208 APPENDIX. [March, 



but taking care to make the land perfectly clean ; and there is little 

 doubt that the wheat crop of 1837 so treated, will be more productive 

 than that of 1835, because it will be less superabundant in straw, and 

 incur less probable injury from being laid down. 



My experience, on a moderate scale, leads me to say, that the sys- 

 tem is the greatest discovery which has been made in agriculture (be- 

 cause it is applicable to soils hitherto almost intractable and most ex- 

 pensive to cultivate,) provided it be applied only where the altitude 

 justifies the undertaking, by securing a climate suitable to valuable 

 crops. It, in truth, converts almost the worst into the best land, that 

 is, the most powerful in respect of production, because the quality of 

 land to which it is applicable, the heavy clays and retentive sub-soils, 

 will yield heavier crops after such treatment than the lighter loams and 

 many of those varieties of soil which hitherto have been so pleasant to 

 the agriculturist to cultivate. 



The reformation which the system effects on lands, which previously 

 were looked on as hopeless, is quite surprising, and no one believes it 

 until it is seen ; but again I say, that the whole success depends on the 

 perfect and complete manner in which the operations are executed, as 

 any thing merely being an approximation to the system will end in 

 disappointment. The expense of what is perfect must not be grudged, 

 and as surely as it is liberally given will it be abundantly repaid. I 

 would also say, that th€ effects of the draining and sub-soil ploughing 

 are dependent on each other ; the one is comparatively worthless with- 

 out the other ; the ploughing would be thrown away without the pre- 

 vious draining, and the draining is a poor improvement compared to 

 the combined effect with the sub-soil ploughing. 



I may state, that my bailiff and the ploughmen who worked the sub- 

 soil plough, certainly in the outset thought my orders almost foolish, 

 (who nevertheless carried them into effect faithfully,) but now see the 

 effects of the system, and are fully sensible of the extraordinary benefits 

 resulting from it. 



The various views of the advantages might be multiplied to any ex- 

 tent, but a concise statement of them seems to be, that the most ob- 

 durate and intractable soils assume a friable and mellow character, and 

 at the same time are rendered permanently most productive, A sys- 

 tem which is applicable to 10 acres is equally so, in its principle, to 

 10,000 or 100,000 acres, and consequently the system becomes a most 

 important national consideration. My decided impression is, that cap- 

 ital judiciously applied in the execution of this system may yield a 



