68 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



mode of guarding against the drought. " Spreading and 

 ploughing in manure, hoeing often, exterminating every variety 

 of weeds, irrigation where it is practicable, and keeping the 

 ground light by deep ploughing on dry compact soils," says 

 one. "For corn and potatoes, plough deep, and use the culti- 

 vator and hoe frequently, and keep the surface nearly level," 

 says another. Another practical farmer answers, "Deep 

 ploughing and good hoeing. Crops that have been hoed the 

 most have stood the drought the best." Another successful 

 farmer says, "Plant on swamp, or moist land well drained, if 

 you have such ; if not, plough deep on high land. If the uncul- 

 tivated swamp and bog lands were cleared and appropriated 

 to agricultural purposes, droughts like the one of the present 

 season might not be feared. Massachusetts farmers have yet 

 to learn that the most valuable lands are now neglected." 



" I should say, first of all, deep and thorough ploughing, well 

 manuring, by spreading and ploughing in, as a general rule, and 

 frequently stirring the soil," says a Berkshire farmer of great 

 experience. And the return of a farmer's club of Middlesex, 

 says, in answer to the second question of the circular, " It is 

 now a practice with us to plough deeper than heretofore. Mr. 

 C. ploughs three or four inches deep. F. ploughs on precisely 

 the same kind of land, a stone wall only separating the fields; 

 nine inches deep. F.'s oats weighed thirty pounds per bushel, 

 while C.'s weighed but seventeen pounds ; both manured alike. 

 C.'s corn dried up, while F.'s was green and luxuriant." 



There is, indeed, but little difference of opinion on the second 

 question of the circular, respecting the effect of droughts on 

 deep and shallow ploughed lands, and few extracts need be 

 given to establish the fact, that the crops on deeply ploughed 

 lands have suffered much less than on shallow ploughed. One 

 farmer of great observation in Essex County says: "The injury 

 to shallow ploughed lands has been much greater than to those 

 deeply ploughed, especially where the soil was well pulver- 

 ized, as is done by the Michigan sod and subsoil plough; we 

 look upon this as one of the most valuable implements in tfic 

 field. No farmer should be without one. It will more than 

 pay for itself the first season."' 



The same testimony is given by a farmer of Worcester 



