^^ERICAN HERD-BOOli 



DEVOTED TO 



AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture is the foundation of all trade and industry. — LiEsta. 



Vol. VIII.— No. 3.] 



10th mo. (October) 15th, 1843. 



[Whole PJo. 105. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY JOSIAH TATUM, 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price one dollar per year.— For conditions see last page. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Deep Ploughing. 



"Take, for instance, the light, shallow, 

 sandy soils in many parts of Maryland, and 

 so far as my experience and observation ex- 

 tend, we would not only do no good, but 

 positive injury, by deep ploughing." — " Be- 

 ginner," in the Cabinet for Sept., 1843. 



Mr. Editor, — A correspondent, who uses 

 the signature, "Beginner," in the Cabinet 

 of September, page 05, makes exception to 

 the general principles of deep ploughing, in 

 the tbrm quoted above; and I have taken that 

 sentencefrom his letter to serve as a text 

 for some further remarks upon that most in- 

 teresting subject. I admit, that the opinion 

 expressed by " Beginner," as to the proprie- 

 ty of deep ploughing in light, shallow, sandy 

 soils, is in accordance with that of nearly 

 every farmer who is acquainted with such 

 soils. Indeed, I am not sure that there is 

 a single practical exception. And yet, — 

 excuse me for saying so, — it is none the 

 less an error, and an error, too, the more 



Cab.— Vol. VIII.— No. 3. 



grave, because of its universal prevalence, 

 and of the extensive injury it induces. If 

 any soil whatever, is to be benefited by deep 

 ploughing, and even subsoil ploughing, it is 

 that very same light, shallow, sandy soil. 

 Soils of an opposite character, especially 

 deep soils, may better do without deep 

 ploughing than shallow soils; because it is 

 one of the main purposes of deep ploughing 

 to convert shallow soils into deep ones. It 

 must be borne in mind, that when we arc 

 advocating deep ploughing, we have the im- 

 provement of the soil in view, as an object 

 of even greater value than the immediate 

 crop we are preparing for. If we were 

 preparing the soil for a single crop, and 

 with no other view, — as is too much the 

 case with most farmers, and especially with 

 tenants from year to year, or those whose 

 terms are expiring, — then we should plough 

 a light, shallow, sandy soil, cautiovsly ; but 

 even then, not as cautiously as " Beginner" 

 seems to imply that he would — because, all 

 will admit that, even in such soils, a little 

 clay, and a little loosening of the subsoil, 

 would do no harm, and might do some good. 

 But we are not ploughing for a single crop — 

 we are ploughing, as it were, for futurity. 

 Although the immediate crop is the one 

 that carries us to the field, and the one that 

 we expect to pay us, at least in good part, 

 for the labour, yet that is not the one from 

 'which we expect our full remuneration, the 

 'great sum of our incouie — that is expected 

 ifrom the improvement we are making in 



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