270 TFAXSACTioys of the American Institute. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — I do not understand liow it is that men who 

 have sense and eyes should oppose deep plowing. I 'do not care what 

 any one says, there is no sense in such a thing. Corn, that can 

 descend deep, is not affected by drouth or excessive moisture. To-daj 

 those who have trenclied deep and underdrained tlieir land, are 

 getting rich during tliis wet weather. Manure comes in the rain 

 and damp atmosphere. 



Dr. J. C. Y. Smith. — I was on the committee to visit Salem 

 county, and the farms are an honor to the county and State. What- 

 ever Mr. Pettit says is so. Perhaps the soil does not need to he 

 plowed as deep as elsewhere. And here is an important point, 

 wdiich should be talvcn into consideration in deciding on this subject. 



Mr. Solon Robinson. — I have been studying this subject for fifty 

 years, and I do not know as much now as I thought I did when I 

 commenced. In ISTew Jersey it may not be necessary to plow deep. 

 Out on my soil, in Westchester county, a man who plowed shallow 

 would be starved to death, as he ought to be. The plowing through- 

 out the United States does not average more than three inches. There 

 is something in subsoil which rises and gives fertility to the surface. 

 There are sections where deep plowing will not pay. I am not crazy 

 on the subject of deep plowing, but I am not in favor of shallow cul- 

 ture. 



Mr. P. T. Quinii. — Celery plants descend thirty-one inches. I have 

 traced the roots of corn fi*om thirty to thirty-six inches, and squashe? 

 from twelve to sixteen inches. I never knew a place where deep 

 plowing did any harm. In market gardening, where hundreds of 

 dollars worth of manure are used, land plowed four inches deep 

 would not produce enough to pay for the seed. Tliere is something 

 wrong when the average of crops has decreased from thirty to sixteen 

 bushels per acre. 



Dr. Isaac P. Trimble. — I grant that if there is a hard-pan it must 

 be broken ; and liere the difterence of opinion undoubtedly arises. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — If this clul) could induce the jieople of the 

 United States to plow one inch deeper, it would add one hundred 

 millions of dollars to the country. 



Dr. J. C. Y. Smith. — Where tliere is a phosphate roots will descend 

 in search of it. On the removal of the remains of Poger Williams, 

 at Providence, P. I., it was found that the roots of an apple tree had 

 des«ended into the grave, and, wholly absorbing the bones, had 

 assumed the human form. 



