PLOWING THE SOIL. 193 



soil on "Woodland Farm the top soil is rather poor 

 in lime, leached away by the erosion of centuries 

 of rain. Down about 16" are many limestone peb- 

 bles. Could these be thrown up by the plow the 

 result would be the same as a heavy liming — ^be 

 better, in truth. How do we know this ? By the be- 

 havior of land that has been tile drained. "Where 

 the ditches are dug the subsoil is mixed with the 

 top soil — in fact iu filling the subsoil is usually left 

 on top — and there will grow the best alfalfa with- 

 out question. Even in a dry year the effect is very 

 marked, the narrow strip of land where the tile ditch 

 stood sending up alfalfa like a ridge, often 12 or 

 more inches taller than the rest of the field. The 

 effect is more marked on a dry year than on a wet 

 one, so it can not be attributed to the effect of 

 underdrainage altogether. . 



We have found that with a large common break- 

 ing plow we could go down 10" easily enough, if 

 the land was not too moist nor too dry. After that 

 a smaller plow can follow and go 4" or 5" deeper. 

 Xot much of this last soil will be thrown clear of 

 the furrow, but it will become well mixed through 

 with the top soil. Woodland Farm has only be- 

 gun experimentation along this line, but we are 

 quite well persuaded that by the time the reader 

 sees these lines we will have abundant proof of the 

 great use of this deep plowing, "^^e are ready to 

 advise only in fairly fertile soils, especially if the 

 subsoil has more lime than the surface,- a depth of 

 plowing of 12" or 16" or as deep as you can go. 



