TO IMPROVE THE SOIL AND THE MIND. 
New Series. ALBANY. JANUARY, 1852. Vol. IX.— No. 1. 
Plowing up Hidden Treasure. 
It has been said that “ we may judge of the skill of a 
farmer by the number of sovereigns he pockets by the 
end of the year j” and as the whole object of the busi¬ 
ness is to reap its reward, the inquiry very naturally 
arises, What is the secret why some farmers with the 
same amount of capital and labor, gain more than others, 
and why some work hard all their lives without seeming 
to turn up with their shares but little that is valuable?” 
The answer is obvious—all do not know where the 
concealed treasures lie, which the more fortunate have 
discovered,—and having discovered, immediately com¬ 
mence throwing out freely from the bottom of their 
rich furrows. It is surprising what mines of wealth lie 
within reach of some who are toiling laboriously for 
what these mines would at once afford them. We have 
known a very industrious man draw stable manure from 
a distance of several miles, to apply to the surface of 
land, that contained just twelve inches below, powerful 
means of fertility. The manuring was indeed highly 
profitable, but a great mistake was committed by neg¬ 
lecting the other means. Another farmer in one of the 
best counties of Western New-York, told us years since, 
that so valuable was the subsoil of his land, that he would 
be glad to have half a foot of the top soil of his whole 
five hundred acres at once removed and taken away. 
But his knowledge has slumbered; for to this day, nei¬ 
ther subsoil nor trench plow has entered beyond the usual 
depth. 
Accidental occurrences often teach valuable facts, of 
which the sq^cessful farmer at once avails himself. 
During one of those years when the wheat-crop was 
nearly destroyed by adverse causes, a strip of land was 
observed through a neighbor’s field, bearing a fine dense 
crop of grain, while the rest did not average five bushels 
per acre. On inquiry, it was found that the subsoil, in 
cutting a ditch, had been spread, merely for convenience 
over the ground on either side, and thus imparted to it 
this extraordinary fertility. In another case, by mixing 
up by means of deep furrows, the marly subsoil with the 
light and spongy top soil of a piece of low land, an ac¬ 
quaintance succeeded in expelling at once the worthless 
rush and sedge grasses, and restoring a fine growth of 
clover. A casual observation in cutting a trench had 
pointed out this great improvement. 
We do not mean to assert that the subsoil always con¬ 
tains, to so great an extent, the elements of fertility. 
When it approaches barrenness, caution is of course 
needed in gradually deeping the soil, accompanied with 
manuring. But this condition is more frequently the 
exception than the rule. Fifty years of tillage, as farm¬ 
ing is too often conducted, rather impoverishes, than adds 
to mineral manures. The soil was not originally de¬ 
posited so as to accommodate the surface-stratum of 
fertility, to the exact depth penetrated by the modern 
cast-iron plow. The same ingredients essentially , often 
extend to many feet in depth; and after cultivation has 
lessened or removed them, it is usually much easier to 
bring up from below a new supply of, the carbonate, sul¬ 
phate, and phosphate of lime, than to apply them arti¬ 
ficially in sufficient abundance, although both may be 
advantageously resorted to. A very simple experiment 
will show, throughout a large portion of the country, a 
difference between the top and under soil. Let a por¬ 
tion of any long-worn soil be dropped into diluted mu¬ 
riatic acid, and no action will be visible; a portion taken 
a few inches lower, by its effervescence, will usually in¬ 
dicate carbonate of lime in considerable quantity. So 
much for a single ingredient out of several. 
We have just witnessed a most interesting example of 
the results of deep plowing. A field of land, reputed 
almost to a proverb for the hard cropping to which it 
had been subjected for nearly half a century, recently 
changed hands, and skim-culture immediately gave way 
to a different mode of treatment. By mean's of three 
combined yoke of oxen, attached to that magnificent 
implement, the Michigan subsoil plow of largest size, 
the earth was turned up in the most beautiful manner, 
to an average depth of one foot, actual measurement, 
and the light of the sun was let in where it never shone 
before. It was interesting to observe the surface of 
fresh earth which afterwards covered the field. Mixed 
with the marly subsoil, were large portions of decayed 
leaves, black mould, and crumbled roots, which had 
slumbered there in security for half an age, while the 
scratching system had been so long in existence but a 
few inches above; and the whole presented very much 
the appearance of the fresh or virgin soil of newly cleared 
land. 
It is not however, deep plowing alone that brings hid¬ 
den treasure into use. There are many, many instances 
where the sharp-sighted and active farmer will avail 
himself of much that is highly valuable, but usually un¬ 
observed. An interesting example of this is furnished 
by the practice of a distinguished scientific and suc¬ 
cessful farmer of western New-York. A few years since, 
when he first took possession of his farm, he found almost 
