THE FARMERS' REGISTER. 



89 



beans ; lliis field I frequently eaw fhroupli the 

 euniriitT, anil durinjj iliai peiiud the pnil fiubsoil- 

 ed vvas by no means superior lo the oilu'r."' 



On reading tills accouni my atieniion was na- 

 turally arri'Sied by llie great dlH'eronee between 

 the produce ol" the two fields subsoiled l)y Mr. 

 Black ; and as it was in poriant to at-cerlain 

 WiU'tlier any siilRcient ;;aui=e could be a>si;riied iu- 

 ilependt ni ol the different nielhiuts adi'pted in 

 Bubsial ploughing them, ! addressed him ihe Ib'- 

 lowing questions : — 1.-= the field which produced 

 35 bucihels per acre ol' belter quality than the one 

 which produced 27| ; or vvas it betier nianured, 

 or the seed time nuire favorable? His answer 

 was as follows ; — "The land, (viz., that which 

 produced 35 bushels) is much inlerior. I ascribe 

 ihe superior crop lo the field having been more 

 recently drained than the other. 1 have always 

 found the first crop alier draining above an aver- 

 age. Lime, too, was applied to this field two 

 year* belLre, winch did not appear to have acuni 

 until the water was taken oH': and last, althouiih 

 not least, it was subsoiied across the drains. As 

 regards manure, I consider the fields alike in ih n 

 respect. Both fields were sown under lavoralile 

 circumstances." Draininir after lime appears 

 quite adequate to account for this increased pro- 

 duce; but even should we aitribute a poriion of it 

 lo subsoiling across instead of parallel to the 

 drains, the whole effect seems to have vanished 

 before the next ploughiiig, as we read in JMr. 

 Black's account. In confirmation of Mr. Black's 

 views, I will quote the opinion of Mr. Vansi;tari, 

 of Kirkleatham, wfiose e.x|)erimeiiis I had an op- 

 portunity of observing whilst in progress. I need 

 hardly add that they were made in the mosi judi- 

 cious and effectual manner. '■ Upon subsoihng I 

 have nearly made up my mind, and am satisfied 

 that it is not of permanent use on this soil." We 

 have here the experience of Mr. Vansittart, Mr. 

 Black, and a neighboring Ifirmer, all of whom 

 agree in thinking that subsoiling is of no use on 

 their land. 'Ihe quality of land is the same in all : 

 consisting of a level and uniform tract of that pe- 

 culiarly tenacious soil, the lias clay, containing, as 

 we see by the analysis furnished by Mr. Black, 

 (made at Edinburg,) no less than 4.3 per cent, of 

 alumina or pure clay. The next evidence I shall 

 ndduce is that of Mr. Stevenson, of Rainion, near 

 Boroughbridge, a very enterprisino: and judicious 

 tenant-farmer; whose farm chiefly consists of a 

 etiff red clay, on the red sand-stone formation. He 

 began by subsoiling 17 acres in the win'er of 1835- 

 '6: the summer lollowing, these 17 acres grew a 

 remarkable crop of turnips, though the year vvas 

 in general a failing one for that croM. The turnips 

 were Ibllowed by barley, seeds, wheat — all good 

 crops. When ploughed deep again lor turnips, at 

 the end of the course, it was fimnd to work much 

 fighter than the land m.t subsoiled. The man 

 who held the piouirh in botii instances Ibund a 

 great difiierence in the mellowness of the soil 

 turned up, and consequently iri the labor of the 

 horses. The subsoil, on analysis, showed 24 pr-r 

 cent, of alumina. The exact analysis is as loi- 

 iows : 



Specific gravity, 2,070. 



100 parts contain— 



Of water of absorption, 7 



Silica, 6.5 



Alumina, 24 



Oxide of iron. 

 Soluble mutter, 



Loss, 



^ 



2 



100 



JMr. Stevenson found so much benefit from the 

 operation, that lie has since subsoiled 27 acres, 

 and means to continue it on a large scale. A 

 irlance at the experiments above described ena- 

 tiles us to make a first approximation to the solu- 

 tion of this much debated question. It appears 

 probable that a soil containing not more lirin 24 

 per cent, ol alumina may be subsoiled with advan- 

 tage, bui that when it ex ecds 40jpcr cent, no per- 

 manent improvement is derived Irom the oj)era- 

 lion. Many more experiments must be made 

 helbre this approximation can be so modified aa 

 to make it of general application : and I would 

 beg to suffgesl to those gentlemen who may 

 liiel disposed to assist in the inquiry, that any 

 account of the use of the subsoil plough on land 

 containing more than 24 and less than 40 per 

 cent of alumina would be particularly valuable, 

 as the first point to ascertain is, the maximum 

 quantity of alumina which may exi-t in Innd 

 wiihuui making it unfit Ibr subsoiling. From what 

 has been stated above, there is reason lo suppose 

 that this maximum point lies between 24 and 43 

 per cent.; every experiment, therelbre, made on 

 soil containing more than the one and less than 

 the other, reduces the doubtful soils within nar- 

 rower limits. It would also be advis.ible to try 

 ihe effect of subsoiling on two soils containing- 

 equal quanliiies ol alumina, but otherwise difler- 

 ingin tile composition, as it is possible that other 

 substances, in combination with alumina, may in 

 some degree a Heel the result. 



I have, thus liir, confined myself to stiff soils; 

 but as the subsoil plough has been liule used on 

 light land, and ils effect therefore is little known, 

 the Ibllowing paper Irom Mr. Denison, of Kiln- 

 wick, Percy, will be read with great interest: 



[Mr. Denison's operations were made on a field 

 consisting of sandy hills, light, blow away soil, 

 j and marshy hollows — peaty soils. After having 

 j described the drainage and ils expense, he says:] 

 I "The first process after the driiins were com- 

 plete was in the months of March and April to 

 pare and burn ; and lo sow rape and turnips, 

 drilled with half-inch bones and soot in the lollow- 

 ing month. The crop was not at all regular ; being 

 good where the soil vvas deep and black, but very 

 bad where it vvas sandy : the sole being hard and 

 the action of the sun having great power lo the 

 very roots of the plants. 



" In the winter of the same year, after the tur- 

 nips and rape were consumed, I plouizhed land in 

 the direclion of the old furrows, and the subsoil 

 plough fbllowed, vvoiked fiy two oxen and four- 

 horses; loosening the" hard sandy sole on the 

 hiizher ground, and tearing up Ihe roots of the 

 rushes, &c., on the low. In this stale the land lay 

 till the month of April Ibllowing, when Finlay- 

 son's drag-harrow was applied across the plouirh- 

 ings, which brought up all the roots and rutibish 

 to the surface; these were then raked off and 

 burnt. Ithensovved the black Tartarian oats, and 

 ploughed them in ; the ground was tlien harrowed 

 and pressed down widi a clod-crushing roller,, 

 made by Mr. Crofckill, of Beverley, which imple- 



