88 



THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



my acqiifiintance, drained deep and used the eub- 

 poil plough with every precaution and care, yet 

 /'ound it liiil ; another, ibilovving precisely the same 

 plan, permanenily improved il)e texiure oi' the 

 soil: both were anxious iliat their (riends sliould 

 profit by eiiher the ixample or the warning, and 

 Josi no opporiuniiy of making ihe result public. 

 For want o("a better term, both experiments were 

 eaiil to liave been niaile on stiff soWs: both are 

 credible men ; and ihe natural result ol' such con- 

 flicting testimonies is, that tlie question remains 

 undecided. Here we (eel the want of soiiie ac- 

 knowiedijed classification of soils, (bunded on che- 

 mical an-ilysie. No two witnesses could be more 

 directly at issue than those alluded to above : and 

 very possibly, both one and the other may have 

 been quoted by the supporters or opposers of the 

 subsoil plough as triumphantly establishing their 

 position. The moment, however, that the two 

 experiments are referred to their place in the se- 

 ological map, the »vhole uifHculiy vanishes. One 

 was made in a slilf, marly clay, on the new red 

 sand-stone formation ; the other on that most te- 

 nacious of all soils, the liaa clay : the one was 

 permanently improved; llie other ran together 

 again almost as soon as done. 



it wouia be but waste of lime to give any addi- 

 tional proof of what has already been fully estab- 

 lisiied, viz : thai on some soils the subsoil plouiih 

 has been eminenily useful ; that on otliers it has 

 signally failed. 'I'lie grand desideratum, at pre- 

 sent, is the discovery of some test which shall ena- 

 ble U-, on the examinaiion of any given soil, to 

 P'O ounce tolerably coiiHiiently that it would be 

 ailvis^iible or useless to subsoil it. I leel lully per- 

 suaded that the per centage of alumina, or pure 

 clay, in any soil, iurnishes the required criierion. 

 In the two instances quoted above, i [irocured an 

 analysis of the soils, and found that, in the one on 

 which subsoiling was of no use, the proportion of 

 alumina was twice as great as in the other : this 

 most unexpected result first suggested the rule 

 above stated; and in all the ca.-es which I have 

 since had an opportunity of examinmg, it has 

 been fully confirmed. A rule of this kind can only 

 be established by numerous experiments on vari- 

 ous soils ; but if those gentlemen who are so anx- 

 ious to promote agricultural improvement, would 

 liindly Ibrward to the secretary of the Yorkshire 

 Agricultural Society the result of their own expe- 

 riments with the subsoil plouiih, accompanied by 

 either an analysis of the subsoil on which it was 

 tried, or even a specimen of the subsoil for analy- 

 sis, the quesiion of subsoil ploughing would very 

 soon be set at res! ; and tt would be as easy to 

 point out the soils which would be benefited by 

 1', as ii is now to distinguish turnip and barley 

 eoiis (rom tliose adopted tor wheat ami beans. 



I will now etate ttie steps taken to test the truth 

 of the rule above mentioned, viz: that the per 

 centage of alumina ought to guide us in the selec- 

 tion of soils lor subsoiling. I wrote to several 

 gentlemen whom 1 knew to have used the subsoil 

 [)lough, and on whose accuracy 1 could rely, and 

 begged that they would furnish me with some ac- 

 count of their experiments, and send me a speci- 

 n>en of the tubfoil lor analysis. I have, wherever 

 practicable, given the account in the words of the 

 writer ; and can onlj' regret that the shortness of 

 time has prevented my collecting more evidence 

 on the subject. The following essay was sent 



me by that very intelligent farmer, Mr. Black, 

 land-agent to the Earl ot' Zetland, at MarsUe, in 

 Cleveland : 



" There is probably no agricu'tural operation 

 that has f)een so strongly recommendeil by some, 

 and so much censured by others, as subsoil plough- 

 ing. Its advocates have represented it as the 

 great panacea lor all soils and situations; and its 

 introduction, they say, will fijrm a new epoch in 

 agriculture. Iselieving that neither party have 

 viewed the suliject [iroperly in all its bennngs, 1 

 beg leave humbly to offer a few remarks, first, on 

 Ihe soil that will receive the most permanent im- 

 provement (i-om subsoil ploughina; and, second, 

 where it can be of no utility. The soil that I be- 

 lieve w;ll receive the most permanent improve- 

 ment from subsoil plougliingis one in which silica 

 predominates; indeed all shallow soils, of the 

 liirhier kind>, will be improved by it ; and particu- 

 larly so il there is any moorland pan, or indurated 

 incrustations, formed by the weight ol the plough 

 going for a number of" j-enrs ai itie same dt-pth, or 

 from other causes. If tlie subsoil is of good qua- 

 lity, and a greater depth of furrow is wished lor, 

 the subsoil plough may be used with advantage ; 

 the percolation of water prepares the subsoil for 

 amalgamation with the surlace. Stong clayey 

 land cannot be permanently im[)roved by subsoil 

 ploughing. Alutnina is a tenacious, compact, ad- 

 hesive substance, iis parts are in minute divisions, 

 and have irrent afRiiity (or each other. In Septem- 

 ber, 1838, I subsuiled two fields of 10 acres each, 

 which hnd been previously drained, and as th^i 

 nomencldlure of soils is not at all inieliigible, and 

 has led to much mischietin detailiuiJ- experiments, 

 I send you the analysis of 300 grains ot" the field 

 since ploughed. 



300 grains consisted of — 



Grains. 

 Moisture, 61 



Soluble matter, principally vegetable, 3 

 Lime, in ihe state of carbonate, 2 



Peroxide of iron, 50 



Alumina, 130 



Silica, or fine land, 20 



Vegetable matter, 33 



Los3, 1 



300 



"One ofihese subsoiled fields produced 35, and 

 the other 27^ bushels of wheat per acre ; the field 

 that produced the greatest number of quarters per 

 acre was subsoiled across the drains; the other 

 parallel with them. I do not attribute this great 

 (ailing off per acre altogether to the parallel sub- 

 soiling, although I think the other is decidedly the 

 tteet method. In December, 1839, one of the 

 fields was ploughed, but no traces remained of tha 

 subsoil plough having been used. I expected, 

 from the complete breaking up of the subsoil, that 

 the parts would have remained distinct (or years ; 

 but such was not the case: they had run tosjeiher, 

 and were as compact as when first moved by the 

 plough, without even the appearance of water- 

 shake or fissure. This I was not prepared to ex- 

 pect. Separated hy a fence only is another field 

 of a similar descrii)tion, which was (iillovv at the 

 ^ame time, but not subsoiled ; the crop on this 

 field was quite equal to the other. A neighbor 

 subsoiled one acre of a field which was sown with 



