170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



weed on that field during that whole year. But the crop didn't 

 pay for hoeing, to say nothing about ploughing. The man 

 performed the labor very well, and subdued the land thoroughly, 

 and I had to make him an allowance, because he couldn't afford 

 to lose the crop. I have ploughed the field twice since, from 

 five to six inches deep, and I have got crops of potatoes and 

 corn ; a heavy crop of potatoes for us. Not such a crop as 

 this gentleman from Williamstown has been raising, but heavy 

 as potatoes have gone for the last few years. Ten or twelve 

 hills made 'a bushel ; and they were all large and nice. This 

 experience evidences to me that that kind of soil will not allow 

 of deep ploughing. 



Then I have another piece of ground — a sandy, gravelly soil 

 — which I ploughed, several years ago, when I first. bought it, 

 deeper than I do now, for I found deep ploughing was recom- 

 mended, and planted it with corn, and did not realize half the 

 crop I have realized since by shallow ploughing, on that land. 

 I say, therefore, it is impossible to lay down any general rule 

 for ploughing. Mr. Demond was here yesterday, and would 

 have been glad to have spoken upon this subject. I know of 

 one instance which occurred near our institution, on ground 

 belonging to Mr. Butler. Mr. Demond ploughed it eight or 

 nine inches deep, and Mr. Butler found fault, because he said 

 land ploughed deep did not produce so well as that which w^s 

 ploughed shallow. Mr. Demond went upon the ground in the 

 fall, and it turned out that where he had ploughed there was 

 the best crop of corn. That is sandy soil. 



Mr. Cole. The southern part of Berkshire has raised such 

 crops of corn that the eastern delegates are a little doubtful 

 about the truth of the stories ; and I call upon Mr. Thatcher. 

 1 tliink he can tell us something about how they plough there, 

 where they raise such crops of corn. 



Mr. Thatcher, of Lee. I should present the same results 

 which Mr. Johnson has stated. We are now using, in southern 

 Berkshire, a plough which turns over the sod from six to seven 

 inches, with a subsoil attachment running from two to four 

 inches still, which does not lift the virgin soil the first year to 

 the surface. This attachment, running behind the mould- 

 board to the depth of four inches, usually stirs the whole width 

 of the furrow to that depth, after we have turned over the sod. 



