PLOWING, SUBSOILING, AXD TRENCHIN-Q. -[55 



" 73 and 74, represent sections of soil after a few furrows have been 

 " plowed, for at first the full depth cannot be reached. It is hardly 

 " possible for so clean a furrow to be turned as is shown in Fig. 

 " 74, for almost all soil into which a plow can be driven to the 

 " depth of two feet, will crumble down, as in Fig. 73, the soil from 

 " both sides, indeed, falling in, and partly filling the furrow. We 

 " witnessed the operation of these plows at lona Island. They 



F'g. 7? 



" were being worked with two pairs of strong oxen in a gravelly 

 "soil, filled with stones from the size of an egg to that of a man's 

 " head. The ground had previously been worked to the depth of 

 " 12 or 14 inches. Each furrow was plowed three times; first 

 " opened with the ' 2^ D,' and then worked twice with the great 

 "plows, driven beam deep. The trench plow, at its first pas- 

 " sage, went nearly as deep as it went the second time, lifting the 

 " subsoil, and leaving the furrow much as shown in Fig. 73. 

 *' The second time it mixed the surface and subsoil thoroughly. 

 " The depth of the plowing was about 20 inches in the hardest 

 " part of the soil, and 27 inches in the loosest portion, while sec- 



Fig. 74. — Section of furrow in clay land. 



" tions cut through the newly plowed land measured perpendic- 

 " ularly 24 to 30 inches. The high price cf labor has, of late, 



