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constituents in North Hampshire — (he was Chairman 
of the Select Committee to investigate the causes of 
agricultural distress) — and is worthy of notice : — " The 
" most astonishing effects, however, appear to have been 
" produced by a new agricultural implement, the 
" invention of Mr. Smith, of Deanston, near Sterling, 
" called the subsoil plough. This machine is a necessary 
" accompaniment to draining ; but when that is done 
" effectively, it seems calculated to render the most 
" sterile and unproductive soil fertile and profitable. 
" Mr. Smith's most ingenious invention, (which is 
"admirably described in his evidence, to which 
*' I beg to refer you for a more complete explanation 
*'of its principle), by breaking the subsoil without 
"bringing it to the surface, renders it pervious both 
" to air and water. The same chemical changes which 
" take place in a fallow, owing to its exposure to 
"the action of the wind and rain, are thus brought 
" to operation in the subsoil, whilst the upper is in 
" the ordinary course of cropping ; and when, after a 
" few years, by a greater depth of ploughing, the sub- 
" soil is mixed with the upper, it is found to be so 
" completely changed in its nature as to be capable of 
" producing every description of corn. The advantages 
" of this system of husbandry are so apparent that no 
*' farmer will be at a loss to appreciate the merit of the 
"invention. I believe it to be quite as important an 
" improvement in the management of clay lands, as 
" the introduction of the turnip system has been with 
" reference to light soils, and as the experiment has been 
"tried for twelve years, and with uniform success, I 
" cannot but anticipate its ultimate adoption in those 
" districts of England where, from the cold retentive 
" nature of the soil, the greatest extent of agricul- 
