144 



Extracts from J. Dungan^s Address. 



V^OL. X. 



all winter, to the drowning out of the spring 

 crops. 



I remember the time when I considered 

 the dirly furrow left by the Proiity pioucrh, 

 with the rough and undermnied edge it cuts 

 in passing, unpardonable defects! but an 

 extra dozen bushels of corn per acre tlie 

 present year, have convinced me that they 

 are its chief recommendations; after which 

 comes the substantial fact, that to this loose- 

 ness of the soil is attributable, in the after- 

 working of the crop, a saving of one half 

 the labour, and the destruction of weeds in- 

 numerable. We see in the case of Mr. 

 Morris, that " the whole field being remark- 

 ably clean and free from weeds, and the soil 

 in a mellow and friable condition," is noticed 

 by the committee on examination, and made 

 matter of commendation; while Mr. Moriis 

 observes: "This field, when the pZo;/^//mi>- 

 was finished, owing to the open and pulver- 

 ized appearance of the sod, and the inter- 

 stices between the furrows being all filled 

 up, allowing no grass or weeds to be seen, 

 resembled one already harrowed, and con- 

 tinued mellow through the season" — pre- 

 cisely the characteristics of the working of 

 the Centre-draught plougii, and discernible 

 to every practiced eye, even from a distance. 



But to those who have witnessed the 

 ploughing done the present autumn on the 

 farms of Mr. Isaac Roberts, of Spring Mill, 

 and his near neighbour, Mr. Cresson, to add 

 another word in praise of the Prouty & 

 Mears' plough, or the perfection of tali 

 ploughing, will appear quite superfluous. It 

 is only to watch the results of such admira- 

 ble management and 'premium ploughing, 

 when conviction of its importance \\'\\\ fol- 

 low, as naturally as the eftect follows the 

 cause. D. W. 



Conshehocken, Nov. 2Glb, 1845. 



Extracts from J. Dnngan's Address, 



Before the Bucks County Agricultural So- 

 ciety, Tenth month 16th, 1845. 



According to some recent experiments, a 

 crop of potatoes extracts from the soil twenty 

 times as much potash, seven times as much 

 soda, fourteen times as much lime, and near- 

 ly three times as much phosphoric acid, as a 

 crop of wheat. Turnips a much larger pro- 

 portion than potatoes; clover hay, fourteen 

 times as much potash, twenty-four times as 

 much lime, ten times as much sulpliuric acid, 

 and nearly three times as much phosphoric 

 acid. If the results of those experiments 

 are correct, potatoes and turnips should 

 never be cultivated in a soil, the inorganic 

 basis of which is deficient ; and contrary to 



tlie common impression, clover, notwith- 

 standing its fertilizing qualities in some re- 

 spects, is an impoverisher of the land, if not 

 consumed on the farm, or even if consumed 

 and the manure left in a condition for the 

 alkalies, phosphates and other salts to be 

 leached out of it by the rains. Clover me- 

 liorates and supplies the soil with a large 

 amount of vegetable matter, hence it is a 

 clieap and an elficient fertilizer, when there 

 is a good inorganic basis; but when there is 

 a deficiency of potash, lime, sulphuric and 

 phosphoric acid, it must in the long run, if 

 removed from the soil, have an impoverish- 

 ing tendency. 



The soil in this country, is evidently ex- 

 hausted, to a great degree, of some of the 

 elements requisite to a luxuriant growth of 

 clover. It flourished some years since much 

 better than it does now, notwithstanding our 

 superior care in cultivating and manuring 

 the soil. Lime and plaster we are in the 

 habit of supplying. The heavy crops which 

 .♦bllow the application of those manures have 

 exhausted the soil to a very great extent, of 

 other indispensable inorganic constituents. 

 As an evidence of this tact, we have seen 

 clover which had been sown on oats, after 

 corn, which had been ashed in the hill, flour- 

 ishing on the hills from the eflects of the 

 ashes, whilst between the hills the land was 

 entirely bare. The combustion of vegeta- 

 bles dissipates all their organic constituents: 

 but ashes contain all the inorganic elements 

 which have entered into their growth : hence 

 the striking effect of its application to some 

 soils, proves conclusively that those soils are 

 very deficient in some of those elements. 



Many farms in this county have been se- 

 riously injured by deep ploughing, the prac- 

 tice having been adopted in consideration of 

 its favourable effects on soils differently con- 

 stituted. There is still a difference of sen- 

 timent among us in relation to this matter, 

 notwithstanding all the experiments known 

 to me, tend to establish the fact, that deep 

 ploughing impoverishes nearly all the veins 

 of land in this district of country. 



In support of this, we have the evidence 

 of many of the best and most successful 

 farmers in this county. One of the vice- 

 presidents of this Society, whose large and 

 well managed farm is perhaps unrivalled in 

 fertility, testifies that his land cannot be 

 beneficially ploughed more than four inches 

 deep. Our agricultural periodicals, so ex- 

 tensively useful, have done some injury by 

 their indiscriminate and unqualified advo- 

 cacy of deep ploughing. I am so well as- 

 sured of the correctness of the view I have 

 presented in relation to this matter, that I 

 can commend it, with entire confidence in 



