24 



On Ploughing Corn. — Subsoiling, <^c, in England. Vol. VII. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 On Ploughing Corn. 



I have before me twelve acres of corn, 

 the whole cleaning of which has been con- 

 fined to a single ploughing with the Prouty 

 plough, one furrow being turned from the 

 rows into the space, where it has lain, in the 

 hope of a seasonable working with the culti- 

 vator; but alas, that chance has never been 

 afforded, the incessantly wet weather pre- 

 venting it, until the corn had reached a 

 height which entirely precluded it, — what 

 will be the consequence! To be sure, there 

 are weeds amongst it, but not so many as I 

 had expected; the ploughing from the rows 

 being also about as bad an arrangement as 

 could have been devised; the returning of 

 them to the rows having been found impos- 

 sible in proper season. The crop must there- 

 fore go on its own hook ; and although I sin- 

 cerely regret the very miserable way in 

 which I have been compelled to neglect it, 

 yet I assure you it is very fine, tall and stout 

 as any that I have ever grown, and is splen- 

 didly tasseled; a far better crop than that in 

 the adjoining field belonging to my indefati- 

 gable neighbour Clifton, whom I often saw 

 cultivating it when the earth was full of 

 water, and when the furrows turned over 

 like mortar. As I had been prevented from 

 putting my intentions into practice — which 

 were, merely to throw a furrow from each 

 row into the interval, there to lie for a sea- 

 son, and then to return them to the rows as 

 a last tending, (believing that I had some- 

 times been guilty of over-working my corn, 

 to its injury) — I must now await the result 

 of an extreme case of the paucity of manage- 

 ment, which I by no means approve, although 

 present appearances are not discouraging. 



But I ought to say my land — a two years' 

 old lay — was broken up very deep and care- 

 fully last autumn; and early in the spring it 

 was cross-ploughed to the full depth, the 

 sward turning up perfectly decomposed and 

 the whole harrowing finely; and to this 

 management 1 owe freedom from cut-worm 

 in the spring, and the comparative clean 

 state of the land, as also its lightness; tor if 

 it had not been ploughed until the time of 

 sowing, it must have been worked in wet 

 weather, as my neighbour's was. 1 hope 

 another year to improve upon this hint af- 

 forded mo by " stern necessity." P, J. 

 Berks County, July 2!>, 1842. 



Henceforward, the prospects of agricul- 

 ture are the prospects of science; and its 

 future progress will be the progress of uni- 

 versal knowledge ! 



Subsoiling, Draining, and Irrigation in 

 England. 



The advantageous effects of draining upon 

 wet soils, must be just as great as the inju- 

 rious effects of too much water; while the 

 good effects of irrigation and warping — both, 

 merely systems of applying weak liquid ma- 

 nure in large quantities — and of the subsoil 

 plough, as an instrument by which the water 

 is permitted to diffuse itself more generally 

 through, and the atmosphere to act upon the 

 tenacious subsoil, so as to make a change, as 

 it were, in the general character of the com- 

 ponent parts of the soil, may be philosophi- 

 cally demonstrated; but this is unnecessary, 

 for we have the proof positive in millions of 

 acres before our eyes. Thus the fens of 

 Lincolnshire, Huntingdon, and Cambridge- 

 shire, which 50 years ago were stagnant 

 marshes, are now luxuriant pastures. 2(1(1,000 

 acres of the Lincolnshire fens have thus been 

 reclaimed, and in other counties many thou- 

 sands more, while 25,000 acres of the single 

 fen of Deeping are drained by two steam- 

 engines of 60 and 80 horse power. Chat 

 Moss, a yawning morass in 1820, is now a 

 golden grain-field with incipient villas ; while 

 the several statements of Messrs. Denison, 

 Crafl, Graham, &c, exhibit a change from 

 sterility to fertility, and afford practical evi- 

 dence of the value of the permanent improve- 

 ments produced by draining, warping, irri- 

 gation and subsoil ploughing, which are 

 really illustrations of what these operations 

 are doing for all ; the general results being, 

 that wheat in these counties is no longer a 

 luxury confined to the rich — it is now the 

 stafl'of the poor man's strength — the quaking 

 morass and the arid moor, now wave with 

 the golden grain, and the acre which once 

 gave back only four times the seed, now re- 

 turns from eight to ten-fold. Instead, too, 

 of winter being the season of starvation to 

 cattle — when existence was all that could 

 be hoped for — it is now essentially the sea- 

 son for fat and plenty ; for if the turnip cul- 

 tivation has given to the grazier the power 

 of increasing the quantity, the skill of the 

 breeder has equally increased the quality of 

 his stock, and this is seen in the weight of 

 cattle and sheep exhibited at Smithfield mar- 

 ket, at three different periods, viz. 



1810, average weight of cattle, 26 st. 6 lbs.— sheep and 



lambs. _' Bt. each, 

 1830, average weight of cattle, .19 st. 4 lbs.— sheep and 



lambs, 3 st. 8 lbs. 

 L840, average weight of cattle, 4G st. 12 lbs.— sheep and 



lambs, 6 St. 6 lbs. 



Such, then, is a brief glance at the pro- 

 oress of this branch of agriculture. — Han- 



