132 APPENDIX. 



[AJ.] 



Smith's Subsoil Plough. 



I have prefixed to this Report two engravings of modern implements, 

 which in England are deemed of immense value; and which bid fair, 

 if adopted, to be of great importance in our husbandry ; they are Smith's 

 Subsoil Plough, and the Rack Heath Plough ; both intended for the 

 same object. The original engravings are imperfect ; but they will at least 

 give a clear idea to our ingenious mechanics of an implement that is 

 much wanted among us, and I hope, lead to its early invention. An im- 

 plement is wanted by which the cold gravelly subsoil often found in our 

 lands, our wet lands especially, may be effectually stirred and loosened 

 and rendered permeable to air and water, without at the same time 

 bringing it to the surface, where it must require a length of time and a 

 most copious supply of manure to render it productive ; and also with- 

 out burying the loam and richer parts of the soil under the subsoil as 

 is necessarily done in such cases by deep ploughing with a common 

 plough. We want to keep the richer parts of the soil, that is the 

 mould, on the surface ; where the plants can derive all the advantages 

 possible from it, and where too, the manure applied to it will be most 

 efficacious. At the same time it is important to loosen the subsoil, so 

 that the water may pass off; and the roots of the plant, if so disposed, 

 may spread themselves into it ; and likewise that we may be gradually 

 but constantly deepening the upper soil. I have myself seen so much 

 the importance of doing this that I am persuaded this invention must 

 be duly appreciated by the farmers. Its great utility likewise in 

 draining many kinds of lands will be at once apparent. In many in- 

 stances it will completely obviate the necessity of open or covered 

 ditches. Its utility too in clay soils, but especially in many of our wet 

 meadows, where the upper surfiice is thin and resting upon a hard pan, 

 cannot admit of a question. It is of course designed to follow in the 

 furrow of a common plough. The trenching of ground in considera- 

 ble tracts in other countries, and in gardens in our own, has been fol- 

 lowed by the best effects. Here the soil is dug thoroughly to the 

 depth of two or three feet ; and at the same time it is so managed, that 

 the substratum is completely loosened and turned over, and the rich 

 vegetable mould is returned again to the top, where it was at the com- 

 mencement of the operation. These ploughs are adapted to operate in 



