Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-05-21
AGRlCULTURAL----SC SCIENTIFIC.
mEcH,NIc.x. TMpRovEMExT OF SOILS.

MECHANICAL IMPROVEMENT OF SOILS.
There are two modes of improving soils.
have spoken of the composition of soils.
You see how they vary, and what dlferen-
ces there are in the qualities of soils, and
what it Is that constitutes equality OF soil,
and what the relation between these and
the chemical composition of soils. But how
are soils to be improved? There are two
methods, the mechanical and the chemical.
Of the mechanical method | shall now
speak, and Of the chemical in my last lee
ture. Among the various mechanical meth
DDS of Improvement there are three princ-
pal kinds. The first is deep ploughing that
in almost all cases. is found to be Important
and profitable. In all countries where |
have been, in all parts Of Europe which l
have visited, experience has shown that the
soil generally is not ploughed to great
depth; three, four or five inches is almost
the maximum depth of exhaustion. 1t is very
often the case that persons exhaust land I'M
Ill they can raise no more crops, and are
then compelled to leave. The person who
succeeds, seeing the system of tillage that
has been practised, instead of adopting the
former system Of shallow ploughing, goes
down deeper, and turns up a new soil alto
gether. Very likely in this new soil are
found accumulated the materials which the
other soil once contained. The manure that
has been put on and accumulated below is
turned up, and the new conner gets, perhaps,
not only a good virgin soil, but much Of the
money that the old farmer has buried there,
This is no Hypothetical case. If it were,
would not state it, for speculation and by
pothesis are good for nothing Inthe neigh
borhood of Edinburg there are farmers of
the greatest skill and who make great deal
of money and, as general rule, you may
Judge of the skill of farmer by the number
Of sovereigns that he has pocketed at the
end OF the year; it Is very good test
One of these farmers, after hearing one of
my lectures, in explanation of this simple
principle, told me that, though he lived so
near Edinburgh, the thing had never occur
red to him before, nor had he heard Of 1t;
and he immediately went to work to carry
out the principle, and on ploughing down,
ne had brought to the surface fresh soil,
and was then growing luXuriant crops where
he had the land entirely exhausted. There
fore it is quite true that in the under or sub
soil there accumulate many substances
which have drained through from the upper
soil, which make it fully as rich as the up
per soil once was, and that the farmer takes
the cheapest steps to reclaim poor land, ex-
hausted by severe cropping, who ploughs
deep.
l. g.. n fho 1ra
of the subsoil, when turned up and mixed
with the upper. / need not dwell on this;
but | have this remark to make. 1t hap
pens sometimes that various substances ac-
cumulate beneath, which are injurious to
the plant, and IN order that they may not
injure the upper soil, it is not always advisa-
bic to bring up. There are districts, in my
country, where the subsoil is white clay,
which is so barren that if brought up it
might destroy the upper soil, and therefore
il is carefully avoided. This is the case in
many parts of the world. tits quite proper
not to do so; but not an unfrequent resort
with us, as means of deepening the soil,
where the subsol is impervious or noxious,
is to cut it through, so that the water sinks,
and, as it sinks below the level of the soil,
the rain falls, filling up all the pores in the
soil to certain point, which, with the fresh
air, effects chemical action on the substan
ces, changes them chemically, and gives
them either nourishing quality or modi6es
the subsoil, so that, when brought up, it will
not be injurious or noxious to plants.
This is the object of subsoil ploughing;
this is common in England; after draining
in stiff clay soils. But the practice is also
adopted where the land has been long drai-
ned. In Scotland, the farmers plough from
seven TO twelve inches deep, and expert
ence has shown that lands thus treated not
only retain everything put on them in the
form of manure, but are capable of growing
crops for longer time. without exhaustion,
than if they did not plough so deep.-John-
Slon'S Lectures.