MR. Huntington's address. 13 



hands for deepening and ameliorating the condition 

 of those grudging and scanty soils ; and thus lay the 

 foundation wherein your manures may exert all their 

 quickening influences. This is no matter of doubt- 

 ful and uncertain experiment. The subsoil plough, 

 invented in England, has been used there with the 

 greatest success. It has also been tried, in a modi- 

 fied form, in this country, by some of our most en- 

 terprising cultivators, and commended as one of the 

 greatest improvements of our times. I believe it 

 will work a great revolution in our agriculture ; and 

 that with the aid of subsoil ploughing, and liberal 

 manuring, many of our now almost barren wastes 

 will be converted into smiling and fruitful fields. 



Deeming this a matter of great importance, and 

 one worthy of the especial attention of the members 

 of our society, and of the agricultural community at 

 large, and believing that many of the soils of this 

 county, are especially adapted to this mode of culti- 

 vation, I have taken the liberty of transcribing a note 

 on this subject, from the first report of our indefati- 

 gable agricultural commissioner.* 



Having considered thus briefly two of the more 

 obvious modes of increasing the productive powers 

 of soils, viz: manuring, and altering its texture, 

 depth, and properties, by tillage and other means, I 

 shall now advert to another mode, which claims 

 especial consideration in this county ; I mean, chang- 

 ing the relation of the soil with respect to moisture. 

 In looking over the surface of the county, we find 

 vast tracts of land wholly unproductive. Much of 

 this land is not susceptible of being brought under 

 cultivation, except at an expense which would be 

 ruinous to the farmer, who is seeking the means of 

 support from working on the soil. But a much lar- 

 ger proportion of this unimproved land, estimated in 

 the gross in the reports of the valuation committee 

 in 1831, at thirty four thousand two hundred and 



* Appendix, B. 



