THE FARMEKS' CABINET, 



Devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, and Rural and DomeslicEconomy. 



Vol. IV.— No. 12.] 



7th mo. (July,) 15th, 1840. 



[Whole No. GG. 



KIMBER & SHARPLESS, 



PROPRIETORS AND PUBLISHERS, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 

 Price one dollar per year.— For conditions see last page. 



From the Visitor. 

 Draining and Sub-soil Ploughing. 



The value of deep trenching of the soil 

 seems not to be generally understood in this 

 country. In the renovation of lands that 

 have long been cultivated, there cannot be a 

 doubt that the stirring of the under or sub- 

 soil, where it is hard, and the bringing it 

 gradually to the surface, as fast as a qualify- 

 ing stimulant to the soil can be furnished in 

 each season of cultivation, to be mi.ved with 

 the under soil — hut no faster — will be the 

 most effectual method. In England, this 

 principle of cultivation — applicable to every 

 country under heaven — is operating in a vast 

 increase in the products of agriculture. We 

 are not, in this country, far enough advanced 

 to be able to profit much by this system, yet 

 Vie. do not doubt, if labour should be applied 

 to land of little value, in under-draining and 

 sub-soil ploughing, it would turn in the end 

 to immense profit. We lately passed a spot 

 of ground near Worcester, Massachusetts, 

 ■which was purchased about two years ago, 

 for the use of the Insane Hospital at that 

 place — the price of the land, from its con- 

 tiguity to the village, was eighty dollars an 

 acre. It was a rocky hillside, the upper part 

 of which furnished pasture, the lower part 

 being a heavy soil, through which cold 

 springs oozed from the surface, producing 

 little or nothing in its natural state. Ditches 

 have been dug on this land, at suitable dis- 

 tances, for carrying off the water; and in 

 these ditches, below where the plough ever 

 strikes, were placed the many stones, which 

 could well be spared from off the land. The 

 field has been ploughed deep, and after the 

 application of no very extraordinary quantity 

 of manure, it was laid down to grass; and 

 the result is, a product of from two to three 

 tons of excellent hay per acre ; and while 

 passing this ground in April, it might be 

 distinguished from the surrounding crops, 



Cab.— Vol. IV.— No. 12. 361 



by a more forward vegetation. — We add the 

 following "on draining," 



FROM AN ENGLISH PUBLICATION. 



I am of opinion that small stones form 

 the best filling for drains, both as to efficiency 

 and permanency ; and are cheapest, where 

 stones are plentiful ; the draining tile, how- 

 ever, is a very ready mode, and applicable 

 in clay districts. It is painful to witness the 

 practice, still very common, of filling drains 

 too near the surface either with stones or 

 tiles ; for it is obvious, that the deeper the 

 drains, the better they draw ; and as all 

 drained land ought to be sub-soiled with the 

 plough, working across the drains, these, if 

 filled nearer than about eighteen inches to the 

 surface, will be in danger of being injured 

 by the foot of the plough in passing. After 

 the draining has been completed, the land 

 may be seeded with oats, and after the crop 

 has been removed, then is the time to go 

 over the whole field with the sub-soil 

 plough, crossing the lines of the drains at 

 about right angles. I have been often asked 

 if I would recommend sub-soil ploughing of 

 land that had not been first drained 1 to 

 which I answer, certainly not, for until there 

 is an escape for the water through the sub- 

 soil, any opening of it would rather tend to 

 injure, than to improve the soil ; these open- 

 ings may, however, be sometimes found, 

 where the sub-soil consists of gravel or 

 sand, forming a crust over a lower stratum 

 of loose sub-soil, when the sub-soil plough 

 might provide a passage for the water, and 

 leave the incumbent sub-soil open for meli- 

 oration ; but draining ought always, to make 

 sure of success, to precede the use of the 

 sub-soil plough. Ti'iorougk draining is the 

 foundation of all good husbandry ; and when 

 combined with deep ploughing, insures a 

 general and uniform fertility, assisted no 

 doubt, by the essentials, thorough working 

 and cleaning, ample manuring, and a proper 

 rotation of crops — the four cardinal points of 

 agriculture. 



It is hardly possible to estimate all the 

 advantages of deep and dry land — every 

 operation in husbandry is thereby facilitated 

 and cheapened ; less seed and less manure 

 produce a full effect, and the chances of ob- 



