LIFTING SUB-SOIL PLOW. 21 
it should be remembered, that when a tree is plant- 
ed, it is not for a crop of one year alone. When the 
soil is properly prepared before the trees are put into 
place, annual crops for a lifetime may be realized 
with little care or expense. For the amateur, or one 
who only plants in his garden enough for family use, 
and who will take pride in having his trees do well 
and bear fine specimens, the preparatory step of 
draining should not be overlooked. 
In case the land selected for the orchard or fruit 
garden is a heavy clay, locate the drains forty feet 
apart and four feet deep, if fall enough can be had 
to carry off the water. If circumstances will admit, 
it is better to have them at least this depth, for if 
shallow, the roots of the trees may penetrate, and very 
soon render them useless. 
In the field, the expense of opening drains may 
be lessened one-third, by loosening the upper two 
feet of earth with the lifting sub-soil plow. This 
may be readily done with a pair of oxen or horses ; 
for the former make a long yoke, so that one of the 
animals can walk on either side of the ditch. When 
the plow has been run three or four times in the 
same line, the loose earth is shoveled out, and the 
operation of the plow repeated in the bottom, until 
its full depth is reached. A few inches more earth 
may be loosened by fastening a heavy weight at the 
