SECRETARY'S REPORT. 09 



County in the following words : " My experience and observa- 

 tion are confined to light soils, plains, so called ; and I find, 

 whenever the ploughing has been increased in depth from year 

 to year, with the view to improve, the condition of the soil, the 

 experiment has always proved successful. I have had a fine 

 field of corn this year, on light soil, ploughed, as deep as I could 

 well plough, with a double or Michigan plough." 



From Berkshire we have the following : " It is, we are sure, 

 an established fact, and one which must have fallen under the 

 notice of every farmer, that deep ploughed and finely pulverized 

 lands are less liable to the injuries of long continued droughts 

 than lands ploughed shallow and left half tilled. The obser- 

 vations, not only of the last year, but of former years of ex- 

 cessive dryness, have shown this to be the case most conclu- 

 sively. Reason teaches the same fact. The more open or 

 porous any substance is the more readily it will absorb moist- 

 ure." 



A farmer of Plymouth County says, "Deep ploughing is 

 favorable to retention of moisture in the soil, and shallow 

 ploughed and scantily tilled fields are the first to suffer by 

 droughts." 



Another practical farmer in Worcester County writes, " The 

 drought has affected deep ploughed lands but very little ; on 

 those that have been faithfully subsoiled, the corn leaves did not 

 roll at all ; while on those that were shallow ploughed, the 

 crop suffered much ; other crops have been seriously affected." 



Another successful farmer says, " The effects of the drought on 

 lands ploughed one foot deep are about the same as on those 

 ploughed eight inches deep. Land ploughed five inches deep 

 is more affected than that ploughed eight inches ; so that less 

 than eight inches is too shallow, and more than that of but 

 little use." 



Another farmer of Worcester County says, " Thorough 

 ploughing, high manuring, and clean and frequent hoeing, and 

 stirring the land so as to keep it light and free from weeds 

 in all tillage land. On mowing land, spread compost and plas- 

 ter freely ; and on orcharding, plough among and dig around 

 trees." 



One more extract will suffice to show the general impression 



