84 



On the Depth of Ploughing. 



Vol. 1L 



he had tried it, and that it was plainly seen 

 to be of great benefit. 



Mr. Deane* says that he found it, in 1786, 

 to act as a beneficial manure to carrots, when 

 placed "under the surface in the centres of 

 the intervals between the rows, at some dis- 

 tance from the roots: that the Salt might 

 have time to be dissolved before the fibrous 

 roots should reach it." Upon onions and 

 turneps it had no effect. The farmers on the 

 brackish rivers on our coast, find that the 

 salt grass growing on the water's edge, when 

 ploughed in, acts as a very excellent manure 

 for Indian corn; and on the Raritan particu- 

 larly it is a general practice thus to employ 



2. As a condiment to cattle, the utility of 

 Salt is universally known to the American 

 farmers, who are constantly in the practice of 

 giving a portion of Saltto their cattle weekly. 

 They^find that the appetite is not only there- 

 by greatly promoted, their digestion strength- 

 ened, and of course their disposition to 

 fatten increased; but that their health is 

 preserved by its use. During the late war 

 with England, when the prices offered for 

 domestic manufactures rendered the multi- 

 plication of Merino and other sheep an object 

 with the American farmers, they were in the 

 habit of placing large lumps of hard Rock- 

 Salt in various parts of pasture fields, for the 

 sheep to lick at pleasure. It is rational to 

 believe that the very marked superiority in 

 the health of every species of American cat- 

 tle over those of Europe, may be ascribed 

 to the general and free use of Salt. Many 

 give a portion of i^alt daily to their horses, 

 as a preservative against vv'orms of all kinds, 

 as v/ell as to preserve their digestive powers. 

 3. The practice of salting hay has been 

 generally adopted for 30 years or more in 

 Pennsylvania.:!; Hay thas treated (and clo- 

 ver hay particularly) may be put up with 

 much less drying than when Salt is not used. 

 Many farmers are in the excellent practice 

 of mixing straw with hay, (as regularly as 

 the hurry of stowing away will admit,) and 

 of sprinkling the whole with Salt, layer by 

 layer. In this way both hay and straw are 

 rendered more palatable to cattle. The 

 quantity of fodder is moreover increased by 

 this mixture of hay and straw. About one 

 peck of Salt to the ton of hay is enough, but 

 more will not be injurious. 



4; Salt will even preserve fresh clover 

 from rotting, although put up in stacks in 



time of rain. An extensive and bold expe- 

 riment was made in this way by Mr. Luke 

 Morris, of Philadelphia, at his farm in Glou- 

 cester county. New Jersey, in the rainy 

 summer of 1804. About 22 tons in two 

 stacks were thus perfectly cured, and eaten 

 greedily during the winter by some thriving 

 steers. The hay exaled a saccharine odour, 

 and the leaves and blossoms adhered to the 

 stalk firmly. He put rather more than a 

 bushel of Salt to the ton of hay. 



The beneficial effects of salt air and salt 

 marsh upon horses is proved by the fact, of 

 broken-winded horses being greatly relieved, 

 and sometimes cured by spending a season 

 on the island in the Delaware bay. Several 

 decided cases of this nature have been com- 

 municated to me. James Mease. 



Chestnut t^treet, August lOth, 18!9, 



•* New Kiiglaiid Farmer. W(>rte>ter, 179(1. Art Sail. 



f On Salt as a manure see a pamiililct l)y Mr. Geo. 



Reecl,ot"Vivginia, IWJSt, ami remarks on it. by Jmlse P'- 



lers, in Mem. Pliiladelpbia Soc. fur promoting asirieul- 



lure, vol 2, p. 17 '. 



I The goodofl'ecl of Salt on thn health of ca!t!e, and 

 lis use in curin? hay were menlioned in the Pliilad. 

 edition of the Dom. Encyel. Articles. "cat/Ze" and 

 " An*/." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 



©11 tlxe. dept8i of Pl©a«gliiM.g. 



That ploughing deep is of the utmost im- 

 portance to make land productive, no one 

 will deny. Yet how deplorable is it, to see 

 so many of our farmers, instead of plough- 

 ing their land, persist in the old and ruinous 

 practice of merely skinning it. Soils of the 

 best quality, may be very shortly impover- 

 ished by shallow ploughing: while on the 

 other hand, those of an inferior quality, may 

 be materially improved by judicious plough- 

 ing. Why, it may be asked, are swamps 

 and bogs so inexhaustibly fertile after being 

 drained? One simple reason is, because 

 they are possessed of a soil of very consider- 

 able depth. Then why not plough deep, in 

 order to increase the depth of the soil of up- 

 land. Lands which have been plouglied shal- 

 low, on receiving the first deep ploughing, 

 will generally fail in some measure in pro- 

 ducing a good crop, in consequenee of turn- 

 ing up the clay. This has disheartened 

 some that have made trial of it, so as to 

 abandon it immediately again. But the ac- 

 tion of the sun and atmosphere on the up- 

 turned clay, will contribute greatly to its fer- 

 tilization. This being ploughed down, and 

 the former surface turned up again, with the 

 addition of proper manures will give land a 

 deep soil and render it fertile and productive. 



But few persons are aware of the depth 

 to which the fibrous roots of grass descend 

 into the ground. It has been discovered 

 with very few exceptions, that they reach 

 to the bottom of soils however deep; conse- 

 quently, plants growing in a deep soil will 

 be much better protected against the effects 

 of drought, than those growing in a shallow 

 soil. I would suggest, therefore, that land in 

 all ordinary cases, be ploughed not less than 

 eight inches deep. Will it not be much 

 i better to suffer partially in one crop, and 



