M PLOWING DOUBLE TEAMS. 



superior animals. These several gentlemen have thus exbibiied their 

 interest in the success of the Society, by contributing valuable animals 

 for the benefit of the examining public. They deserve the thanks of 

 all lovers of fine stock, and we trust that their example will be more 

 generally followed hereafter. 



JABEZ FISHER, for the Committee. 



PLOWING—DOUBLE TEAMS. 



Before speaking of the subject of plowing, we woiild allude to anoth- 

 er that underlies it, to wit : field drainage. As food enters all plants 

 through the medium of water, a proper regulation of it is of paramount 

 importance. 



Rain water is not only a powerful solvent, hut it extracts ammonia 

 from the atmosphere which increases and elaborates those elements 

 of fertility in the soil on which vegetation depends for health and fruit- 

 fulness. We quote the following from Mr. Freneh's Farm Drainage. 

 He says : " Although we usually regard drainage as a means of render- 

 ing land sufficiently dry for cultivation, that is by no means a compre- 

 hensive view of the object of the operation. Rain is the principal 

 source of moisture and a surplus of moisture is the evil against which 

 we contend in draining. 



But rain water is also the principal source of fertility ; not only 

 because it affords the necessary moisture to dissolve the elements of 

 fertility, but also because it contains in itself, or brings with it from the 

 atmosphere, valuable fertilizing substances. 



About forty inches of rain water may be taken ^s a fair general 

 average of the rain f\iU in the United States, If this supplies as much 

 ammonia to the soil as three hundred weight of Peruvian guano to the 

 acre, ^ which is considered a liberal manuring, and which is valuable 

 principally for its ammonia, we at once see the importance of retaining 

 the rain water long enough at least upon our fields to rob it of its treas- 

 ure. But it has a further value than has yet been suggested : ' Rain 

 water always contains in solution air, carbonic acid, and ammonia ; the 

 two first are among the most powerful disintegrators of the soil ; the 

 oxygen and carbonic acid being both in a highly condensed form by 

 being dissolved, possess very powerful affinities for the ingredients of 

 the ^ soil ; the oxygen attacks and oxidizes the iron, the carbonic acid 

 seizing the Hme and potash and other alkaline ingredients of the soil, 

 produces a further separation and renders available the locked up 

 ingredients of this magazine of nutriment ; before those can be used by 

 plants they must be rendered soluble, and this is only effiicted by the 

 tree and renewed access of rain and air. The ready passage of both of 

 these, therefore, enables the soil to yield up its latent nutriment.' 



