622 SELECTIONS FROM .ADDRESSES. 



the production of carbonic acid." from which, a* we have al- 

 ready shown, a great proportion of the or^nic portion of the 

 plant is derived- 



The access of air to the roots of the plant may be promoted 

 by the farmer in varions ways. Among these, the first in im- 

 portance is thorough pulverisation of the soil by the plough. A 

 diderence in the crop of from 30 to 50 per cent, has been real- 

 ized from precisely similar soils, in consequence of the arreater 

 thoroughness with vrhich this process has been performed. Its 

 importance is acknowledged by every farmer, yet it is astonish- 

 ing how carelessly this operation is performed in the great ma- 

 jority of eases. 



In England, the furrows are laid so straight that vou would 

 think the pencil rather than the plough had traced them, and 

 every portion of the soil is carefully brought under the action 

 of the share. In Flanders, this necessity for thorough pulver- 

 ization is so fully appreciated, that the spade is brought into 

 requisition, and every spade full turned over is thoroughly 

 beaten to powder. This c-annot be done in our countrv, so 

 high is the price of labor, but vast improvement may be effected 

 without increase of cost- by a more careful training of otur 

 plotighmen and a more careful selection of our ploughs. 



Having been one of the judges at the great trials of ploughs 

 at Albany, by the New York Agricultural Society. I had an 

 opportunity which falls to the lot of few farmers, of seeing the 

 wide difference with respect to pulverizarion in the acrion of 

 different implements. Over forty ploughs were entered for 

 competition, and a fortnight was spent in testing them, under 

 every possible variety of conditions. Some ploughs would 

 turn the furro\r over very handsomely, but when turned, it was 

 as hard and unyielding as the land which had not been 

 ploughed, and in fact it was in a condition very little better for 

 the production of com than the original green sward itself: 

 while other implements reduced it to powder so fine, that a 

 common hand rake would render it fit for a garden bed. This 

 was especially the case with those manufactured by Prouty & 

 Meats, of Boston, "which produced a more thorough pulveriza- 

 tion, with less expenditure of power, than any others. Soils 

 prepared by their plouarhs, and especially their sod and subsoil 

 plough, were in a condirion to afford the freest access of air, 



