752 [Assembly 



following rake off the straw, &c. The manure thus laid on the sur- 

 face, then, must assuredly go down, for if it ascended there would 

 be a total loss of it. 



Dr. Underhill. In winter no doubt it descends to a certain depth. 



Mr. Sherwood. Well, then, in our clover lays with manure on the 

 surface we find the plants enriched, how could that be if the elements 

 of the manure ascended into the air? At east Grinstead, or near it, 

 (in England,) they have wet farms, partly drained; there, they say, 

 manure is of no use to the land until it is well drained; for the es- 

 sence of the manure is leached down, and carried away by the 

 drains, and that they find rich deposits formed from thij source, at 

 the adyts of the drains and they there take it up and use it over 

 again as manure. Those diainsare about three feet. But in suppert 

 of Dr. Underbill's theory, is it true that sub-soils are always poor. 

 In the western prairies of our country I have observed the depth of 

 the soil to be from three feet to eleven, twelve, sixteen and even 

 twenty ye et. There the soil now is, whence it came is another 

 question. The subsoil, when turned up, soon becomes enriched by 

 its exposure to air, rains, heat, &c. &c. In England the apple tree 

 is benefited by repeated diggings about its root, but if you touch 

 the roots of cherry trees they suffer. Tell an English farmer to 

 plough fourteen inches deep and put his manure down there and he 

 will tell you that you put it out of the reach of the plants which re- 

 quire it when they are young and sound, and that they loant their 

 share of it early ! 



Dr. Underhill. I said that my theory was not so applicable to the 

 moist climate of England as it is to the hot sun of our country. As 

 to the deep soils of the prairies just mentioned, they are deposits 

 from waters, beyond all controversy. 



Mr. Aycrigg. I have noticed the roots of an apple tree descend- 

 ing twenty-five feet in the earth and even at that depth it still went 

 lower down. 



Mr. Meigs. Roots of Lucerne Jiave been found in porous soil, 

 thirty feet in depth. 



Mr. Meigs remarked that the Scientific Congress in Italy was an 

 event as well worthy of notice, as the assembly at Venice of 1472, 

 men of science and about 2000 lovers of science, held in the Ducal 



