256 [Assembly 



we find that it penetrates in well ploughed and subsoiled lands 

 to a far greater depth ; we find that, however dry it appears to 

 be, yet it imparts moisture, and with it some of the vital ele- 

 ments of vegetable growth. It is well understood that the im- 

 portant one, ammonia, descends in showers, but not so well 

 known that a constant supply is conveyed into soil by the invisi- 

 ble atoms of water containing ammonia, in the dryest day — so 

 much so, that deeply pulverized soils do not suffer in hard 

 droughts. When meadows are thus ploughed and sub-soiled, 

 their grasses never run out. When, in shallow ploughed land, 

 the root of wheat touches the hard subsoil, it ceases to tiller, 

 and the ends of its delicate roots which have touched the sub- 

 soil, on close microscopic examination, are seen to be blunted 

 and injured. To show the constancy of moisture in the air* of 

 the dryest days, a bar of iron at a temperature of only two or three 

 degrees below that of the air, will show the small drops of water 

 condensed upon it ; this effect is constantly going on in the 

 particles of the soil. The effect of air circulating in drains is 

 seen at the ends by a more fresh and vigorous growth than in 

 the middle sections of the drains. Besides ammonia from the air, 

 we are constantly receiving that great element, carbon, derived 

 from the carbonic acid of atmosphere ; this and ammonia are 

 thus constantly entering free soils. Some ask whether subsoil- 

 ing is good for very wet lands. I say no, unless you uuderdrain 

 the land. Soils properly underdrained and subsoiled give 

 plants an early start, for they take in the heat as well as the 

 atmosphere, with its carbon and ammonia. The brassica family 

 (cabbage) will not give you a large crop without deep tillage. 

 You must plough deep, and subsoil under that. Hitherto we 

 have not had a proper figure in our subsoil ploughs. Mr. Weir, 

 of New-Jersey, has now, under my advice, produced one, which 

 I like, and which I here lay upon the table for examination. 

 You see, gentlemen, that this lifts the subsoil at its heel about 

 two inches and a half, which is all sufficient for breaking up the 

 whole of it, and that this gradual and moderate rise from the 

 share point renders the draught easy, in fact it is less by about 

 one-half than some others that I have tried. I am asked, what 

 then, after your underdraining and subsoiling, what increase of 



