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fundamental and simplest principle of agriculture, to have some ne\r 

 method devised of stirring the soil without compacting the subsoil. 



The highest art of cultivation which has ever been practiced is 

 that of trenching, so extensively employed in England and so ear- 

 nestly advocated by the early English writers on agriculture. With a 

 large class of lands there is no implement so effective for loosening 

 and improving the soil conditions as the spade. The spade does not 

 eut the soil from the subsoil as the plough does, but breaks it off, and 

 there is little or no disturbance and no compacting whatever below 

 that point. Every one is familiar with the difference in the tilth of 

 a garden which has been thoroughly spaded and of a field ploughed 

 in the ordinary way. This old method of trenching with a spade 

 can not, of course, be used in the extensive systems of cultivation 

 practiced in this country, and it is now used in England much less 

 than it was years ago, but if this principle could be worked into a 

 practical method of cultivation it would be of great benefit to agri- 

 culture. 



PRINCIPLES OF SUBSOILING. 



At the present time little is known definitely about the practical 

 value of subsoiling. In certain localities it has or has not been 

 found to be beneficial to crops. There is a wide diffierence of opinion 

 upon this fundamental point. Fifteen or twenty years ago it was 

 very generally advocated throughout the East by all of the agricul- 

 tural journals. It was tried in a great variety of soils and under 

 many conditions, and there is no doubt that in perhaps a majority 

 of cases it showed no beneficial effects. This might have been 

 expected, for no one method of cultivation can be equally valuable 

 under the various conditions of soil, climate, and crops such as 

 prevail over such a great extent of country. At the present the subject 

 is being prominently agitated in some of the Western States, particu- 

 larly in the semiarid regions, and very favorable results are being 

 reported through the local agricultural papers. 



A few general principles only may be laid down for guidance in 

 this matter. Subsoiling is rarely necessary in light, porous, sandy 

 soils or in a climate where they are frequent light showers. It is not 

 beneficial in heavy, wet soils, unless they are previously thoroughly 

 underdrained. It is likely to be injurious if in the operation much 

 of the subsoil is brought to the surface and incorporated in the sur- 

 face soil, especially if the subsoil itself is in an unhealthy condition 

 as regards drainage and contains poisonous matters which would be 

 deleterious to plant growth. Poisonous matters frequently occur in 

 subsoils as a result of improper aeration and the growth of certain 

 minute organisms. 



Subsoiling when properly done consists merely of breaking up the 

 subsoil without bringing it to the surface or in any way incorporating 

 it with the upper layer of the soil. In this respect it differs from 

 deep ploughing. The ideal subsoil plough consists merely of a tongue 

 fashioned much like a common pick and hardly larger in its demen- 

 sions— slightly smaller at the point than in the rear, but as small in 

 all its parts as is consistent with perfect rigidity and with the nature 

 of the soil through which it is to be drawn. This usually follows an 

 ordinary plough. It should be run at as great a depth as possible, the 



