230 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



ken into consideration, whenever an orchard is to 

 be set out. When trees are about to be set, it 

 would be well to make a liquid to dip the roots in 

 of clay and cow dung, of equal parts, and put in 

 water sufficient to make it about as thick as soft- 

 soap. After it is well mixed, dip or soak the roots 

 of each tree fifteen minutes in the composition be- 

 fore sotting them. In this way all of the wounds 

 will be dressed, and good rich food will be provid- 

 ed for the young roots. Farmer Jones has set 

 large orchards in this way, without losing a tree. 



Too much care cannot be taken in putting out 

 trees or taking them up. I have seen some nur- 

 serymen chop off the long roots, and it appeared 

 if they could get up a tree, it mattered not wheth- 

 er they had roots or not, or whether they lived or 

 not, so long as they got their pay for them. 



In all cases good rich soil should be put around 

 the roots, and also they should be kept clear of 

 grass and weeds. In some cases it would be ad- 

 visable to put stones around the roots, to keep 

 them from blowing over, or being loosened by the 

 wind. s. a. s. 



Spring Grove, March, 1852. 



SOME REMARKS ON SUBSOIL PLOW- 

 ING. 



BY HENRY F. FRENCH. 



Dear Sir : — Most men believe in Progress, in 

 all arts, sciences and pursuits. They believe that 

 they may, themselves, yet learn something, even 

 about the matters of which they already know 

 most. No mechanic believes that his machinery, 

 however complicated or curious, is perfect. II 

 has still some further object, some Progress in 

 view. 



If his engine now runs thirty miles an hour, he 

 will have it run sixty ; and since he has got it to 

 run and to swim, he is next proposing to make it 



fly- 



But the farmer — has he the same hope, the 

 same faith? A few weeks ago, in the course of a 

 conversation upon the importance of a State Com 

 missioner of Agriculture for New Hampshire, 

 among several farmers, one of them, — a man 

 counted sane, and even intelligent among his neigh- 

 bors, objected, — that it was a useless expense, that 

 there was nothing more to be learned about farming 

 matters, and that our farmers knew as well fifty 

 years ago how to raise corn as ever any body will 

 know ! Now this, whether it come from a slave in 

 a rice-swamp, or one of "the intelligent yeomanry 

 of the Granite State," as our politicians usually 

 style their audience, is pure unmitigated ignorance, 

 and yet we occasionally encounter these obstacles 

 in the way of improvement — these old stumps in 

 the way of a clean furrow ! 



I rejoice to find in the Journal of Agriculture, a 

 high stand taken for progress, and a fearless war 

 waged against errors and prejudices, which their 

 age, even, has failed to render respectable. 



There are some farmers, not many, still left, who 

 scout all idea of improvement — who believe that 

 the art of husbandry was born, as was Minerva 

 from the head of Jupiter, full-groivn ! 



Dogberry, in the play, says that "to read ami 

 write comes by nature," and some men seem t( 

 think the same of all knowledge pertaining to ag 

 riculture. They put their hand to the plow and 

 look back, to see how their grandfather laid his fur 



rows, instead of forward, to see how well they can 

 lay their own. 



I am, Sir somewhat a believer in this new her- 

 esy of subsoiling ; I say new, because I suppose 

 the use of the subsoil plow to be, yet very liini ted. 

 There are many parts of New England where the 

 use of it would seem almost impossible, such as 

 the stony granite soil of our interior towns, but 

 still, there are parts of almost every farm, where 

 sub-soiling would be found beneficial. 



The process may be stated, in a sentence, to be 

 the breaking up of the subsoil without bringing 

 it to the surface, by running a subsoil plow in the 

 furrow of the common plow, to the depth of from 

 one to two feet below the original surface. The 

 benefit to the land is first in loosening the subsoil 

 so as to allow of the ready escape of the surface 

 water, and the free admission of air to the roots of 

 the plants, and this is literally of vital use, because 

 many of our crops, as the potato for instance, 

 perish in a very short time, from a surplus of water 

 in the early part of summer. The permeahility of 

 the earth to air, is very surprising. Ewbank, in 

 his "Hydraulics," states that if a well, in which 

 there is a pump, be sealed tight, upon the sides 

 and top, and the pump be worked, the air will 

 pass down through the ground and bubble up in 

 the bottom of the well ! I should think the neigh- 

 borhood of the well must be pretty thoroughly sub- 

 soiled before this would occur ; but there can be no 

 doubt that a free circulation of air about their 

 roots, is essential to the growth of most cultivated 

 plants, and nothing so fully obstructs this circula- 

 tion, as stagnant water. Air rises readily through 

 water, but does not pass through it downward, 

 without considerable pressure. 



Again, loosening the subsoil allows the roots to 

 strike deeper, and besides permits the upward pas- 

 sage of water, by capillary attraction, and so af- 

 fords a double protection against drought. The 

 rising of water by capillary attraction is perfectly 

 illustrated by a piece of sponge, laid upon a plate 

 filled with water. The water will rise into the 

 sponge and moisten it throughout, contrary as it 

 might seem to the ordinary principle, that water 

 maintains its level. This same attraction is relied 

 on in the use of flower pots, with holes in the bot- 

 tom, through which, the water, poured into sau- 

 cers in which the pots are set, rises in the earth 

 to the surface. But this principle does not apply 

 except to materials of a certain degree of compact- 

 ness. Water will rise by capillary attraction, in 

 glass tubes, of which the diameter of the bore does 

 not exceed the twenty-fourth of an inch. The 

 principle has similar limitations, as applied to the 

 earth. Fill a flower pot with No. 1 shot, and wa- 

 ter will not rise in it on this principle, nor will it 

 rise through clean gravel stones of the same size, 

 except as it may pass through the particles of the 

 stone itself. There may be, therefore, cases where 

 it would not be well to disturb a stratum of very 

 coarse sand or gravel, lest it should lie rendered 

 so open as not to hold water by capillary attrac- 

 tion. But this must lie a rare and peculiar case. 

 Usually the subsoil is too compact for the free pas- 

 sage of water, either upwards or downwards. A 

 stratum of pure clay or compact gravel, is almost 

 impervious to water, and the top of the ground 

 above it might be parched so as to destroy vegeta- 

 tion, when two feet below, it would be filled with 

 water, which would gladly rise to the sunlight, if 



