238 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



clays are not susceptible of improvement with the 

 least chance of a proper return. 



There is no doubt but a better system could be 

 adopted for the cultivation of such strong clay soils 

 than, that which is pursued in the common fields, 

 and on the clays of Bedford, Huntington, Cambridge, 

 and other counties, on the malm, gault, oak-tree, 

 clunch, Oxford and blue lias clays. 



The course of cropping adopted in the common 

 fields, and on thin clay, is summer fallow, if dunged, 

 •wheat, and then beans ; or without dung, barley, 

 then oats, then fallow again ; and this is the same as 

 it was one hundred years ago. 



The chief cause of thus neglecting the clay soils is 

 the difficulty and expense of cultivating them, and 

 of converting them into pasture, after having boon 

 long kept iinder this system of arable cultivation. 

 It is difficult to convert such land into good jjasturo, 

 but it has been overcome, and the best and most 

 profitable results have followed. 



There is a much greater difficulty in getting a 

 poor, cold, clay farm lot, than one consisting of a 

 poor sandy soil ; the capital and ability required for 

 the former being not only much greater, and of a 

 higher order, but the risk is also much more in cul- 

 tivating the clay, than the sand, as the mode of im- 

 proving the land and securing good crops on sandy 

 soils by claying is easy and certain, and the titrnij) 

 and sheep husbandry cannot be adopted on clays. 



Besides, the system of cultivating light sand or 

 loamy soils has been so long established, and the 

 Norfolk or four-field system has now become so much 

 the beaten track, that it would be difficult for the 

 farmers who have been brought up to it, to leave off, 

 although a better one were shown them. 



The turnip and sheep system, however, cannot 

 be adopted on clay soils, till they are completely 

 drained and subsoil ploughed, and till sand or light 

 and porous matter be added to alter their texture. 



Some new impulse must be given to agricult\iral 

 speculations before the cold, wet clay soil will ever 

 attain that degree of improvement which they arc 

 capable of, and which has been effected in the sandy 

 and peaty soils. 



The landlords should encourage tenants with capi- 

 tal and talent, by letting farms at low rents uncler 

 improving leases, similar to the building leases 

 granted in great towns ; and binding them by cer- 

 tain covenants to improve the land by complete sub- 

 soil drainage and the application of alternatives ; 

 and by a proper mode of culture, to convert a cer- 

 tain portion of the arable land into pasture under a 

 particular mode found to be the best and surest for 

 effecting its amelioration. Permanent improvement 

 tmdertaken by an intelligent and industrious farmer 

 under the security of an inaproving lease is the best 

 and most profitable mode of permanently improving 

 land. 



Perhaps Lord Karnes's mode of letting land for 

 this object is the best, with additional covenants 

 binding the tenants to improve, by altering the 

 texture of such soils as would be improved by it. 

 It ought ever to be kept in mind, that the only true 

 and systematic stimulus to improvement of any kind, 

 is the certainty of profit in the outlay of capital. 

 This is the main-spring to all our exertions ; without 

 the certainty of occupying his improvements for 

 Buch a length of time as wUl enable him to reap the 

 advantage of his outlay, we may be assured that no 

 man will either invest "his own capital, or be inclined 

 to borrow money to be laid out in the improvement 

 of another man's estate. 



There is no doubt, however, but thin clay soils 

 could be easily improved, and, perhaps, in a much 

 greater degree than the sandy soils have been during 

 the last forty years ; and the surface may yet be 

 Been clothed with a rich herbage which shall vie 



with that of other soils in producing the best cheese, 

 beef, and mutton. 



Clay soils will pi-oduce pasture just in proportion 

 to the quantity of decaying active vegetable matter 

 in their composition. If this be abundant, the crop 

 will be rich and luxuriant ; and the decaying fibrous 

 roots will form a dry, porous soil, giving a sufficient 

 depth for the rain to sink through the subsoil, where 

 it will run off by the furrow drains. If there be 

 little vegetable matter in the soil, the moisture will 

 make the earthy matter in it collapse and adhere to- 

 gether ; and it will form a cold, wet, sterile clay, 

 producing little else but carnation grass, of little 

 value. 



Pasture on clay soils should never be converted 

 into arable culture, unless the application of skill 

 and capital will not only repay the additional ex- 

 pense of the culture, but also tend to increase the 

 permanent productiveness of the soil. Without a 

 proper application of skill, capital, and industry on 

 such land, the converting it into arable culture will 

 only tend to diminish the produce, if the free produce 

 uncler the artificial culture falls short of that Mhich 

 nature itself afforded. 



Much may be learned from the practice of market 

 gardeners, in the neighborhood of London and else- 

 where. They have two methods of trenching their 

 land. When the soil and subsoil are good to a great 

 depth, they turn the sui-face under and fetch up a 

 fresh spit "from below to constitute the surface for so 

 many years ; but when the subsoil is poor or strong 

 clay, they bastard trench it, as they call it ; that is, 

 they throw the surface spit forward, always keeping 

 it uppermost, and dig the subsoil by turning it over 

 in the trench without moving it from its place. 



Their object in thus trenching their clay soUs is to 

 get depth for the rain water to descend, and to give 

 a greater depth of moisture to the roots of plants, 

 and run off to the drain. 



If we perfectly drain thin clay soil by furrow 

 draining, and deepen the subsoil by trenching with 

 the spade or the subsoil plough, making it pervious 

 to the moisture which falls on it, that it may im- 

 mediately sink to a depth below the reach . of the 

 roots of the plants, the cultivated surface will be 

 dry ; and if we reduce the tenacity of the soil by 

 applying to it those light or sandy substances, which, 

 wheii well incorporated with it, will make and keep 

 the soil permanently porous and friable, then the 

 land which before produced only a poor crop of car- 

 nation grass, or, if arable, of oats, will now produce 

 an abundant crop of wheat, beans, oats, clover, and 

 even turnips ; an'd if properly laid down, and full of 

 manure, will form a rich pastui-age for any kind of 

 stock. 



When clay soils have dry, pervious subsoils, they 

 become darker in color from the repeated application 

 of manures, ancV under a proper system of cultiva-^ 

 tion, they lose their adhesiveness, and become a 

 loamy soil, producing the most fruitful crops of 

 wheat, beans, clover, vetches, cabbage, and naturally 

 produce the best and richest herbage for dairy cows. 

 The milk from cows fed on such pasture produces 

 more cheese and butter than the milk from cows fed 

 on a sandy soil, and of a bettor quality. 



Any thing which will produce permanent friability 

 in clay soils, such as sand, lime, burnt clay, loose, 

 light vegetable matter, or long unfermented manure, 

 will alter its texture and improve its quality. 



When tenacious soils are completely subsoil 

 drained, and a system of deep or subsoil plough- 

 ing is adopted, every time when the land is in 

 summer fallow, if the soil be deepened and the sub- 

 soil made more porous ; and if never ploughed when 

 too wet, and a full portion of vegetable manure be 

 given to the soil, and well mixed with it, a mechani- 

 cal effect will be produced, which will change the 



