PLOUGHING CLAYEY LAND. 16T 



inches to bring up an inch or two at each ploughing of the 

 subsoiL 



Mr. Ward. I cannot say that I think the crop would have 

 been improved if a little of the virgin soil had been turned up, 

 because, just as you add the virgin soil you have got to add 

 manure enough to bring that up to the fertility of the original 

 soil. Therefore I do not think it advisable to plough up any of 

 it. 



Mr. Johnson. I like the remarks of Mr. Clement and Colonel 

 Ward, and also of the last gentleman who spoke, and I agree 

 with them as a general thing. I think there can be no rule 

 established in regard to the depth of ploughing, because the 

 soils vary so much, even upon any one farm, in my locality, that 

 we can establish no rule there for the depth of ploughing. On 

 some of our gravelly, sandy soils we plough pretty deep ; on 

 clayey soils we do not plough so deep. We have forty acres of 

 land that is clay bottom mostly. It has a good many stones in 

 it. About three acres of that land we have spaded with the 

 narrow Irish spade. I spaded down into the clay, turned it all 

 over, harrowed it, briTshed it, and it has produced good crops 

 for the last two years, with two top-dressings. 



When I first commenced ploughing upon clay land I ploughed 

 pretty deep. I ploughed in the fall, and in the spring it troubled 

 me to cultivate it and get it ready to plant, it was so wet and 

 soggy. Lumps as big as my fist were scattered all over the 

 ground, and it was almost impossible to work it. Then I com- 

 menced ploughing that land not so deep, about five inches, and 

 ploughed it in the spring, about three days — sometimes only one 

 day — before I put the manure upon it ; but it worked nice and 

 mellow, and I got much better crops than when I ploughed in 

 the fall and ploughed deeper. I find that with fall ploughing 

 the ground does not work so easily as it does when ploughed in 

 the spring. My mode of ploughing is to plough as near the 

 time of planting as possible. I like to get in my grain from the 

 10th to the 15th of May, if the land will permit of it ; if not, it 

 has to go in later, but as soon as I can do it. I plant my corn 

 and potatoes the first of June, generally. I spread my manure 

 on and harrow it in with a two-flanged harrow. It does not put 

 the manure in very deep unless it is very fine, and mine is 

 usually rather coarse. Then I strike it out with a striker and 



