9 
state Convention—University farm. 353 
An acre adjoining these plats was plowed to the ordinary depth, 
of cultivation, about seven inches, planted and cultivated in the 
same manner, the yield of which was 56 bushels. The results of 
this experiment appear quite contradictory, yet they are not so, 
when the circumstances of soil, season and cultivation are taken 
into account. In 1871 the shallow plowing yielded most, as in 
the other plats a heavy clay subsoil had been mixed with the soil. 
All the plats were fall-plowed in 1871, and again plowed in the 
spring of 1872. The soil and subsoil had then become quite well 
mixed, and the subsoil, by exposure to the frost and air, had be¬ 
come quite thoroughly pulverized. This decomposition was 
aided by the addition of 60 bushels of unleached wood ashes in 
the spring of 1872. The season was a very dry one, and the 
deep plowed plats, being better able to withstand the drought, 
gave a better yield. 
In 1873, rain fell on eleven of the thirteen days from Jane 22 
to July 4, inclusive, and during this time five inches of water 
fell. There is a slight descent of the ground from the shallow to 
the deep plowing across these plats, with no drainage but that 
over the surface ; so that while the deeper plowed plats received 
the water from these plowed more shallow, the water that satu¬ 
rated the subsoil of those plats to the depth of 17 inches had no 
outlet, except as it was evaporated from the surfaces, or perco¬ 
lated through a heavy clay subsoil, which is very slowly indeed. 
The corn on the deep plowed plats was badly injured by these 
heavy rains on this account, and this injury was plainly visible in 
the smaller growth and sickly color of the corn. The lighter 
yield of these plats is then a natural consequence of the heavy 
rains of early summer, and of the location and composition of the 
soil. Drains have now been laid that will prevent a recurrence of 
the same unfavorable conditions. 
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