Year: 1860

No discovery has been so important Ia its
results since the invention of the piow, as that
OF undertaking in the preparation of the soil.
And the requirements of the soil in respect to-
( its drainage. should be inquired into even be.
fore the plow is ready for setion. The first or
all duties in the preparation of land, seems to
be that OF ridding it of superAuous moisture;
so that no standing water may remain about
the roots of plants, keeping them continually
ccid and wet but that they may stand in dry
! ground and warmer temperature be made
to pervade the soil as far as the roots Of plants
usually go.
Open drains Of very ordinary charactee.
show clearly the value and necessity of such n
change when the gronnd is not naturally
dry. AS soon as this is accomplished, where
ever il is necessary, the soil is to be broken
for culture; and the deeper the better-no<
that the lowest soil, to the depth of three feet
or more, should be turned upside down above
the surface soil, but loosened mixed it maY
be with sand and gravel, if too clayey aud
hard


The experience Of every day ia gardening
makes it as plain as the nose on mans face,
that plants delight in and are benefited bS
growing in a loosened subsoil, where all theif
energies are not at task to enable them to
push their slender roots through the hard clay.
1t is marvel that they are able to make Any
growth in such soil, and we wonder that they
live at all, since naturally grown plants, are Oh
little value when compared with their improt.
ed condition under cultivation; and 1t wee
not designed that plants should perfect their
character aud the amount Of their productions
without cultivation, but that they should de-
velop their perfections under the inteiigenoa
and ingenuity Of man. When growing upoz
hard subsol, (though tie effect is not no ap-
parent upon forest trees Of large sizel iittle
nourishment can reach the lower ibres from
the surface of the soil, aud they must be com
pellei to feed almost entirely by means Of their
upper fbers and rootIets.


f. BY thoroughly loosening the subsoii and
truncbing it deeply when united with thorough
draining, the manure at the surface has gradu-
al access to the spongioles of the lower roots
Of the plants; and the roots on account OF tie
openness of the subsoil, are not forced to re-
tard the action Of the plant above the surface,
but increase in equal proportion moreover the
air has access to the subsoil and penetrates Il
more or les, changing the character of the Of.
tensiVe matter, and ncutralizng acids injurioua
to the growth of plants. Too thorough trench.
ing is hardly possible. Successful nurserymeo
and frnitrgrowers. who make large trees in q
few years out Of small ones, and even from
seed, las is oftener the case) and cover them
with fruit or load them with rich foliage, are
careful to attend to trenching and drainage
They will show you trees of i've years growth.
exactly twice the size under this management,
US under the common mode Of letting them
take care of themselves and do their own sub
soiling and will tell you the latter mode Of
procedure, is like casting child of early age
upon the world to attend to its own support
ard education.


Trenching in gardening. and subsoiling 10
field culture, combined with Understandings Ia
a sure protection from the effects Of drouth.


b. r. a