140 SOILS WHICH REQUIRE rULVERIZATION. 



earth per acre, which is a pretty strong dressing. 

 I will now state what soils require deep cultivation. 

 Strong, heavy, tenacious clays of almost every de- 

 scription are of this class. These should be broken 

 up in dry weather, because the treading of many 

 horses is not then injurious ; besides, when the sub- 

 soil is dry, it is torn or broken up into fragments 

 and irregular masses, which freely admits the sum- 

 mer heat and evening dew. If done in wet weather, 

 the putty subsoil would collapse, and the surface 

 become kneaded by the treading of horses. Sandy, 

 silty, or gravelly soils, having a hard bottom of iron- 

 sandstone, or masses of pudding-stone, are much 

 benefited by subsoiling. 



" I find by breaking up these soils to the depth 

 of from twenty-one to twenty-four inches, instead 

 of four to five, as is usual, that all plants succeed 

 better, particularly roots, green crops, and clover. 

 They descend deeper, and of course are much less 

 subject to injury from extreme cold or drought; 

 and drainage secures them from stagnant water. 

 I speak feelingly on this subject; for before I drained 

 and subsoiled my land, my winter as wtII as my 

 summer crops were often injured. I am convinced 

 that it is the freezing of the roots in our shallow 

 soils that often destroys our clover or tares, and 

 our wheat. I have traced the roots of wheat and 

 tares from nine to eighteen inches below the surface, 

 as early as Christmas, when the soil has been suf- 



