12 MR. Huntington's address. 



ty for the exercise of all the skill and sagacity of the 

 most experienced cultivator. He must know the 

 constituent elements of the substances with which he 

 is called to deal, else he cannot apply the remedies 

 which the infirmity of the soil may require. It is 

 often the case, that the effect of manuring is in a 

 great measure lost from the shallowness or lightness 

 of the soil, or the nature of the subsoil. Such lands, 

 it is sometimes said, will not hear heavy manuring. 

 The only cure for this description of soils, is to make 

 them over, in other words, to create a soil. This 

 operation, however, in the old modes of husbandry, 

 Avas found to be too expensive, and not such as to 

 commend itself to any great extent to the judgment 

 of practical men. Deep ploughing, by bringing up 

 to the surface the infertile subsoil, and covering un- 

 der it the vegetable mould of the soil proper, made 

 long and expensive manuring necessary to create a 

 soil suitable to the early growth and nurture of 

 plants. With sufficient time and expense, soils were 

 reformed in this way. But the invention of the sub- 

 soil plough, the greatest achievement of modern art, 

 as applied to agriculture, will enable the Essex far- 

 mer to convert his sterile soils into fields of fertility 

 and abundance, with the greatest advantage and pro- 

 fit. 



Many farmers among us complain much of their 

 light and barren soils. They allege that manuring 

 does but little good ; that it excites the land for a 

 short time, and that then the effect is entirely lost. 

 This is undoubtedly true to a very considerable ex- 

 tent, and in this way, those richest of the farmer's 

 treasures, the manures, are partially, and sometimes 

 almost wholly wasted. This is a sacrifice which the 

 interests of husbandry can by no means aff"ord. That 

 mode of husbandry, which leads to such sacrifices, 

 must be a false and defective one. To the farmer, 

 therefore, who makes the complaints above suggest- 

 ed, I would say, reform your husbandry, and use 

 the instruments which modern art has put in your 



