1846.] Subsoil Cultivation. 27 



of which have succeeded equally well. Among the raspberries 

 were some canes of Fastolf imported, which produced splendid 

 fruit. From pieces of rhubarb roots planted in May, of the new 

 colossal variety, was cut stalks that received an extra prize at the 

 New- York State Agricultural Show, at Poughkeepsie, September, 

 1844, for its extraordinary size, &c. ; and it was by no means as 

 fine as some cut earlier in the season. The strawberries also were 

 much larger, better flavored, more prolific, and continued bearing 

 much longer, than plantations in other parts of the garden, that 

 were much stronger plants and better established. In a word, 

 everything planted on this plot of ground did not appear to be 

 affected in the least with the drought during the extreme dry sum- 

 mer of 1845; they grew vigorously the whole time, while similar 

 things were actually perishing for nourishment the whole country 

 around. 



It is well known to gardeners that the soil of an old garden, 

 however rich from manure, &c., is unsuitable for many plants, 

 and strawberries are particularly so, as also turnips, potatoes and 

 many other things, which all run to leaves and vines, and little 

 or no fruit or roots, in old soils; while all must have observed 

 how they delight in new earth, producing fruit, &c., remarkable 

 both for quantity and quality. Among the reasons why plants 

 thrive better in soils new to them, than on soil on which they have 

 been long cultivated, are: 1st, the extraction from the old soil of 

 those mineral substances required as food by the plant, and which 

 are seldom returned to the land in the ordinary mode of manur- 

 ing, of which it may be supposed the new land has an unexhaust- 

 ed store, and perhaps, 2d, the accumulation, in the old soil, of 

 excrementitious matter from the plants grown there, rejected by 

 them as unsuited and injurious to their growth; all of which, by 

 judicious subsoil cultivation, may be made to answer good and 

 proper ends; for by bringing to the surface the new, fresh subsoil 

 containing those mineral substances, which always have a tenden- 

 cy to be carried that way, and retained there, and by turning to 

 the bottom the old soil containing these rejected excrementitious 

 portions of former crops, so injurious and unsuited to wholesome 



