OF PLOUGHING. 217 



and at some seasons, perhaps, it might be advantageous to 

 plough it with four horses ; but where the land is thin and 

 poor, and the means of enriching it scanty, the depth of 

 ploughing ought to be in proportion to the quantity of ma- 

 nure. 2. Deep ploughing is highly advantageous upon 

 every soil, and for all crops, except on those soils where 

 the substratum is of an ochry sand, which soils, in fact, are 

 scarce worthy of being cultivated, unless in situations, where 

 much alluvial compost, or short town manure, can be pro- 

 cured. 3. It is a general rule, never to plough so deep as 

 to go through the soil that was formerly manured and cul- 

 tivated, excepting upon fallow, and then only when you 

 have plenty of lime or dung to add to the new soil. 4. 

 Against deep ploughing it is urged, that more manure is 

 thereby required to enrich a great body of cultivated soil, 

 than it would do to enrich a smaller quantity. But this ob- 

 jection is evidently more specious* than solid. In fact, 

 whilst lime sinks in the ground, putrescent manures ascend. 

 In a burying-ground, the soil is never meliorated below the 

 grave, whilst it is enriched to the very surface. There is 

 no great danger, therefore, in putting dung deep. If laid 

 en shallow, it is not only dried up, but actually volatilizes 

 and is lost. 5. Farmers who follow the practice of deep 

 ploughing, find a great advantage from it, both in dry and 

 in wet seasons. The extreme of either is not so prejudicial 

 as if the crop had been ploughed with a shallow furrow. 

 6. Many farmers recommend, when fallowing land, to go 

 as deep as possible the first furrow, by which the subsequent 

 furrows will be more easily done, and to expose the soil to 

 the winter's frost and to the summer's heat j but when land 

 is ploughed in spring for beans or oats, a strong soil cannot 

 be ploughed with safety, above five or six inches, and when 

 lime or dung has been mixed with the soil, a shallow fur- 



