PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 489 



as winter fodder. It is more nutritious than most of the 

 cultivated grasses from the amount of saccharine matter it 

 contains. It leaves the ground in good condition, and as it 

 is not left to ripen its seed, is not considered an exhausting 

 crop. 



"We have not unfrequently noticed, in our travels through 

 the county, that some of our otherwise good farmers are in 

 the habit of ploughing their silicious loamy lands in the fall, 

 under the erroneous impression that the soil is benefited by 

 exposure to the frosts of winter. On a soil of an opposite 

 character, of an argillaceous texture where clay predominates, 

 this mode of husbandry is beneficial. On these, the frosts of 

 winter have a tendency to render the soil more permeable and 

 less compact ; on the other hand, a sandy soil will retain its 

 adhesiveness and be more retentive of moisture if ploughing 

 is omitted till the season for planting arrives. 



A great diversity of opinion has always existed in relation 

 to the application of manure. The advocates and opponents 

 of ploughing under have generally contended in the dark ; 

 they have each had their experiences ; the one on a warm 

 silicious soil, the other on a cold, tenacious or clayey soil ; and 

 while the former have reaped the benefit from turning under, 

 the latter may have had cause to deprecate the practice. 



On our warm sandy soils, we have for many years been in 

 the habit of ploughing in our manure for the corn crop, and 

 whenever we have adopted the other method we have invaria- 

 bly had cause to regret it. From several experiments, made 

 with considerable accuracy, we find that where the manure is 

 turned under, the soil retains its fertility much longer; on such 

 soils we think there is much more danger from evaporation 

 than from infiltration. 



Perhaps the time has not arrived for the introduction and 

 general use of the phosphates in this county. It is asserted, 

 by many scientific writers, and practical agriculturists, that 

 the super-phosphates of lime, or their components, do not exist 

 ^^n sufficient quantities in our old cultivated fields for the 

 perfect development of plants ; that the manures ordinarily 

 applied do not contain a sufficiency of these salts for the sus- 

 tenance of crops, and an analysis of these soil& demonstrates 

 their absence. 



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