170 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
should, however, be reared and kept on every farm. Grasses 
and grain, wherever they will grow, should form the principal 
crops, and should be fed at the farm barn, and all the manure 
be carefully spread on the surface. 
From the best information furnished by science, of the man¬ 
ner in which plants grow, it is inferred that they find their main 
supply of food near the surface of the ground. From that fact 
it may be adduced, that in the thin soils of the sand 4 the soil 
should always be kept, as far as possible on the surface, and nev¬ 
er be buried beneath a thick layer of the lower barren sand. 
This principle is well understood and acted on by the tillers 
of the sands in the Southern States; and to it may be traced 
their opposition to the “ turn over ” plow, as they term the 
plows used in the Northern States. This sub-soil of barren 
sand, ought nevertheless, to be stirred, thoughitbe not brought 
to the surface. Foots of plants in quest of water will penetrate 
into the ground, and the stirring of the sub-soil to the depth 
of eight, or even twelve inches, will greatly aid this plant ac¬ 
tion. Such roots penetrating and decaying in the sand, will 
in time form a soil to a proper depth. After that depth of soil 
has been obtained, the furrow may then be turned as deep as 
desirable. This result may be expedited by a free use of 
salt, wood-ashes, lime or sulpher, all of which dissolve the si- 
lex of the sand, and fit it for the use of plants, hence a free 
use of these or some of them, applied to the surface in connec¬ 
tion with vegetable manures, is of great value, and would large¬ 
ly compensate for a natural deficiency of clay in the soil, or 
where that material cannot be procured ; some or all of them 
are valuable on all lands in this State. 
Until a good depth of rich soil has been formed, the sur¬ 
face only should be turned over ; and in these sands, the turn¬ 
ing should be done while the herbage is yet green, or after the 
first frosts. The subsoil can be stirred by means of the teeth 
or knives of a properly constructed cultivator, penetrating to 
the desired depth in the bed of the shallow furrow. Such an 
implement would thoroughly loosen the earth, but would not 
