112 PLYMOUTH SOCIETY. 



and oats. I think the same kind of wheat continued to be 

 raised on a farm for years is better than to shift often. It 

 seems to become acclimated. I have always sowed the same 

 kind, and I think it has improved. 



South Abington, Oct. l&ih, 1845. 



Statement of Horace Collamore. 



The land selected by me to "prove the influence of subsoil 

 ploughing on the corn crop" is a sandy loam with a hard grav- 

 elly subsoil, which, until within the last twenty years, had, for 

 a long series of years, been constantly cultivated with grain 

 crops, till it protested further drafts ; since that time, it has been, 

 in a measure, restored by dressings of mud compost and grass 

 crops ; it was laid down to grass in 1839. 



One acre was measured, and an equal division made. Each 

 half acre received fifteen loads of barn manure, which was 

 spread on the sward and ploughed under, the first week in May. 

 The whole was then rolled and harrowed, and on the 9th of 

 May the whole was planted with Buckminster's corn planter, 

 as near three feet one way and two feet the other, as possible : 

 after weeding, we thinned out the corn, leaving three kernels in 

 each hill, where there were as many ; but there were a consid- 

 erable number of missing hills which we attempted to supply 

 by transplanting, but owing to the drought did not succeed 

 very well. 



The corn on the subsoiled part gave evidence of superior lux- 

 uriance soon after weeding, and, notwithstanding the sufficiency 

 of moisture that succeeded the early drought, it maintained 

 this superiority throughout the season, and was at once recog- 

 nized by every visitor. And although the result, after harvest- 

 ing and weighing, was not so favorable to the part subsoiled as 

 I had anticipated, yet I feel perfectly satisfied, after making due 

 allowance for the depredations of "birds, beasts and reptiles." 

 The soil was not quite as good as the part not subsoiled, — was 

 harvested and weighed about a week sooner than the other part, 

 and, consequently, weighed heavier, and was not exposed to 



