IMPROVEMENT OF LAND. 95 



into operation ; the only apparent difference between the two modes of 

 tilling being, that in this country the operation is more systematically 

 and neatly gone about, simply because there are no tree-stumps to 

 interfere with the work, as the settler has to contend with in Canada. 

 It is certainly a matter of surprise that in an old country like Britain, 

 with all its wealth and available resources for the improvement of its 

 soils, there is not at the present time a very much better mode of culti- 

 vation put into practice than that which prevails in many parts of the 

 country. I am aware that there are farmers in this country who have 

 adopted an improved mode of dealing with their land in regard to its 

 tillage, and I give them all due credit for the example they have set ; 

 but even of these there are comparatively few who have carried out 

 their improvements in tillage to the extent which the importance of the 

 subject requires. 



From seeing that in most parts of the country the mode of tilling the 

 land is generally very defective, and but ill calculated to remunerate its 

 cultivators for their trouble, I have for a number of years past been 

 led to consider whether a better system could not be adopted ; and as 

 I have had extensive opportunities, from daily practice, of seeing the 

 effects of certain modes of operation in different districts, I noted their 

 results, and stored them up as proofs in favour of the system I am about 

 to recommend. From my inquiries on and experience of the subject, it 

 is clear that the great defect of the system of tillage in general practice 

 is its shallowness, whereby only a thin stratum of the land is supplied 

 with food for the roots of the plants grown on it ; and that, consequent 

 on this state of things, the plants cannot possibly be fully devel- 

 oped, nor attain such perfection of growth as to produce highly profit- 

 able crops. I have, of course, long observed that drainage has the effect 

 of materially improving the surface of the land for the better growth of 

 plants cultivated on it ; but, on the other hand, it has been clearly 

 demonstrated that the complete efficiency of drainage is to a very 

 great degree prevented by the compactness of the undisturbed subsoil 

 lying between the cultivated surface and the drains, as this in many 

 cases forms a complete barrier to the descent of the water from the 

 cultivated surface to the drains, and the admission and circulation of air 

 throughout the soil. Indeed, it seems beyond doubt that on most lands 

 the full efficiency of drainage cannot be obtained while the compact 

 subsoil lies undisturbed, and that, in order to secure the full advantages 

 of draining, it is absolutely necessary to open up the subsoil to admit 

 of the free passage of the water downwards,*and the circulation of air. 

 I am well aware that subsoil-ploughing has in many cases been adopted 

 with a considerable degree of success ; but to me this does not seem to 



