220 OF PLOUGHING^. 



of the plants, but, above all, by preventing the injurious 

 consequences of either too wet or too dry a season. This 

 is a most important consideration, as, if the season is wet, 

 there is a greater depth of soil for absorbing 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 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, also, the ground may be more effectu- 

 ally cleared of roots and weeds of every description : at the 

 same time, where they abound, it is a good rule, not to bury 

 them by the first ploughing, otherwise it becomes difficult 

 afterwards to clean the land: But after the land is cleaned 

 by hand-picking, and by the instruments employed for that 

 purpose, it is then proper to raise fresh mould, to incorpo- 

 rate with the manure to be afterwards applied. By deep 

 ploughing, animal and vegetable manures may be covered, 

 which is not the case with shallow ploughing, in conse- 

 quence of which, much of the value of such manures is lost.* 

 5. An intelligent farmer, after pointing out that deep plough- 

 ing increases 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, " / have ever found 

 deep ploughing attended rcith good crops, when ridges, shallow 

 ploughed, in the same field, were but indifferent, a decisive 

 proof in favour of deep ploughing."! 



* It is hardly possible to bury animal manures, every atom of it rises 

 to the surface ; but fossil manures have a tendency to sink. 



\- The Norfolk farmers, generally possessing a thin light soil, with a 

 poor and barren subsoil, prefer shallow ploughing at all times, and argue, 

 that it is easier to keep a small quantity .of soil in good heart, than a 

 greater quantity, which would be formed by deep ploughing, and also 



