774 [Assembly 



proper food. Subsoiling breaks up a new earth, the English do not 

 at first bring their subsoil up to the surface of the land. 



Lands well ploughed and subsoiled have been found to produce 

 fine crops without manure for a time. The interesting experiment 

 tried at Rockheath, England, by Stracey, on 500 acres proved this. 

 That farm had been condemned as worn out, some said, you may per- 

 haps plant a forest on it. It had always been ploughed some five inches 

 deep. Mr. Stracey let parts of it to cottagers, who dug two spits 

 deep in it, and, without manure, got good crops the first year. 

 When Stracy saw this, he had the farm ploughed and subsoiled eigh- 

 teen inches deep, and without any manure he got twenty-six bushels 

 of wheat per acre the first year. The next year he manured partly 

 and got thirty-six bushels of wheat, of the weight of 64 pounds the 

 bushel. In ploughing, straight furrows are important. 



Mr. Meigs. — An Englishman some years since, bought a worn-out 

 farm in New England, one so sterile that it would scarcely bear a 

 mullen stalk. Buildings and fences long deserted and in ruins. He 

 repaired the latter, and with a powerful team of cattle and a huge 

 plough, he began in the spring to plough his barren purchase. He 

 continued this ploughing, first one way and then across, all summer 

 long, he then sowed wheat, and next year reaped thirty bushels per 

 acre, without manure. 



Judge Van Wyck. — Let the Ploughing and Subsoiling be contin- 

 ued. Adopted. 



The Club adjourned. 



H. MEIGS, Secretary. 



February \st, 184S, 

 Judge R. S. Livingston in the Chair. 



Henry Meigs, Secretary. 



Mr Wakeman. The most important subject now before the Ameri- 

 can Institute, is the Agricultural School and Experimental Farm, 

 which we are petitioning our Legislature to enable us to establish. 

 Such is the substantial character of the proposed system, that we 

 rationally look for success. A bill calculated to commence it is be- 



