14 How THE FARM PAYS. 



experience to know what is a good soil. I well remember a blunder 

 that I made in my early experience in this matter. My partner and I, 

 when we started business in Jersey City, N. J. , had both been regularly 

 bred as horticulturists, partly in Europe and partly here, and yet on our 

 first purchase of lands for market garden purposes in Hudson County, 

 JT. J. which borders on New York City we made a mistake in our 

 selection, and no amount of the highest culture, although that is now 

 thirty years ago, has ever been able to bring the soil into what would 

 be termed even second-rate condition. The error we made was in 

 selecting a soil apparently good, but which was underlaid by a 

 stratum of clay ten inches below the surface; and to-day, with all our 

 draining and subsoiling and every known means of culture, it is 

 impossible for us to raise crops as good as those half a mile away where 

 the subsoil is of porous sand. I mention tins to show the impor- 

 tance of selecting, whenever practicable, a suitable soil for all oper- 

 ations, whether of the farm or of the garden; for had it not been by 

 an accident of circumstance, that our lands became valuable from 

 their proximity to the city, our unfortunate purchase would have 

 ruined us. Now, Mr. Crozier, with these preliminary remarks in rela- 

 tion to soil, let me ask : What are the general characteristics of the soil 

 here on your farm, on which you have been so successful in raising 

 the various root and other crops? 



A. It is a sandy loam in some places and gravelly loam in others; 

 the sandy loam runs from ten to fifteen inches in depth, and the 

 subsoil is a mixture of loam and sand. The gravelly soil is about 

 ten inches in depth, with a subsoil which runs into a fine sand, simi- 

 lar to that which the sandy loam overlies. 



Q. Have you ever had any experience with adhesive soils over- 

 lying clay, and what has been your success with such soils, and 

 with what crops ? 



A. I have had good success with oats, rye, barley and turnips; 

 but for mangels, carrots, or other deep-rooted root crops, the lighter 

 soil is preferable. 



Q. If the subsoil is perfectly free from water, I presume you will 

 agree with me in believing that the more level the land is, the 

 better? 



A. In this climate I would say yes. 



Q. Why not in any climate ? 



A. Because in Europe, for instance, they have a wetter climate, with 

 less sunshine than we have here, and crops such as oats, barley 

 and wheat could be better harvested on ridge lands than on level 

 surfaces. 



Q. Yes, I am aware of the greater moisture of the European cli- 



