NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



231 



sine friendly subsoiler would breakup the wall 



between. Almost any kind of soil may be rammed 

 60 hard that water can scarcely penetrate it. 

 and the constant plowing of old fields to a given 

 depth, has this very tendency, to make the sub- 

 soil impervious. 



Few farmers would expect a crop from a soil of 

 the depth of a common furrow, say five or six inch- 

 es, if there were a sheet of cast iron underlaying 

 their whole fields at that depth, so that no water 

 could pass down in the spring rains, and none come 

 up in the heat of summer, and no root strike be- 

 yond that depth. We should have no hope from 

 such a soil. It would he drowned in the spring 

 and baked in the summer. 



1 have, myself, used the subsoil plow only upon 

 lands where' it is usually supposed to be least ben- 

 eficial — on a sandy soil so light, that with one 

 yoke of oxen it was run sixteen inches deep. In 

 the severe drought of 1849, I found a manifest ad- 

 vantage in its use, especially upon my corn-field. 

 The drought was so severe as to sear the grass and 

 the leaves of maple trees which had grown well 

 for two years, standing in sward land Iry the road 

 side, and yet the corn, within ten feet, on the sub- 

 soiled lahd, did not roll once in the whole season, 

 even at mid-day, and there was scarcely another 

 piece in the neighborhood which escaped serious 

 injury. My corn land was manured upon the green 

 sward, which was then turned in with a large plow 

 drawn by two yoke of oxen, followed by the sub- 

 soiler drawn by another yoke. I have about nine 

 acres of land which has been subsoiled, on which 

 I have raised all our usual crops, and have grow- 

 ing most luxuriantly, a large number of fruit trees, 

 and I have full faith that whether the season be 

 wet or dry, the process has been essentially bene- 

 ficial to every acre. 



Aside from the mere mechanical effects of sub- 

 soiling, the chemical action of the air upon the sub- 

 soil, a,nd of the particles of soil upon each other, 

 by change of relative position, is very valuable. 



Governor Hill, late of New Hampshire, by the 

 way, a man of progress, and one of the most sue 

 cessful and ardent Agriculturists in our State, 

 called attention, through his "Farmer's Monthly 

 Visitor," to the fact that a granite subsoil, from 

 any depth, soon becomes fertile from the action of 

 the atmosphere, and light and heat. Thrown out 

 from our railroad cuttings, it soon becomes covered 

 with a luxuriant growth, in many cases, of red do 

 vcr. 



But I have not time or space to pursue this sub 

 ject further. Trusting that you may find around 

 you, to sustain you in the manly stand you have 

 taken for the improvement of agriculture, many 

 men like my good old friend Isaac Hill, who was 

 never too old to learn, and had, therefore, always 

 something to teach, I remain 



Your friend, Henry F. French. 

 — Journal of Agriculture. 



emigration. In England, as appears by a parlia- 

 mentary report, there arc sixteen millions of acres, 

 wholly unproductive, that might easily be made 

 productive. The reason why these acres are per- 

 mitted to lie unimproved is, that as soon as they 

 are enclosed, and before they can be sufficiently 

 reclaimed to produce a paying crop, they become 

 subject to tithe and tax. Hence, only men of 

 large capital dare undertake the task, and they 

 prefer to invest their capital where the return is 

 more speedy and more certain. 



(3^" Crowded as England is with a hungry pop- 

 ulation, forty-five per cent, of her soil is not under 

 cultivation. Yet the proportion of cultivated to 

 uncultivated land, is higher in England than in 

 any other country in Europe. In Russia, less than 

 one-fifth of the soil is under cultivation ; in Swe- 

 den, only one-seventh ; in Austria and Holland, 

 one-fifth ; in Switzerland, one-fourth ; in France, 

 fifty-four hundredths. There is really no need of 



For the New England Farmer. 

 ASPARAGUS AND ITS CULTIVATION. 



BY B. F. CUTTER. 



This vegetable succeeds best on a deep, rich, 

 sandy loam, where water never can collect in pud- 

 dles during the winter season. The ground should 

 be prepared for setting the plants by digging 

 trenches four feet apart from centre to centre, and 

 one foot deep by one wide. Well-rotted manure 

 should then be put in to the depth of three or four 

 inches, and mixed and covered with soil. The roots 

 should then be placed in, crowns up, and spread 

 out in their natural position, at the distance of one 

 foot apart on each side of the trench, making two 

 rows in one trench, or 100 plants in 50 feet. They 

 should also be put in alternately, so as not to be 

 opposite each other. They need not at first be 

 covered more than an inch or two, as the soil will 

 naturally get back fast enough during the season, 

 if the ground is well cultivated and kept clear of 

 weeds. With proper cultivation it will do to cut the 

 third year after setting. The beds are prepared 

 afterwards by cutting and clearing off the tops late 

 in autumn, 'and turning the soil away from the 

 roots with the plow as near down to them as can 

 be done without injury ; then put on a good coat 

 of manure, and turn the soil back with the plow, 

 and let it remain till spring, when it should be well 

 mixed by spading or plowing, and harrowing, and 

 the ground levelled with the rake. 



The above is the common mode of cultivation, 

 but some do much more. Salt is very good for as- 

 paragus, and may safely be used in its cultivation 

 in considerable cmantities, by sowing on top of the 

 ground. b. f. c. 



Pelham, April 9, 1852. 



Remarks. — We are obliged to friend Cutter for 

 his communication and the fine bundle of aspara- 

 gus roots which came with it. We shall endeavor 

 to do justice to both. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 POTATOES. 



The best remedy I have found for the potato rot, 



fine crop of excellent potatoes treated as above last 

 year. They are much better for table use than 

 when raised with manure. The following year I 

 dress the ground high and plant with corn, and 

 get a heavy crop. The next year "lay down" with 

 wheat or oats and grass seed. By tins rotation 

 the land is left in good condition for grass for sev- 

 eral years. Try it. Jere. Fullerton. 

 Raymond, N. H., March, 1852. 



