NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



219 



first on one side, and the bottom on the other ; 

 then collect some wood, old brush, and tree top- 

 pings, and put in the bottom of your trench, with 

 a g mil faggot at each'end to give a current of air, 

 put your top earth on, cave the sides on the same, 

 lot the earth settle itself, then plant your trees, 

 and 1 will engage you will not have to give top 

 dressing. As the wood decays gradually they 

 will always have manure for ages. 



P. S. Night soil is the best for onions. 



S. Clark. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 PLOWING— DEEP OR SHALLOW. 



Almost every man who takes up the pen, in 

 these days, advocates deep plowing. However, it 

 is unquestionably true that there are two sides to 

 this, as well as to every other question. There are 

 circumstances which demand consideration, in re- 

 gard to the depth to which the plowman should 

 put down the plow. These circumstances are of 

 great importance sometimes to young farmers, 

 who are under the necessity of making yearly pay- 

 ments for farms which they have purchased partly 

 upon credit. 



Take, for instance, an old farm, which has been 

 subject to shallow plowing and long cropping and 

 use without much manure. Such land generally 

 lias a subsoil which is in a very poor state, while 

 the active soil is very shallow. Much land may 

 be found of this kind, where the active soil is not 

 more than two or three inches thick, and that is 

 very poor ; while the subsoil is cold and unfit to 

 favor vegetation. 



Tt is this class of farms which are, in the coun- 

 try, most likely to be for sale ; and therefore it is 

 more likely that young farmers, who have laid up 

 a few hundred dollars for a beginning, will buy 

 such farms. 



Well, I am of the opinion that the unqualified 

 advocacy of deep plowing may prove very dis- 

 couraging to more or less of them. They have 

 been employed, perhaps, where they have seen the 

 plow put down deep into the soil, year after year, 

 and bountiful crops in harvest following ; but still 

 have not understood the reason why the same deep 

 plowing will not do as well every where. 



Let them go on to a piece of ground which has 

 been skimmed over to the depth of perhaps four 

 inches, ten years before, and then cropped until 

 the active soil is not more than two inches deep, 

 and beneath that all is cold as death and poor as 

 poverty, and begin their efforts by turning up 

 eight "or ten inches at once, of such soil. How 

 will the matter end? Why, they must meet the 

 difficulties of the case, or find a miserable profit in 

 farming. 



The difficulties of the case are real difficulties. 

 If the farmer has only manure enough for putting 

 in a good state eight inches deep of tolerably good 

 soil, and he has only two inches in depth of such 

 soil, then as his cold subsoil will require three 

 times as much to prepare it for the active support 

 of vegetation as the surface soil requires, his ma- 

 nure is only sufficient to put four inches in depth 

 in good order. If he goes at once to the depth of 

 eight inches, it will require sufficient manure to 

 have put twenty inches of tolerably good old soil 

 in prime condition. When, therefore, he finds his 

 crops are hardly worth harvesting, because his soil 



would produce no bettor, let him look at the mat- 

 ter as it should bo. 



It is easily understood that when the manure 

 for an acre of ground is no more than one-half an 

 acre really needs, the prospect of a profitable crop 

 runs down below zero. When, also, the amount 

 )f manure is sufficient to make four or six inches 

 )f soil productive, to mix it with twice the depth, 

 or which is the same in effect, to mix it with such 

 a depth as will reduce it to one-half, or less than 

 half, the power or strength necessary to activity, 

 the prospect or chance of a crop is thereby de- 

 ferred. The plow and the cart must go over it 

 again, and another dressing of manure is to follow, 

 before the ground will give a profit to the laborer. 



In all such cases, it is necessary that the depth 

 of plowing should be equally considered with the 

 measure of surface, in using a quantity of manure, 

 so as to secure a profitable crop the first year. 

 Young farmers, and all who must have an im- 

 mediate profit from their labor and their appro- 

 priations of manure, will find it necessary to 

 deepen their soil very gradually ; and when they 

 have brought every acre of their ground to have 

 twelve inches of good, active soil, they may 

 reckon it as of thrice the value of an acre, on 

 which there is but four inches of good, active 

 soil. 



Indiscriminate deep plowing is, in my judg- 

 ment, indiscriminate folly. I would, however, 

 desire to put down the plow as deep as circum- 

 stances will warrant, and continue to do so, 

 where no obstacle is presented, until every acre 

 of ground should become a deep mine of wealth. 



Another reason why I would warn every man 

 against plunging the plow to the utmost depth 

 at once, is that the subsoil so often contains 

 properties which are highly injurious to the life 

 and growth of plants. Where any such proper- 

 ties exist in the subsoil, it is not well to bring up 

 any more than can be immediately overcome by 

 the agents to be applied. If it is *done, the ef- 

 fect must be evil. It is, therefore, a necessary 

 part of farming prudence to do this work of deep- 

 ening the soil by a gradual process. 



Some subsoils are very sour. Until the acid is 

 overcome, they will prove injurious to plants which 

 do not feed upon acids. If such subsoils are to 

 be brought to the surface, we may inquire, would 

 it not be important to throw them up in the au- 

 tumn, and let the winter frosts have an effect up- 

 on them 1 Wherever the sour subsoil is to be 

 thrown up in the spring jf the year, to be fol- 

 lowed by a crop, lime is nwessary to neutralize the 

 acid, or, in the absence of lime, ashes may be 

 found of great value. 



Other properties may be in the subsoil which 

 are more injurious, and more difficult to overcome. 

 If much is thrown up, the land will be rendered 

 nearly worthless thereby. 



It should be a settled and an established rule of 

 action never to make the soil less productive. Ev- 

 erything should be directed to the great object of 

 making the soil more productive. When the pro- 

 gressive deepening of the soil causes a poorer crop, 

 it is because there is too deep plowing for the 

 amount of the manure, or because there is too 

 large an amount of injurious matter brought into 

 contact with the growing crop. 



The importance of a deep soil is great, where 

 that soil can be composed of proper substances to 



