like net-work in the surface- 

 soil. It must not be understood, however, 

 that I mean to apply this system to winter- 

 ploughing, preparatory to oat-sowing in early 

 spring, without another stirring — a capital 

 ])lan, particularly on stiflT soils — no, there it 

 would be improper, of course — but if, after 

 the exposure during the whole winter of this 

 sterile and ])oisonous sub-soil, it be returned 

 to the place from whence it came, and the 

 after cultivation be confined to the surface 

 only for the spring crop, I do not think it 

 would he presuming too much, were we to 

 expect an increase of crop, and lasting bene- 

 fit, perhaps for many seasons, to a very great 

 amount. 



Now, I consider this plan far superior to 



