PLOWING, SUBSOILING, AXD TRENCIIIXG. I43 



is nothing in the character of the subsoil to make it objectionable 

 when brought to the surface, we cannot plow it too deeply nor 

 too roughly. If our land will not admit of such treatment now, 

 without injury to present crops, the sooner we can bring it to a 

 condition in which it will, the better for it and for us. 



It is now too late in the history of agricultural improvement for 

 it to be worth while, in a treatise like this, to discuss thej;easons 

 why deep plowing is advisable, for although the average depth of 

 the furrow-slice in all the United States is certainly not over four 

 inches, there are very few readers of agricultural books who need 

 to be told that the country would be vastly richer, and would get 

 its income with much greater certainty, if the average were eight 

 inches. 



I would not recommend that it be attempted to reach the extra 

 depth at once, — if experiment shows that this can safely be done, 

 as it very often will, well and good, — but in many soils the end 

 must be gained gradually. A little of the uncultivated, raw sub- 

 soil must be brought up each autumn, and prepared by the winter's 

 frosts, to be mixed with the surface, or else a long course of sub- 

 soiling and cultivation must first ameliorate the earth that until 

 now has been locked against the circulation of air. 



In giving the above figures, by way of illustration, I by no 

 means intend it to be understood that eight inches is my limit of 

 depth. Ten, twelve, sixteen, or twenty inches would not measure 

 my modest desire, on land in which it is possible to sink a plow 

 to so great depth, — for I believe I could make more money from 

 one acre, twenty-four inches deep, than from six acres, four 

 inches deep, — certainly more from a farm of fifty acres, well 

 cultivated and enriched to the depth of twelve inches, than 

 from one hundred acres, six inches deep. I think we should 

 value our land by the cubic feet of good soil it contains, rather 

 than by its superficial feet. 



If we are plowing sod land we should lay the furrows uni- 



formlv, and as smoothly as possible, so that the grass may all be 



covered out of reach of the harrow, and so that there shall be no 



holes or gaps among the furrows. To do this requires a skill 



10 



