286 



Tfie Centre-Draught and Subsoil Ploughs. 



Vol. VI. 



moisture in a rainy season, aud admitting a 

 full evaporation from below in a time of 

 drooofht — circumstances, essentially favoura- 

 ble to tlie growth of corn, which every one 

 knows is accelerated by heat, when accom- 

 panied by a proper degree of moisture: I 

 therefore consider the subsoil plough the per- 

 fection of iiriproved cultivation ; but to be able 

 properly to appreciate its services, it is neces- 

 sary to witness its operations; and although 

 not so easily worked in some soils as in others, 

 it will be (bund of the greatest service in all, 

 giving the means of gradually deepening the 

 surface-soil, permitting the washings of the 

 manure to descend into the pulverized sub- 

 soil, where it will be retained, instead of 

 being permitted to pass off as heretofore, by 

 the impenetrable hard-pan, whenever the 

 earth is glutted with rain; and hence it is, 

 that the soil might be deepened every time 

 it is turned ; the operation of subsoiling, how- 

 ever, not being necessary perhaps, ottener 

 than once in three or four years. To witness 

 the subsoil plough passing up and down the 

 furrows to the depth of about a foot, by the 

 strength of a pair of small, active horses, 

 walking about four miles an hour, with the 

 ease, comparatively, that a man might cut 

 cheese with a knife, was to me a treat that I 

 would not have lost for any sum that could be 

 offered ; it has opened the subsoil of my own 

 mind, and I calculate the augmentation of its 

 future crops will be pretty considerable. The 

 lad who guided the subsoil plough, and whu 

 was competent to the task, was not, compara- 

 tively speaking, much higher than the han- 

 dles ; another boy about the same height took 

 his place in his absence, and by these two lads 

 the ploughs upon the farm of Mr. Reybold are 

 worked, in a manner that would do credit to 

 many full-grown men; tlieyaie fine lads, and 

 well deserve this notice, which is only their 

 due. And already do I perceive the effect of 

 that subsoiling which I have said my mind 

 has received, for I can now see, that very 

 much of the labour of a farm, which has here- 

 tofore been performed by men, might be quite 

 as well executed by lads; and the thought 

 just now strikes me, that a great portion of 

 the difference between the value of agricul- 

 tural labour in this country and England, 

 might be obviated, by substituting the services 

 of lads for that of men; for there is, compara- 

 tively, little of the labour on a farm in ordi- 

 nary times, that may not be performed by 

 stout lads ; and I would, therefore, propose 

 that the youths of that description which are 

 so numerous at the alms-house and other 

 charitable institutions of every town and city, 

 might be put to that purpose, receiving in re- 

 turn their food and clothing; the institution, 

 as well as its inmates being thus relieved, 

 one frona receiving and the other from paying 



the wages of idleness — two states of being, 

 between which it would be difficult to know 

 how to choose. Here would be a saving of 

 another " rent" at once, and the thing would 

 be made to work to a " charm ;" for by means 

 of the long handles of the Prouty plough, and 

 the wheel to regulate the depth, a lad of 14 

 or 15 is quite competent to the task of guiding 

 it. I understand that Mr. Reybold has pur- 

 chased both these ploughs, and means to go 

 thoroughly into a general system of subsoil- 

 ing, which will be the means, I have no 

 doubt, of augmenting his crops far more than 

 the amount of their cost the present season ; 

 his potatoe-crop showing a nearer approxima- 

 tion to a " Vermonter," than any that has 

 hitherto been grown in this part of the 

 country. 



I look forward with anticipation to the 

 " day's ploughing," which is to be given under 

 the auspices of the Agricultural Society of 

 Philadelphia, with ploughs of Prouty's make, 

 as advertised in the pages of the Cabinet; 

 and trust that the committee of arrangement 

 will, in your next number, fix a day for the 

 trial ; if it be delayed until the middle of the 

 next month, so that the press of early spring 

 cultivation shall have passed, I shall expect 

 to meet hundreds of my friends upon the joy- 

 ous occnsion. And if such men as he who 

 guided the plough at Mr. Reybold's be present 

 — I remember his name was Thomas — I shall 

 expect to see first-rate work, I tell you — may 

 I propose to Mr. R. to bring him up] 



A Subscriber. 



March 20th, 1842. 



Necessity of Light to Vegetation. 



Although philosophers are not agreed as 

 to the peculiar action which light exerts upon 

 vegetation, and there is even some doubt re- 

 specting the decomposition of air and water, 

 during that process, one thing is undeniable 

 — the necessity of light to the growth and 

 health of plants; for without it, they have 

 neither colour, taste, or smell; and, accord- 

 ingly, they are for the most part so formed as 

 to receive it^t all times when it shines upon 

 them; their cups and the little assemblages 

 of their leaves before they sprout, are found 

 to be more or less affected by the light, so as 

 to open and receive it. In several kinds of 

 plants this is more evident than in others; 

 their flowers close at night and open in the 

 day. Some constantly turned round towards 

 the liirht, following the sun as it were, while 

 he makes or seems to make his revolution, so 

 that they receive the greatest quantity possi- 

 ble of his rays — thus, clover in a field follows 

 the apparent cour.se of the sun. But all leaves 

 of plants turn towards the sun, place them 

 how you will, light being essential to their 

 well-being. — Brougham. 



