334 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
'Nor, 
SUBSOIL PLOWUCt. 
Plowing is one of the most important branches of 
agriculture—necessary even to its existence. The im¬ 
provement of practical agriculture, is in proportion to 
the improvement made in the art of plowing. The 
principles which chemistry has revealed may be made 
abortive—their results defective—-by improper plow¬ 
ing. 
The object to be obtained by plowing, is three fold; 
1st, to pulverize the soil; 2d, to expose a great depth 
of soil to the action of the atmosphere; 3d, to hold the 
many fertilizing substances brought down by rain and 
snow, and absorbed by the soil. 
It becomes necessary to pulverize the soil, so that the 
roots of plants may extend in all directions, freely and 
to a great distance. The atmosphere coming in con¬ 
tact with deep and well pulverized earth, imparts heat 
and moisture, and, acting upon the soil, assists in libe¬ 
rating its salts and in bringing it into that condition 
which is best fitted for the growth of crops. 
A small proportion of water during rains more or 
less heavy, sinks into the soil when shallow plowed; 
such soil is sooner affected by the drouth, and is dry at 
a greater depth than deep earths, as may be shown by 
an examination of shallow and deep plowing in a time 
of drouth. Common plowing does not reach sufficient¬ 
ly deep, to accomplish all that is desired; but deep 
plowing and its good results are effected by following 
the common plow with the subsoil plow. It simply 
loosens the subsoil, and leaves it in that state that roots 
can enter it, that air can permeate it, and water be ab¬ 
sorbed by it. A subsequent plowing, with the common 
plow, can then easily intermix the surface and subsoil. 
Plowing may thus be effected sixteen to twenty inches 
deep. 
I have found from frequent examinations of the roots 
of corn, wheat and oats, during the last four or five 
years, that they are generally inclined to grow down¬ 
wards, some of the roots even straight down until they 
reach the subsoil, then after penetrating an eighth or a 
fourth of an inch, turn horizontally. I traced a root 
of a wheat plant which had extended sixteen inches 
nearly perpendicular, in less than three months after it 
had been sowed, on ground previously subsoiled. It is 
interesting to take the spade and examine the roots of 
crops, at any stage of their growth, in order to com¬ 
pare the effects of common or shallow, with those of 
subsoil plowing. To see the roots of corn pushing 
boldly downwards eighteen inches in search of food, 
eight inches of which has never been penetrated except 
by the noble oak ard hickory, and occasionally by ihe 
searching taproot of clover, as I have witnessed this 
past summer, affords pleasure as well as instruction to 
the farmer, who takes pride in fat swine or stall-fed 
oxen. 
I subsoiled three-fourths of an acre through the middle 
of an eight acre lot, in June, 1846, for wheat. The 
field was plowed but once, aud cultivated several times 
previous to sowing the wheat. I am not able to give 
the result accurately, in consequence of cutting the 
grain with a reaper, by which I was unable to keep the 
wheat separate. The difference was quite perceptible 
at the time of harvesting; it stood thicker on the ground, 
and the berry was of a better quality than the adjoin¬ 
ing on ground not subsoiled. 
In May last, I subsoiled one and a-half acres for corn, 
in a field containing six acres. It had been a timothy 
meadow for four years. The soil was clay loam, sub¬ 
soil a tenacious clay; a part of the subsoiled ground 
was a swale previously ditched, apart was a ridge, the 
balance a wet swale, with a compact, impervious sub¬ 
soil. Twenty loads of unfermented mairare was? ap¬ 
plied to the acre. It was plowed in May five inches 
deep, and subsoiled nine inches more. 
I saw no difference in the corn until Augi&s-t, which 
was then very perceptible during the drouth of that 
; month. The corn upon the subsoiled part retained all 
its beautiful freshness, bearing a healthy perpendicular 
tassel, and having the appearance through the day of 
having been refreshed with a shower of rain the previ¬ 
ous evening. That on the uns-ubsoiled parts-, yielded 
to the drouth, the tassels drooped and the leaves be¬ 
came dry and rolled. After an examination of the soil 
and subsoil about this time with the spade, the differ¬ 
ence in the parts became no longer a mjstery. 
The earth was moist on the subsoiled portion, withiss 
a fourth of an inch of the surface; on the uns-ubsoiled, 
it was dry to the depth of an inch, the balance below 
dryer than the former. In the one, the subsoil was filled 
with corn roots in search of food and water; in the 
other, they were turned aside by the subsoil. The com 
on the wet swale was as good, if not better, than any 
other portion of the field. Judging from the present 
crop, I am of opinion, that subsoiling this wet swale 
was an advantage to the crop of one hundred per cent, 
notwithstanding the objection raised by some, to sub- 
soiling wet land without ditching. 
In consequence of an experiment by which I wished! 
to test two varieties of corn, which crossed the field it® 
an opposite direction to that of subsoiling, I only com¬ 
pared three rows of shoeks, five rows in each shock, 
each row of shocks gathered from twenty-one rods of 
ground. The result was as follows; 
No 1. not subsoiled, gave........ . 606 lbs. of ears. 
2. 3 rows subsoiled, 2 rows not, 646 “ u 
3. subsoiled, ....... .......... 676 u u 
The subsoiled gave at the rate of 73 bushels to th® 
acre; that not snhsoiled, 65 bushels per acre; a differ¬ 
ence sufficient to pay for subsoiling. I considered the 
subsoiled part as having been previously inferior for corn. 
I aimed to be accurate; if there was any difference in 
the previous condition of the soil, or in estimating the 
results of the experiment, it was in favor of the unsub- 
soiled portion. From the observation of the effects of 
subsoiling, so far as it has been practiced by myself and 
others, my mind has become settled in the conviction, 
that subsoil plowing upon most, if not all of the land of 
this county, will prove very beneficial for corn and all 
crops usually raised by us. 
I may be mistaken, but I fully believe, that subsoiling 
thoroughly performed, will prove more profitable to 
farmers for the outlay, than any other one improvement. 
I have never anticipated much improvement from it, 
until after one crop of clover. Then I expect a com¬ 
plete preparation of the soil for wheat. It is unneces¬ 
sary for me to describe, with what ease a clover root 
will penetrate the loosened subsoil, and even go further 
in search of food, gaining strength with every addition¬ 
al inch of depth, bringing the salts of the lower strata 
to the surface for its use, and affording by its decay, 
when turned under by the plow, rich stores of food for 
wheat. In conclusion, I would recommend subsoiling 
in the spring and fall, or when the ground is wet suffi¬ 
ciently deep, at any time in the summer. It does well 
for a summer fallow, if broken up early. It is benefi¬ 
cial to any crop. The expense is about the same as for 
breaking up sod ground. And finally, if this short and 
imperfect essay shall persuade one farmer of this county 
to practice deep tillage with subsoiling, the object of 
the writer will be attained. John Mallory. — N. Y . 
State rfg. Society’s Trans . 
