340 



PLC 



FLO 



of the valuQofsuch manures is lost. 

 And 5. By deep ploughing, a hea- 

 vier crop is raised than can be got 

 from a shallow furrow. An intel- 

 ligent farmer, indeed, after point- 

 ing out that deep ploughing increa- 

 ses the staple of the soil, keeps the 

 roots of the corn from being injured 

 by wetness, and also enables the 

 crop longer to resist drought, adds, 

 "/A«re ever found deep ploughing 

 attended with great crops, when 

 ridges, shallow ploughed, in the 

 same field were but indifferent ;" 

 Which seems a decisive proof in 

 favour of deep ploughing." 



It is stated in a communication 

 for the American Farmer,by George 

 W, Jeffreys, Esq. of North Caroli- 

 na, that " Deep ploughing is be- 

 coming much more general every 

 day, and this is greatly facilitated by 

 the use of cast-iron mould-boards, 

 which are now generally used here. 

 By a little use they become bright 

 and smooth, the obstruction is con- 

 sequently less, and deep ploughing 

 is more easy. The advantages of 

 deep ploughing in corn crops are 

 very great. The deeper the soil is 

 ploughed the greater may be the 

 quantity of corn planted on an acre, 

 or any given quantity, and the crop 

 thereby greatly increased. At the 

 commencement of my system of 

 farming, my corn was planted about 

 six feet by three. 1 now plant it 

 on the same land, five feet by two, 

 in many places nearer, with two 

 stalks in a hill, being near doubly 

 as close as formerly, and the crops 

 are nearly in the same proportion." 

 American Farmer, vol. 11. p. 15. 



The Hon. Timothy Pickering,in 

 an address to the Essex Agricultur- 



al Society observes : I entertain no 

 doubt of the utility of deep plough- 

 mg ; not at once, on our lands in 

 general, but by an increase of two 

 or three inches at every annual 

 ploughing, till the earth be stirred 

 and pulverised to the depth of ten 

 or twelve inches. 



A loose, sandy soil may be 

 ploughed too much ; see the arti- 

 cle Sandy Soil. Stiff clayey soils 

 can hardly be ploughed too often, 

 and they will likewise require to be 

 rolled, and harrowed often. 



PLOUGHING HORIZON- 

 TALLY. In a letter from Mr. 

 Jefferson to T. Dalton, Esq. pub- 

 lished in the Massachusetts Agri- 

 cultural Repository, vol. IV. p. 320. 

 Mr. Jefferson observes that "A 

 method of ploughing our hill sides 

 horizontally, introduced into this 

 most hilly part of our country, by 

 Col. J. M, Randolph, my son-in- 

 law, may be worth mentioning to 

 you ; he has practised it a dozen or 

 fifteen years, and its advantages 

 were so immediately observed, that 

 it has already become very general, 

 and has entirely changed and reno- 

 vated the face of our country. Ev- 

 ery rain before that, while it gave 

 temporary refreshment did perma- 

 nent evil, by carrying off our soil, 

 and fields were no sooner cleared 

 than wasted. At present we may 

 say, that we lose none of our soil, 

 the rain, not absorbed in the mo- 

 ment of the fall, being retained in 

 the hollows between the beds, un- 

 til it can be absorbed. 



'^ Our practice is, when we first 

 enter on this process with a rafter 

 level of ten feet span, to lay off 

 guide lines conducted horizontally 



