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furrows will be more easily done, 

 and to expose the soil to the winter's 

 frost, and to the summer's heat : 

 but when the land is ploughed in 

 spring, for a crop of oats, a strong 

 soil cannot be ploughed with safety, 

 above five or six inches. 6. Deep 

 ploughing is advisable on moorish 

 cold soils, as it affords a greater 

 scope for the roots of plants to 

 procure nourishment, admits the su- 

 perabundant moisture to subside 

 from them, and prevents the sum- 

 mer drought from making any in- 

 jurious impression on the growing 

 crops ; for, on such land, shallow 

 ploughing exposes vegetation to be 

 starved or drowned in wet wea- 

 ther, and to be scorched or wither- 

 ed in dry. 7. It is unnecessary to 

 plough deeper, when the seed is 

 sown, than where there is a fair 

 probability of the different kinds of 

 plants sending their roots ; and as 

 beans, clover, and turnips, the only 

 tap-rooted kinds usually cultivated 

 in this country, seldom send their 

 shoots above seven or eight inches 

 down into the soil, and the culmife- 

 rous species not so far, it is probable 

 from these circumstances that from 

 seven to eight inches may be deep 

 enough for all the purposes of ordi- 

 nary culture. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, ploughing even ten inches in 

 the course of a rotation, during the 

 fallow process is advisable. 



" Deep ploughing is not to be 

 recommended: 1. When lime or 

 marie has been recently applied, 

 as they have such a tendency to 

 sink from their weight, and the 

 moisture they imbibe. 2. Where 

 turnips have been eaten off by 

 sheep on the land where they were 



grown. 3. When grass only two or 

 three years old, more especially 

 where it has been pastured with 

 sheep is broken up ; because, ow- 

 ing to the extreme condensation of 

 the soil, by the trampling of the 

 sheep, a furrow, even of a moder- 

 ate depth, to appearance, will make 

 the plough penetrate below the 

 staple that had been cleared, by 

 the cidture given during the previ- 

 ous fallow." 



The advantages of deep plough- 

 ing, according to the same writer 

 are, " 1. Bringing up new mould, 

 which is peculiarly favourable to 

 clover, turnips, beans, and pota- 

 toes ; and indeed without that ad- 

 vantage, these crops usually dimin- 

 ish in quantity, quality and value. 

 2. Deep ploughing is likewise of 

 great consequence to every species 

 of plant, furnishing not only more 

 meansofnourishment to their roots, 

 but, above all, by counteracting the 

 injurious consequences of either 

 too wet, or too dry a season. This 

 is a most important consideration, 

 for if the season be wet, there is a 

 greater depth of soil to absorb the 

 moisture, so that the plants are not 

 likely to have their roots immersed 

 in water ; and in a dry season it is 

 still more useful, for in the lower 

 part of the cultivated soil, there is 

 thus a reservoir of moisture, which 

 is brought up to the roots of the 

 plants, by the evaporation which 

 the heat of the sun occasions. 3. 

 By deep ploughing animal and ve- 

 getable manures, which have such 

 a tendency to rise to the sur- 

 face are properly covered. This 

 cannot be done by shallow plough- 

 ing, in consequence of which much 



