106 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



OCT. 5, 1S43. 



made of clay and burnt. They are very handy and 

 useful ; and where stones arc not to be had they 

 are to be preferred. But there are districts where 

 the clay-tile cannot be procured at any reasonable 

 price. Lord James Hay has recently discovered 

 a method of making them of concrete stones ce- 

 mented by lime ; in most instances they will come 

 ■considerably cheaper than the brick tile, and, if exe- 

 cuted on the ground, where they will not have to 

 be carried far, the breakage will be found to be 

 very liltle, and they will prove to be durable. The 

 cement made of lime is more lasting when covered 

 up than if exposed to the atmosphere. 



There are two other modes of making drains — 

 peat earth has been cut into a shape somewhat 

 like a hollow wedge ; and a sort of instrument has 

 been made for the purpose of cutting peat earth 

 into the form of the tile, so as to produce an open- 

 ing not liable to the objection of the wedge, which 

 frequently sinks and pulls up the opening. A 

 stone is frequently used to lay the concrete tile 

 upon, and prevent its sinking. It is also made of 

 concrete. 



Many persons have expressed the opinion that, 

 in some of the very stiff clays, drains of this sort 

 wonid not be efficacious, and that the application 

 of the subsoil plow after the draining would have 

 no good effect. With the view of showing the 

 beneficial results both of draining and subsoiling, I 

 have brought some specimens of different clays, in 

 order to show what improvement can be made. 

 Here is a piece from the Pass of Stirling. 'Jhis 

 kind of soil has been cultivated from a subsoil, and 

 lias been kuown to produce excellent crops of 

 Swedish turnips. Here is another very hard clay 

 from Yorkshire. 



A gentleman inquired how long after the sub- 

 soiling the land assumed a different character. 



Mr Smith. — Almost immediately — in the very 

 first year. It requires some years before it comes 

 adapted for a turnip soil. I have a specimen of 

 some soil which twenty years ago was so extremely 

 stiff from the alluvial deposit in the Pass of Stir- 

 ling, that it required to be broken with large mal- 

 lets, to reduce, mechanically, the great lumps of 

 soil. Thorough draining or subsoiling was never 

 thought of till about twenty years ago, when this 

 land was' first drained; and now they get from it 

 splendid crops of turnips, and in almost any sea- 

 son. 



A gentleman wished to be informed of the na- 

 ture of the soil in Mr Smith's farm. 



Mr Smith. — It varies. In some parts it is sandy 

 clay, and in others, clay perfectly impervious to 

 water. When I first began to subsoil, there was 

 not more than three or four inches of active soil, 

 properly so called, for growing plants ; after a la- 

 bor of about fifteen years, I have now an active 

 BitW of sixteen inches, and can turn over that now 

 in any part of the farm. 



How neur are the drains in order to produce that 

 result ? 



Mr Smtth. — Twenty feet. I think a distance 

 of about eighteen or twenty feet from drain to 

 drain, is a proper distance for almost any subsoil. 

 I shall now proceed to detail the application of the 

 subsoil plow. 



When I began to cultivate my own farm, al- 

 though I had put in the drains, I found they were 



work with the least possible power. I made my 

 plow strong, and of that form to which the least 

 resistance would be opposed, at the same time tak- 

 ing care to have suflicient power fairly to stir up 

 the soil. 



I will here explain the principle of the subsoil 

 plow. The great principle is, that there are many 

 subsoils, which, though capable of being converted 

 into a good soil, yet if brought up and mixed with 

 the active soil, will so far deteriorate it as to make 

 it for some time sterile. The great point is to 

 stir up the subsoil, still retaining the good soil on 

 the surface. Stirring up the subsoil would, in the 

 first place, very much facilitate the escape of the 

 water in the drains ; and in consequence of the 

 passage of the water through the stirred up subsoil 

 and the attendant admission of air, it would be so 

 acted upon as to be converted into good soil, while 

 at the same time, have all the advantages of work- 

 ing the active soil as before. 



Upon the application of this principle, I have 

 been successful in every instance. The process of 

 applying the subsoil plow is this: a common plow 

 goes along first, and removes a furrow of the active 

 soil. After that the subsoil plow passes along be- 

 low, and scarifies the subsoil to the depth of from 

 twelve to sixteen inches, in some instances eight- 

 een inches. This is continued furrow after fur- 

 row, the plow going first to lay the active soil on 

 the part already opened up ; then the plow comes 

 a second time and takes off a furrow from another 

 part of the soil, and places it on that which is al- 

 ready scarified. 



As to the proper period for applying the subsoil 

 plow, in places where the drains have much effect, 

 it may be applied the following year ; but in clay 

 soils it is important to give the clay sufficient time 

 to dry, and to have it in a friable state ; because, 

 in the application of the subsoil plow, when clay 

 subsoil has been recently drained, and it is not suf- 

 ficiently dry, more harm is done than good ; the 

 clay being worked in a wet state is almost prepar- 

 ed for making bricks. If we once work it in that 

 state, it is a long period before it recovers its fria- 

 ble property again. Therefore, in soils rather free, 

 the subsoil plow may be used the second year after 

 the drainage. 



The proper time to execute drains is the sum- 

 mer season; you can then get it much more tidily 

 done, and the drains are prevented from running. 

 In many places there are little sandy veins and 

 portions of running sand, which are very apt to fall 

 in before the drains are covered up. In the winter 

 season this is almost sure to be so ; you may be 

 taken with frost, which draws off the adhesion of 

 the earth, so that it falls down and fills up the 

 drain. It is best to execute them in grass land 

 before it is broken up for cropping, otherwise it is 

 too soft. Executing it therefore in the summer 

 season on the lee, produces very little loss, because 

 the growth of the grass in the after part of the sea- 

 son will be so much increased by the execution of 

 the drains, that you will be repaid for the time lost 

 for the use of the pasture during the time the drains 

 were in process of execution. After the drains 

 have been completed, take a crop from the land, 

 and if the land has been pretty good, it will, per- 

 haps, afford two crops ; at all events, one crop 

 should be taken ; that will pass over one summer 

 not so efficacious as expected, and I then began to I before the subsoil is to be plowed. During this 



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think of stirring up the subsoil, which gave rise to 

 the idea of the subsoil plow. I thought I must 

 construct an instrument which would execute the 



season, the earth between the two surfaces has 

 time to dry; it is more friable, and the subsoil 

 plow will be more efficacious in stirring it up. It 



often happens that there are stones in the so 

 which must be removed before you can procei 

 with good husbandry ; and it will be found that, 

 consequence of the contraction of the soil, tht 

 have become in some degree loose, and will 1 

 turned out very easily by the subsoil plow, 

 many instances we have stones exceeding 200 lb 

 weight, which are turned out very easily by tl 

 subsoil plow with four horses. 



With regard to the direction in which the sul 

 soiling ought to be carried, I should say at rigl 

 angles with the drains: yon thereby form channe 

 from the centre to the side, in all directions. 1 

 that manner you form artificial channels from th 

 centre of the ridge into the drain ; these may pai 

 tially close up, still there is an openness given t' 

 the subsoil, which will permit the water to paS' 

 freely. 



Having thus applied the subjoil plow to stir u 

 the subsoil, the after cultivation may be the com 

 moil rotation of the country, such as the farmff 

 thinks suitable. When agriculturists have sub 

 soiled their land, they should lay down the land fia 

 on the surface, without any ridges or furrows 

 Nothing is more injurious to the land than ridgin; 

 it up. In the old modes of draining, it was quit' 

 necessary to have ridges and furrows ; but now 

 when land is thoroughly drained, there is no occa 

 sion for it, and it is hurtful ; because when wate 

 falls on a rounded-ofl^ surface, it immediately be 

 gins to sink away to the lower level, and the wate 

 which has fallen on the tops and middle parts o 

 the ridges is added to the water on the side, whicl 

 thus has to bear a great deal more than its owr 

 proportion of water ; the water carries portions ol 

 the soil along with it, and the cracks are constantly 

 filling up by the running of the sand from the high- 

 er part of the ridge to the lower part. When a ||. 

 field is laid down with ridges and furrows, espe- | 

 cially on stiff land, a great part of the best of the 1. 

 land runs down into those furrows, and is deposited | 

 in largo quantities at the bottom of the ridge, there- 

 by doing a material mischief. If laid in a flat 

 form you get rid of this evil, and obtain this advan- 

 tage — that if the water is beneficial to the soil, 

 which it certainly is, you have that benefit equally 

 distributed ; every part receives its own water, and 

 the benefit which the water can give. 



A peculiar change takes place in any subsoil — 

 it does not matter what composed of — after it is 

 plowed. This change begins to take place imme- 

 diately, and the soil gradually goes from the state 

 in which it was beti^re to that of a mould. If you 

 examine a soil which has become mould, it is of a 

 peculiar structure. It appears as if all the parti- 

 cles were connected together, and it seems to have 

 some attractive properties, by gathering together 

 in that way. Vacuities for the air are thus formed, 

 and there is a tendency to absorb and retain as 

 much moisture as is useful to the plant. If filled 

 entirely with moisture, it is injurious to the plant, 

 but if a certain quantity, becomes beneficial; and 

 when a great depth of soil is attained, there is 

 great advantage indeed, in either a wet or a dry 

 season. In a wet season the water flows away, 

 leaving the soil in a dry state ; but in consequence 

 of the mouldering state in which the soil is, it is 

 retentive of moisture, and there is a great maga- 

 zine of water preserved in soil for a dry season. 

 Being covered by the active soil, the drought may 

 penetrate a few inches, but in consequence of the 

 lower part of the soil being covered with this up- 

 per stratum, it is defended from the extreme action 



