122 



THE WHEAT CUJ.TUEIfiT. 



their roots in ; and with this advantage, they withstand 

 the ' throwing out ' produced by alternate thawings and 

 freezings, better than when the soil has been recently 

 stirred to a very considerable depth. 



" 1^0 one at this time of day can overlook or be igno- 

 rant of the great advantages to the soil generally by 

 deep ploughing. 



^'Ist. It opens a much larger amount of soil to the 

 range of roots, giving much more liberal pasturage than 

 they could otherwise get. 



" 2d. It increases very largely the supply of nutri- 

 ment, by allowing the access of air, and by the process 

 of weathering, acting upon the mineral elements of the 

 soil. 



" 3d. It preserves an equal quantity of moisture in 

 the soil. We seldom have a rain so great as to produce 

 an unhealthy stagnation of water about the roots of 

 plants set in a soil seven or eight inches deep ; and, on 

 the contrary, we seldom have a drouth of so long con- 

 tinuance as to extract all the moisture to that depth. 



" These and other known advantages from deep 

 ploughing, we might dwell upon ; and apart from the 

 well-known fact above alluded to, it would hardly be 

 supposed that any crop, of whatever character, would 

 be exempted from the good influences of the practice. 



We must make a proper distinction, however, be- 

 tween a natural subsoil, indurated and rendered im- 

 pervious to the action of the air by centuries of rest — 

 its original hardness and impenetrability aggravated by 

 a long course of continuous treading in ploughing the 

 surface soil — and that firm, mellow body of earth which 

 is produced by deep cultivation. 



" It is this firm yet generous subsoil which forms so 



