No. 144.] 289 



judicious to roll a sandy soil to prevent its being rendered blowy 

 by spring, it is equally necessary to secure opposite conditions for 

 a clayey soil. Clayey soils are also advantaged by fall and win- 

 ter mulching more than any other ; for, while mulching prevents 

 the compacting of the immediate surface by winter rains, it also 

 freely admits the passage of the atmosphere in the fall and spring, 

 heavily laden with the gases of the decompositions of these sea- 

 sons, which are received and retained by clayey soils better than 

 by any other. The general manuring of clayey lands should be 

 performed in the fall or late summer, and if practicable with long 

 manures ; for in such soils there is no fear of losing the results 

 from the decomposition of the manure in the atmosphere. The 

 rising gases will be all retained, and the decay of the ligneous 

 portions of the manure will not only supply carbon for the disin- 

 tegration of the clay, but will, also, by their disappearance, leave 

 spaces for the cireulation of the atmosphere, and thus assist in 

 rendering the soil more pulverulent. When sand can be pro- 

 cured it may be added to the surface of clayey soils before ridging 

 and back furrowing, and before the broadcast spreading of the 

 manure, as the manipulations which necessarily follow in these 

 operations will secure its more intimate admixture by spring, 

 while it will leave the inner surface of the ridges in a proper con- 

 dition for the atmosphere to assist in the decomposition of the ma- 

 nure. The spring splitting of these ridges will finish the distri- 

 bution and admixture of the sand with the clay, and the cross- 

 plowing, if appealed to, will render this admiixture the more per- 

 fect. The adding of sand to clay is well know^n to be a good 

 practice, and therefore those who prepare composts for clayey 

 soils should freely use in the composts sand or other divisor, giv- 

 ing greater value to the manure, and rendering it more peculiarly 

 adapted for use in their soils. 



H. C. Vail — We should laugh at a carpenter who undertook to 

 build a house with a saw and hammer. It would be no more un- 

 reasonable for him to do so than it is for the farmer to try to do 

 all his work with one kind of plow, or to grow all sorts of crops 

 with one kind of manure. The advantage of plowing clay land in 

 the fall is very great. 



[Assembly, No. 144. J S 



