1G6 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



These are th^ rules by which we are governed in ploughing 

 in our locality. Light soil we plough pretty deep, and more 

 shallow as it approaches a heavy, tenacious soil, unless there is 

 something in the subsoil which leads us to think the land will 

 be improved by subsoiling or turning up something more. But 

 in our locality the soils are of such a nature tliat the subsoil 

 does not seem to be much. "We do not have clay. There is 

 scarcely a farm in our locality where there is any clay percep- 

 tible. In some places there is just enough to show itself, if you 

 stir a little puddle, by whitening the water, but not enough to 

 improve the soil materially. 



Now, whatever may be said hereafter in relation to this sub- 

 ject, I hope we shall be able to agree upon something, so that, 

 as I remarked before, those who read these discussions, sliall 

 obtain some information from the remarks that are made here. 



Mr. Cole. The whole tenor of the remarks made here yes- 

 terday, was to the effect that shallow ploughing was best ; and 

 the remark of Mr. Ward, that he ploughed from four to six 

 inches, was contrary to the idea of deep ploughing ; and I would 

 like to ask him if his results would not have been more satisfac- 

 tory if, instead of ploughing up four or five inches of soil that 

 had been turned up before, he had brought up, at each plough- 

 ing, an inch or two of the soil below ? When I was a boy, my 

 father ploughed shallow. I have seen furrows ploughed upon 

 our farm not exceeding three inches ; as Mr. Smith said yester- 

 day, it made the harrow fly round pretty lively. My father 

 came to the conclusion that it might be improved by deeper 

 ploughing, and at each breaking up it was ploughed a little 

 deeper ; and where it was then sandy soil we now get good 

 crops of hay and fair crops of corn. We plough it now six or 

 seven inches. I have now another piece of stronger soil, very 

 stony, (the first piece to which I referred is free from stones,) 

 which I ploughed with three horses as deep as I cc>uld. I 

 ploughed it, I think, about nine inches, and should have 

 ploughed it deeper if I could. Then the last time it was 

 ploughed it was ploughed deeper than it had ever been, and the 

 result was, we had the largest crop. I do not know but it may 

 be wrong, but that experience proves to me that tlie better way 

 is to plough deep, and instead of going down only three or four 



