vol.. XI.\. NO. 11. 



AND HORTICULTURAL REGISTER, 



85 



PLOUGHING. 



Fanners liavR bcoii considerably divided in 

 opinion on two points connected vvitli ploughs, 

 or rather with ploughing ; one of these regardinir 

 tlie manner in whicli tiie furrow slice should be 

 turned over ; and the other, the deptli to which 

 land should be ploughed. Some ht'.ve contended 

 that the furrow slice should never be laid flat, but 

 always in such an ini:lined position, that the edge 

 of one slice should josi rest on the next one, leav- 

 ing under the edge su raised, a vacancy nearly as 

 deep as tlie thickness of the furrow slice. This, 

 it it contended, is advantageous, by liastening de- 

 composition, and by allowing water to pass freely 

 oiF without injury to young plants. Other far- 

 mers maintain as strenuously that the furrow slice 

 should in all cases be laid perfectly flat, or revers- 

 ed in such a manner ihdt a field aftur ploughing 

 should be as level as before, the plough simply 

 reversing the surface of the slice. In this, as in 

 a majority of controverted points, our experience 

 and observation leads us to conclude that both 

 sides are partly right, and both partly wrong. We 

 liave found that, if on lands strong and with a 

 tenacious or impervious subsoil, which retained for 

 some time what water fell upon it, the furrow slice 

 was slightly lapped, so as to leave a space below, 

 young plants suffered less from a wet season, or an 

 undue accumulation of water, than they would if 

 the furrow slice was fully inverted, and the surface 

 made smooth and even. On the contrary, we 

 have been led to believe that on a light soil, or 

 one inclining to be dry or porous, it was better to 

 invert the surface completely, and by rolling, ren- 

 der the surface smooth, and its particles as com- 

 pact as possible. A surface so treated, will retain 

 its moisture longer than if left in a state more 

 loose and friable, and the conducting power will 

 be increased by the particles being brought more 

 closely in contact. Let the farmer, then, whose 

 subsoil is impermeable to water, lay his furrows as 

 dipping as he pleases ; the more spaci; below, the 

 bettor for him; but on a light porous soil, lay the 

 surface flat, and make it as dense as it well can 

 be. The benefit, which compressing sandy soils 

 confers, is well understood in Norfolk, in England, 

 where the treading of the sheep in feeding the 

 turnips in the field, is considered not the least ben- 

 eficial part of the culture required for the produc- 

 tion of wheat. 



Nearly the same remarks may be applied to the 

 other controverted point, viz: that which relates 

 to the depth of ploughing. 1 he propriety or im- 

 propriety of deep ploughing must be determined 

 by the soil itself; by its condition, in reference to 

 a supply of vegetable matter in the soil, and the 

 depth to which it has been formerly ploughed. 

 Where the stratum of fertile soil is thin, and the 

 subsoil, no matter from what cause, incapable of 

 promoting vegetation, it is bad policy to bring this 

 infertile subsoil to the surface, as a stratum in 

 which seeds are to germinate. And where the soil 

 is permeable to the deptli of twelve or eighteen 

 inches, or as low as the plough can penetrate, and 

 is filled with fertilizing materials, deposited by the 

 processes of nature, or by manure applied to the 

 surface in cultivation, then the plough may run 

 deep without fear of injury to the present crop, and 

 the certainty of benefit to the future ones. We 

 think the true method of rendering any soil deep 

 and fertile, is to plough no deeper, and bring up no 

 more of the infertile earth at a time to the surface, 



than can be thoroughly corrected by manures, to 

 be incorporated with it, and thus made Iriable and 

 productive. At each successive ploughing, if 

 this course is followed, the soil will be gradually 

 deepened and rendered productive to any desired 

 depth. I'v pursuing this course of manuring and 

 ploughing, .ludge Powell rendered his soils fertile 

 to the deptli of fourteen inches, and whi're the 

 roots of plants have this depth ol good earth to 

 range in and seek their fooil, the farmer can 

 hardly fail of securing first rale crops. Every part 

 of a soil BO prepared, is fit for the germin.ilion of 

 seeds to the lowest depth to which the plough can 

 reach ; and the more thorough the ploughing is 

 given, the greater will be the surface exposed to 

 the benefits of leration, or the ameliorating influ- 

 ences of the atmosphere. One of the greatest 

 differences between the old and the new husbandry, 

 depends on this question of ploughing. In the 

 old mode, the plough was used year after year to 

 the same depth, and the manure applied with refer- 

 ence to the crop solely, while the improvement of 

 the soil was wholly left out of sight. As a natural 

 consequence, " tliere was no depth of soil," and 

 when manure failed, the fertility of the land was 

 gone, with scarcely a possibility of renovation un- 

 der such a jjrocoss. In the new husbandry, the 

 permanent improvement of the soil, by gradual 

 manuring and deepening, is kept steadily in view ; 

 and hence the accumulation and use of manures 

 lias received an additional importance. The gar- 

 den is usually far the most fertile part of the farm, 

 and this is brought about by the gradual incorpo- 

 ration of manures wiili the subsoil raised at each 

 successive ploughing, until the requisite depth and 

 fertility is gained. On lands long ploughed to a 

 uniform depth, as they were under the old system, 

 the pressure of the plough on the same surface, 

 gradually formed an impenetrable strata, thus 

 forming a fatal obstruction to the roots of plants, 

 where it did not naturally exist. In England, on 

 soils inclining to clay, and which have been under 

 the plough occasionally, or almost perpetually for 

 centuries, this impermeable pan is cnnimoii, and 

 one of the most decided advantages found to re- 

 sult from the subsoil plough, i.-i the breaking up 

 and demolition ol this artificial construction to the 

 spread and depth of the roots of plants. On the 

 old cultivated fields of New England, the same 

 difficulty exists more or less, and can be lemoved, 

 and the soil rendered fertile by the same means so 

 successful abroad. 



The too freciuent ploughing of land is not to be 

 recommended in any case, and unless absolutely 

 required to destroy foul weeds, it should receive 

 no further moving than is requisite to fit it for a 

 crop. The great mistake of Tull, was, that plough- 

 ing or pulverization would supersede the use ot 

 manuring. lint experience shows, what indeed 

 philosophy inculcates, that beyond a certain point, 

 ploughing is injurious ; and that, though essential 

 benefits are derived to the soil from the action of 

 atmospheric agents, manuring in some form, is in- 

 dispensable to successful farming. It may be said 

 that an application of manure should take place 

 every time land is either ploughed and cropped. 

 On land that has been brought to a high state of 

 fertility, the decomposition of the rich sward will 

 usually prove a suliicient dressing for a single 

 crop; but for a repetition or rotation of crops, 

 manures cannot be withheld without a certain de- 

 terioration of the soil, and a probable lessening of 

 the crop. Ploughing and manuring must go to- 



gether, and without this combination, each will be 

 found defective and incapable of producing such 

 results as are certain to ensue when both separate 

 processes are skilfully united. We are therefore 

 disposed to consider every decided improvement in 

 the plough, as a sure indication of progress in 

 agriculture ; a proof that another step in the cor- 

 rection and dissipation of ancient error has been 

 gained ; and the way opened and the means 

 provided for still further and more important ad- 

 vances. 'Hbnny Vutlivnlor. 



From the same. 



PRESERVING WINTER APPLES. 



Mkssrs. Gavloru & TucKFE — Last April a 

 year, I visited a friend, when he made me a present 

 of a large dish of fine flavored apples, and it being 

 out of season to have apples in such a good state 

 of preservation, I inquired his mode of keeping 

 them. He informed me that in the fall he made a 

 box six feet long and two feet deep, which he 

 sunk into the ground to a level with the surface, 

 then he filled the box with sound apples, and cov- 

 ered it with boards in the form of a roof, but leav- 

 ing an opening at both ends. The roof he also 

 covers with straw and earth, to the usual thickness 

 of an apple or potato hole. In this condition he 

 leaves it till the apples are frozen, but as soon as 

 a thaw comes, he makes it perfectly air tight, and 

 in a few days the frosl is altogether removed, and 

 the apples are as fresh and perfect as when they 

 were taken from the trees. 



I am aware that this is an excellent plan, be- 

 cause I know that most of the apples and potatoes 

 in holes rot and decay, in consequence of the 

 warm and foul air accumulating having no oppor- 

 tunity to escape. I thought, however, to improve 

 it. I consequently, last fall, buried my apples in 

 the usual way ; then I took four strips of one inch 

 boards and nailed them together in the form of a 

 chimney, leaving a vacancy in the middle, of one 

 inch square ; this I placed in the centre of the ap- 

 ple hole, the end resting on the apples inside, and 

 the other end projecting two feet above the ground. 

 This succeeded far beyond my expectations. The 

 vacancy in the chimney was barely sufficient to 

 permit the warm and foul air to escape, and not 

 so large as to let the frost in to affect the apples. 

 My family, during the winter, whenever they wish- 

 ed to have apples for consumption, only removed 

 the chimney and reached in with the hand to get a 

 supply, and then replaced it again ; and I can as- 

 sure you, that of eiglil bushels which were thus 

 buried, only three rotten and five or six slightly 

 affected apples were discovered, whereas my neigh- 

 bors, who buried their apples in the old fashioned 

 way, lost a large quantitv. 



WILLIAM J. EVER. 



Catlatvissa, P:. July llli, 1840. 



Importance of .liiricuUurc. — The world is in a 

 fair way to be driven into an appreciation of the 

 importance of agriculture, and the great truth will 

 yet be understood, that to the labor of the hus- 

 bandman, to the production of actual wealth from 

 the soil, more than to all the transmutations and 

 changes such wealth may afterwards undergo, 

 is national prosperity owing. I he interests of the 

 world are identified ; it is only when these inter- 

 ests are disarranged by ignorance or cupidity, that 

 general distress ensues. — lb. 



