PLOUGHS AND PLOUGHING. 69 



which exceeded twenty-six inches in length ; yet 

 the soil, when first applied to the purposes of a gar- 

 den, was far from being deep or penetrable. Land 

 cannot be considered in good tilth, unless by plough- 

 ing the earth it has been mixed with vegetable or 

 animal matter to the depth of ten or twelve inches ; 

 and Judge Powell states, that by manuring and 

 ploughing he has converted shallow, unproductive 

 earth into rich, fertile soils, to the depth of at least 

 fourteen inches. 



There is a constant tendency in earths to consoli- 

 date (clayey or aluminous ones more than others), 

 which manuring and ploughing will in a great meas- 

 ure prevent ; and loosening the soil in all cases al- 

 lows the roots to sink beyond the reach of droughts, 

 permits them to range freely in search of proper nu- 

 triment, and in the same proportion increases the 

 chance for a profitable crop. 



The extreme difficulty of rendering tenacious and 

 stiff clays, or what are termed hardpan-soils, fit for 

 cultivationby any of the ordinary methods of plough- 

 ing and nianuring ; and the fact that covered drain- 

 ing in such soils will in most cases cost more than 

 the actual value of the land (since the drains in soils 

 of this class must be made deep and near together 

 in order to be effectual), has induced practical farm- 

 ers in England to endeavour to devise some way of 

 overcoming the evil without the expense of covered 

 draining. It is weU known by those who cultivate 

 stiff" clay or hardpan soils, that such are the first to 

 suiTer from excessive moisture or excessive drought. 

 Their compact nature retains on the surface all the 

 rain that falls upon it until it runs off or is carried 

 off by the slow process of evaporation : thus in wet 

 seasons drowning the plants, while in dry ones, as 

 the absorbing or conducting powers of such soils are 

 always small, the surface-moisture being evapora- 

 ted, the plants are deprived of their proper nutri- 

 ment, and in many cases perish from the difficulty 



