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PLO 



PLO 



either in spring or summer will do 

 very well, if time can be spared 

 for it. 



But it is best that the most or 

 all of our tillage land should be 

 ploughed in autumn, both in new 

 and old ground. It saves time 

 and labour in the following spring, 

 the hurrying season, when more 

 work is to be done than we can 

 well get time for ; and when our 

 teams are usually much weaker 

 than they are in the fall. But 

 land ploughed in the fall must be 

 again ploughed in the spring ; and 

 a weaker team will perform it for 

 its having been ploughed in au- 

 tumn. In very light old ground 

 a single horse may perform it ; and 

 two ploughings are better than one 

 in most cases. 



Green sward land may be 

 ploughed at any season of the 

 year, if it be not too dry, nor too 

 much frozen. In the former case 

 the plough will go very hard ; in 

 the latter ploughing is impractica- 

 ble, which is the case for four 

 months together, commonly, from 

 the first of December to the last 

 of March. 



Farmers generally choose to 

 plough green sward ground when 

 it is pretty wet, if it be not miry ; 

 because the labour is more easy 

 for man and beast. 



The English farmers practise 

 ploughing green sward in January, 

 not only because they have lei- 

 sure, but because it is so wet as to 

 plough easily. They call \t plough- 

 ing in lays ; and it is said to be 

 well performed, when the sward is 

 all completely turned over, with- 

 out lapping one furrow on another. 



The depth that the plough should 

 go is a matter that ought to be at- 

 tended to. The depth should be 

 governed in some measure by the 

 staple of the soil. Where the soil 

 is deep, deep ploughing is best. 



But where the soil is very thin, 

 shoal ploughing is necessary ; for 

 if the plough turn up much of the 

 under stratum, and mix it with the 

 soil, it will be rather hurtful, at 

 least for some years after. 



Land should always be ploughed 

 out of sward with a deeper furrow 

 than will be necessary afterwards, 

 through the whole course of tillage. 

 AH the after ploughings will be 

 the more easily performed. 



Mr. Young, by attending parti- 

 cularly to the depth of ploughing 

 in various towns in England, found 

 that the average depth in sandy 

 soils was four inches, in loamy 

 soils four and three quarters, and 

 in clayey soils three and an half. 

 But in Ireland they plough much 

 deeper; sometimes not less than 

 nine or ten inches. 



Our farmers are sometimes led 

 to plough too shallow, to save a 

 little labour. And some are too 

 much afraid to turn up what they 

 call dead earth. But they should 

 know that all the soil above the 

 hard pan may be well employed 

 in tillage, for some crops or other; 

 and that if they turn up a red soil, 

 it ^ill in a year or two become 

 dark, and fit to nourish plants, by 

 being exposed to the sun and the 

 weather, and imbibing rich parti- 

 cles from the atmosphere. 



Trench ploughing is sometimes 

 practised to advantage ; and the 

 culture of some plants with tap 



