24 ALTERNATE FREEZING AND THAWING. 



lengths of twelve feet, in the shape of the letter A. 

 He finds they are quite as effective as tiles, and 

 more easily placed in the drain. He put some 

 down in 1848, and they are at present perfectly 

 sound. My practice is to under-drain during the 

 summer, then fall plow and sub-soil, leaving the 

 land in ridges during the winter. In the spring, 

 when the ground is dry enough to work, surface 

 plow, running the lifting sub-soil plow in the bot- 

 tom of the furrow. This latter operation, with the 

 effects on the soil of the alternate freezing and 

 thawing during the winter months, leaves the soil 

 in fine mechanical condition. The land is then 

 made ready for a root crop, usually potatoes, which 

 are planted in the ordinary way, the rows wide 

 enough apart to admit of horse implements. Before 

 planting, I apply to the surface broadcast five or six 

 hundred pounds of super-phosphate to the acre, and 

 harrow it in, and put wood-ashes into the drill at 

 the time of planting. The surface should be kept 

 loose and free from weeds, by frequent disturbance 

 of the surface soil with the horse-hoe. 



When the crop is harvested, the land will be in 

 excellent condition for setting out trees, which may 

 be done in the fall or the following spring, as cir- 

 cumstances may dictate. 



Persons desirous of knowing more about under- 



