and Rural Econonvy. 219 



various modes of ploughing, detailing the manner in which 

 the work is accomplished. 



Having recently subsoiled a quantity of land for trees, and 

 being well convinced of its very great importance, we extract 

 the following Experiment, which we hope is sufficient to show 

 the advantages of the subsoil plough : — 



Experiment in Subsoiling Heath Land. — An example of success in the 

 application of the subsoil to heath land, which is within my knowledge, is 

 so remarkable, that I will give it to my readers at large. The gentleman 

 to whom I shall refer, Sir Edward Stracey, is himself the inventor of a sub- 

 soil-plough, known as theRackheath plough, after the name of the property 

 which he occupies, and which is much lighter of draught than the Deanston 

 plough. 



" On my coming to reside on my estate at Rackheath, about six years 

 since, I found 500 acres of heath land, composing two farms, without ten- 

 ants, — the gorse, heather, and fern shooting up in all parts. In short, the 

 land was in such a condition that the crops did not return the seed sown. 

 The soil was a loose, loamy soil, and had been broken up by the plough to 

 a depth not exceeding four inches, beneath which was a substratum (provin- 

 cially called an iron-pan) so hard, that with difficulty could a pickaxe be 

 made to enter in many places ; and my bailitT, who had looked after the lands 

 for 35 years, told me that the lands were not worth cultivating ; that all the 

 neighboring farmers said the same thing ; and that there was but one thing 

 to be done, viz., to plant with fir and forest trees. To this I paid little at- 

 tention, as I had the year preceding allotted some parcels of ground, taken 

 out of the adjoining lands, to some cottagers, to each cottage about one 

 third of an acre. The crops on all these allotments looked fine, healthy, 

 and good, producing excellent wheat, carrots, peas, cabbages, potatoes and 

 other vegetables in abundance. The question then was, How was this to 

 be done? On the outside of the cottage allotments, all was barren. It 

 could not be by the manure that had been laid on, for the cottagers had 

 none but that which they had scraped from the roads. The magic of all 

 this I could ascribe to nothing else but the spade ; they had broken up the 

 land eighteen inches deep. As to digging up 500 acres with the spade, to 

 the depth of eighteen inches, at an expense of six pounds an acre, I would 

 not attempt it. I considered that a plough might be constructed so as to 

 loosen the soil to the depth of eighteen inches, keeping the best soil to the 

 depth of four inches, and near the surface, thus admitting air and moisture 

 to the roots of the plants, and enabling them to extend their spongioles in 

 search of food, — for air, moisture, and extent of pasture, are as necessary 

 to the thriving and increase of vegetables, as of animals. In this attempt 

 I succeeded, as the result will show. I have now broken up all these 500 

 acres eighteen inches deep. The process was by sending a common plough 

 drawn by two horses to precede, which turned over the ground to the depth 

 of four inches. My subsoil-plough immediately followed in the furrow 



