524 Transactions of the American Institute. 



teams and implements were furnished gratuitously; because deep 

 and thorough tillage would operate most disastrously on the pro- 

 ductiveness of that soil. 



I am aware that these suggestions will operate like a bombshell 

 among the advocates of deep plowing. But allow me to explain 

 this apparent duplicity on the subject of deep plowing, by stating 

 when to plow deep, when not to plow deep, and how to plow 

 deep. Will the advocates of deep plowing charge me with lunacy 

 when I tell them that the accustomed productiveness of some of 

 the finest farms in Central New York received a death blow for 

 half a dozen successive years, simply by being plowed deep, in a 

 wrong manner, or with an implement that did not pulverize the 

 soil according to the requirements of that particular geological 

 formation of the soil and the subsoil? The peculiar manner of 

 plowing certain soils deep makes all the difference imaginable in 

 their productiveness. On the contrary, you may plow other soils 

 tvith a trench plow, with a Miciiigan sod and subsoil plow, with a 

 tjurface-soil plow, followed by a subsoiler, and the more you plow, 

 nnd the deeper the implements are driven into the fertile land, the 

 more bountiful will be the crops. 



We will take, if you please, the "deep tiller" plows of Dr. 

 Grant's patterns, that were before the Club a week ago, which are 

 constructed to run from twenty to thirty inches in depth, bringing 

 up the earth from two or more feet below the surfiice, and laying 

 it out to the combined influences of refreshing showers and sun- 

 shine. The geological formation of the surface of the earth, in 

 that particular locality, is such, that the deeper the plow is driven, 

 the more thorough the pulverization of the soil is, the heavier the 

 crops will be. We all understand that; and our views all coincide 

 most perfectly. All we need on such land is to keep plowing and 

 return a fair equivalent to the soil for the crops that have been 

 removed, and seed time and bountiful harvests will never cease. 

 Now, let us go with our big team and huge plow that has turned 

 the fertile mold into bright shining gold, to the slopes of the 

 lakes in New York, or to plowing the heavy soil in Ohio, Canada, 

 or in many other localities, where there is only a thin stratum of 

 mold resting on the surface of a cold, unfertile, heavy, compact, 

 and uncongenial substratum. The elements have been in operation 

 on such land certainly since the period of the Noachin deluge — 

 transforming little by little particles of this stubborn stratum into 

 a seed bed adapted to the requirements of growing plants. Ages 



