AND H O R T I C U L T U fi A L REGISTER. 



PUnLISHED BY JOSEPH BRECK & CO., NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (AGnicuLTDuAL Warehouse.) 



vol.. MX.l 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST .5, 1840. 



[NO. 9. 



N. E . FARMER, 



From ihe Third Report on tlie Agriculture of Massachusetts. 



ON DRAINING AND SUBSOIL PLOUGHHSTG. 

 The statements which I give below, are from un 

 e.xamination had before a largo committee of the 

 British Parliament, relating to ili-aiiiing and subsjil 

 ploughing. I at first intended to give only a short 

 abridgment of them ; but they are of such remarka- 

 ble importance, that I have chosen to give thejn at 

 large. I know they will bo read with the great- 

 est interest. 



Statement hy T. F. Ktnncilii, Esq., of Dunure, for- 

 merly M. P. for the Ayr Burs^hs, respecting his 

 experience of Ihe system of Drainins: and Suhsoit 

 Ploughing, recommended by Mr Smith, of Denn- 

 ston, in the County of Stirling. 

 I have practised Mr Smith's system of draining 

 and snbsoil ploughing upon my farm, in the county 

 of Ayr, during the last three years, and the result 

 has fully justified every anticipation of benefit- It 

 is applicable to all soils not rocky which have not 

 an absolutely porous subsoil — the great object be- 

 ing, that the subsoil should be rendered anificially 

 porous, and that all rain water should sink on the 

 spot on which it falls, and that no running of water 

 should take place on the surface. 



There was, at the outset, considerable difficulty 

 in having the work executed; it was arduous, and 

 those engaged in the superintendence and labor 

 were adverse, because they did not see the princi- 

 ples of the. system, or the advantages which were 

 likely to arise. A little encouragement and a dis- 

 tinct intimation that there must be perseverance, 

 overcame every difficulty. This observation ap- 

 plies to the subsoil ploughing, while some difficulty 

 attached to the perfect execution of the drains, in 

 having them made of the full depth of .'30 inches, 

 and filled neither too much nor too little, and with 

 all due care in all particulars which must be at- 

 tended to to secure permanence in the effects. 1 

 have invariably made the drains twelve feet apart, 

 in order to secure the effect beinrr complete ; be- 

 ing much impressed with the folly of spending a 

 considerable sum per acre in the operation, and 

 still failing to obtain what I may term perfection in 

 the system. I have also used broken stones as the 

 material when they could be obtained within such 

 a distance as to prevent the e,\'pense of cartage be- 

 ing excessive ; in other cases I have used tiles, 

 with a layer of three or four inches of stones or 

 gravel over them. When stones alone were used, 

 the drains have been uniformly -30 inches deep, 

 leaving 10 inches for the operation of the plough 

 and subsoil plough; where tiles have been used, 

 the depth has been about 24 inches, the same depth 

 for the ploughs being left as in the other cases. A 

 crop of oats has generally been taken after the 

 drains have been executed, and the land lias been 

 comparatively dry ; but even the visible effect has 

 been very imperfect until the subsoil plou"h has 



been applied. By means of this plough the whole 

 obdurate uudercrust of the soil has been broken up, 

 and all water has instantly escaped, and after six 

 or eight months of the alternations ot heat and cold, 

 wet and dry, a most remarkable change has appear- 

 ed in he condition of the soil ; what was before ob- 

 durate and retentive, has become comparatively 

 mellow and friable, and the longer the time since 

 the operation has been performed, the grenter has 

 been the perceptible progressive effect. The ope- 

 ration of the subsoil plough has produced cracks 

 and crevices and interstices to the depth of 16 

 inches ; through these the rain passes off with ra- 

 pidity, and these crevices are immediately filled by 

 the air of the atmosphere, and during dry and hot 

 weather these cracks and crevices are multiplied to 

 :in indefinite extent, and in clay soils to an extent 

 quite remarkable. Instead of resuming its original 

 tenacity, there seems to be a decided change ef- 

 fected in the character of the component parts of 

 the land to the depth the plough has reached. It 

 is for the skilful farmer to apply manure judiciously 

 according to the state of each field. Drilled green 

 crop has followed a crop of oats, and the land which 

 before was unfit to grow turnips, has become fitted 

 for that crop, although perhaps a little rough and 

 cloddy during the first year. Next has come a crop 

 of wheat, and in it has been seen the great and re- 

 markable effects of the system, in the condition of 

 the soil and the quantity of iiioduce. Land which 

 was before, in truth, unfit to carry wheat from ex- 

 treme wetness, has become altogether the reverse, 

 being sown with wheat without ridges and furrows, 

 being perfectly porous; all rain disappearing as it 

 falls, and being carried ofi'by filtration to the many 

 drains, and each drain having little more than a 

 thread of water to carry off. Possibly the land of 

 which I speak might have previously yielded a pre- 

 carious produce of 20, or at the utmost 24 bushels 

 of wheat per imperial acre, while in its improved 

 state, the actual produce of the crop of 1635 has 

 been 40 bushel.-J thrashed out, a few bushels of 

 which were not very good in quality, owing to what 

 is now to be mentioned. The fault of the crop 

 was, that it was too strong, and there being much 

 rain while it ripened it was laid down. Had this 

 not occurred, the quality of the whole would have 

 been good, and there is no doubt that six or eight 

 bushels more per acre would have been obtained. 

 The facts, therefore, are most satisfactoi-y, because 

 the result in the first wheat crop may truly be said 

 to be twenty bushels of wheat of extra produce, in 

 return for an expense of 10/. IOj. per acre, which 

 was the cost of the drainage and the extra expense 

 of subsoil ploughing. It ought to be stated that 

 with the turnips, the land was well manured, and 

 subsequently abundantly. After the wheat was 

 carried, and during the winter, the field was plough- 

 ed about nine inches deep with the ordinary plough, 

 and remained rough until the month of March, the 

 whole rains of winter, which were excessive, sink- 

 ing as they fell. Towards the end of March the 

 field was harrowed, drilled, and sown with beans 

 without any manure. The crop is promising, and 

 there can be no doubt that the powers of the soil 



which have now been brought into action, will ren- 

 der it abundant. The soil is so powerful, that it is 

 intended to take a cro]) of wheal after the beans, 

 without any manure, but taking care to make the 

 laud perfectly clean ; and there is little doubt that 

 the wheat crop of ISi? so treated, will lie more 

 productive than that of 1S3.'>, because it will be less 

 supenibundant in straw, and incur less probable in- 

 jury from being laid down. 



My experience, en a moderate scale, leads me 

 to say, that the system is the greatest discovery 

 which has been made in agriculture, (because it is 

 applicable to soils hitherto almost intractable and 

 most expensive to cultivate,) provided it be applied 

 only where the altitude justifies the undertaking, 

 by securing a climate suitable to valuable crops. 

 It in truth converts almost the worst into the best 

 land — that is, the most powerful in respect of pro- 

 duction, because the quality of land to which it is 

 applicable, the heavy clays and retentive subsoils 

 will yield heavier crops after such treatment than 

 the lighter loams and many of those varieties of 

 soil which hitherto have been so pleasant to the 

 agriculturist to cultivate. 



The reformation which the system effects on 

 lands which previously were looked on as hopeless, 

 is quite surprising, and no one believes it until it 

 is seen; but again I say, that the whole success 

 depends on the perfect and complete manner in 

 which the operations are executed, as any thing 

 being merely an approximation to the system, will 

 end in disappointment. The expense of what is 

 perfect must not be grudged, and as sure as it is 

 liberally given will it be abundantly repaid. I 

 would also say, that the effects of the draining and 

 snbsoil ploughing are dependent on each other; 

 the one is comparatively worthless without the 

 other; the ploughing would be thrown away with- 

 out the previous draining, and the draining is a 

 poor improvement compared to the combined ef- 

 fect with the subsoil ploughing. 



I may state that my bailiff and the ploughmen 

 who worked the subsoil plough, certainly, in the 

 outset thought my orders almost foolish, (who nev- 

 ertheless cari-ied them into effect faithfully,) but 

 now see the effects of the system, and are fully 

 sensible of the extraordinary benefits resulting 

 from it. 



The Various views of the advantages might be 

 multiplied to any extent, but a concise statement 

 of them seems to be, that the most obdurate and 

 intractable soils assume a friable and mellow char- 

 acter, and at the same time are rendered perma- 

 nently most productive. A system which is appli- 

 cable to 10 acres is equally so, in its principle, to 

 10,000 or 100,000 acres, and consequently the sys- 

 tem becomes a most important national considera- 

 tion. -My decided impression is, that capital judi- 

 ciously applied in the execution of this system may 

 yield a return varying from 10 to or 50 per cent 

 I according to the various circumstances attending 

 the infinite variety of cases in which the system 

 may be carried into effect. Every thing depends 

 ! on the mode and perfection of execution. If any 

 ! one thinks of limiting the expense of complete ex. 



