168 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



plant it. If I have time in the fall I plough the ground and 

 let it lie and take the winter freezings, and in the spring I 

 plough it with a pair of horses and harrow it. In the course of 

 a few days I cross-plough it with a light plough and seed it. On 

 my old ground, where I plant one year with seed, I put my 

 manure broadcast ; then I plough with two horses and let it lie 

 from two to ten days, just as it happens. I plough that also 

 twice before seeding. The second time of my ploughing, after 

 seeding, I plough a little deeper than the first time, so as to get 

 up a little of what Colonel Ward calls the virgin soil ; and the 

 second ploughing mixes it up with the soil, and I have better 

 results than I otherwise should. I think I want some of that 

 soil, but not too much of it. After ploughing it the second 

 time I bush it, and then I sow it and re-bush it. That is my 

 habit in seeding my ground. 



I once took up a piece of ground where clay did not predom- 

 inate so much as it does in some parts of my ground. I 

 ploughed it ten inches deep. It had not been ploughed for 

 twenty years, certainly, and I am not certain that it had been 

 for forty years. I manured it thoroughly* broadcast, planted it 

 with potatoes, and got a very light crop. I ploughed it again, 

 and manured it as usual — let the plough go down seven inches, 

 but usually I think my ploughing would be only about six 

 inches deep — but I never have got a very good crop from it yet. 



Mr. BiRNiE. How many years ago was that ? 



Mr. Johnson. Probably 1852, or 1853. The last time I 

 seeded it was three years ago. I mowed it twice and it has not 

 recovered ; it is not as good a piece of mowing as the piece 

 adjoining it. It did not give so much grass this year as the 

 piece adjoining. 



Mr. BiRNiB. It is rather a stiff soil ? 



Mr. Johnson. It is, but not so much so as most of this forty 

 acres. 



A Member. Did you plough the second time seven inches 

 deep ? 



Mr. Johnson. No, sir ; I ploughed about six inches deep. 



Mr. Hubbard. We shall all readily see that ten inches is 

 enormously deep. We are very likely to think that we plough 

 deeper than we do. I find by actual measurement, on land 

 that I should say was ploughed seven inches, that it is not 



