412 Transactioxs of the American Institute. 



the same size as the cut. The earth out of a post hole cannot be 

 made to fill it. These are certainly facts, but however strong they 

 may be they do not prove that deep plowing is not beneficial. The 

 natural earth is made porous by the roots of trees and vegetation, and 

 when removed, in a manner it collapses. But at the same time it 

 becomes aerated and fitted to receive new roots, which in a natural 

 condition it is not so well able to do. 



Mr. Horace Greele3^ — Mr. Chairman, if I am under a delusion on 

 this matter of deep tillage, I have been drawn into it by a very 

 ancient and venerable authority. Here it is. I read from St. 

 Matthew's gospel, chapter 12, verse 3. They are the words of Christ 

 himself. " A sower went forth to sow ; and when he sowed some fell 

 by the wayside and the fowls came and devoured them up ! Some 

 fell on ston}'- places where they had not much earth ; and forthwith 

 they sprung up hecause they had no deepness of earth : and lohen the 

 sun was up they were scorched / and hecause they had no root they 

 withered awayP Now all I conten.d for is the agricultural truth 

 stated in this scripture, that as a general rule, applicable probably to 

 nine out of ten of the cultivated acres of this continent, a soil so 

 tilled that roots of crops can reach down into the subsoil for their 

 food, is far superior in a dry season to a soil whei'e the roots 

 must remain within a few inches of the top. I am not 

 unacquainted with that Jersey soil. I was there in 18C4 : 

 the season was very dry, and the corn was so affected by 

 drouth that I doubt whether it gave ten bushels to the acre. 

 There are soils where nature has done up the subsoiling for all time 

 for the fortunate tillers. I know a few such regions. This strip in 

 Salem county, which the committee visited, may be one of them. 

 From the specimens of subsoil brought away by one of the commit- 

 tee, I should say it is remarkably good both in its mechanical condi- 

 tion and its composition. There are places in California where if 

 you water vines a little for two or three years, till the roots get down, 

 they will grow and bear without rain. So of some of the corn lands 

 of Illinois ; a plowing of two inches, just enough to cover the seed, 

 will insure a fine crop. But such lands are the exception, the rare 

 exception, and not the rule. At some future time, Mr. Chairman, I 

 will read before this club not exactly a paper on deep plowing, but a 

 definition of what I understand by deep plowijig. 



Mr. -J. B. Lyman. — Mr. Greeley alludes to the goodness of this 

 subsoil. Now this is a relative word, and we have the means of com- 



