216 PRACTICAL AGRICULTURE. 



find fault witli roast-beef because it does not afford 

 a suitable diet without other food. The same 

 might be said of ashes. Land dressed with ashes 

 alone, will soon be found in a sad condition ; and yet 

 the potash, soda, and lime they contain, are worth far 

 moie for agricultural purposes than the price generally 

 allowed by soap-boilers. Their alkaline salts act fa- 

 vorably upon the silicates in the soil ; they render in- 

 soluble silica soluble^ and are therefore valuable on up- 

 lands ; while on peaty lands, if well drained, and on 

 any lands, which abound in inert vegetable matter, 

 their value is very great. 



DEEP PLOUGHING. 



412. If our farmer on his new farm has disposed of 

 his manures, provided his summer's stock of fael, and 

 made such repairs as are absolutely necessary in tha 

 outset, he will now find himself in the business of 

 ploughing and getting in his seeds. The limits of thit 

 work will not allow me to follow him through his sum- 

 mer's career. A few things, however, I am not willing 

 to pass in silence. One is the matter of ploughing. 



413. From what was said on the subject of capillary 

 attraction, we derive important rales with regard to 

 ploughing. The upward and downward movement 

 of the water extends far into the ground, if there is 

 no impervious stratum. If there is a stratum near the 

 surface, through which water cannot, pass freely, an 

 important process of nature favorable to vegetation is 

 impeded. Th-' water of excessive rains should pass 



