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If we sometimes pity these dumb beasts as they drag loaded wains, or heavy omnibuses, or sub-soil ploughs, we may also bestow a tender sentiment upon the army mules.
The country, rather thinly and languidly cultivated above, has a valuable sub-soil, and is burrowed with mines; the breath of pit and factory, out of sight, thickens the lower sky, and lies heavily over the sands of Dee. It leaves the upper blue clear and the head of Orion, but dims the flicker of Sirius and shortens the steady ray of the evening star.
"I want some samples here," he continued, and at once proceeded to collect a composite sample of the surface soil and another of the sub-soil. "In the main this soil is slightly acid," said Percy, after several tests, with the hydrochloric acid and the litmus paper; "although occasionally there are traces of limestone present.
But the ground cannot be effectually drained by this means, unless it is elevated four or five feet, at least, above the level of the ebb-tide because the ditches would not otherwise have a sufficient descent to carry the water off in the short interval between ebb and flow, and because the moisture of the saturated sub-soil is always rising by capillary attraction.
Now follow in the same furrow with an implement we call here a sub-soil stirrer, and which is simply a plough-share of wedge shape, running in the bottom of the furrow, and a strong coulter, running up from it through the beam of the plough, sharp in front, to cut the roots; the depth of the furrow is regulated by a movable wheel running in front, which can be set by a screw.
The ground, which is of a black sub-soil, becomes a mass of thick mud in no time, and on attempting to do any walking one slides and slips about in the slush in a most uncomfortable manner.
However, the stamp of its power is there also, and the Titanic sink of Paris realizes, among monuments, that strange ideal realized in humanity by some men like Macchiavelli, Bacon and Mirabeau, grandiose vileness. The sub-soil of Paris, if the eye could penetrate its surface, would present the aspect of a colossal madrepore.
Sir, that's a lie; A sub-soil plough will do it; then manure, And put on plenty; if the land is poor, Get muck and plaster; buy them by the heap, No matter what they cost, you'll find them cheap. I've tried them often, and I think I know, Then plough again two feet before you sow.
While I toyed there with the sub-soil, the unwearied James went to earth among the marrows. "A hundred and seventy-nine. My game, I think," I announced. James extricated himself and walked with me to the butt. "Hullo!" I said, "it's sunk. Thought it was a floater. It ought to be for a half-crown ball." "You mustn't lose it," said James suspiciously. "Well let off the water and get it out."
With two yoke of oxen this will loosen the soil to the depth of, say twenty inches, which is sufficient, unless the sub-soil is very tenacious. In land already cultivated, where there are no roots to obstruct, two yoke of oxen or four horses attached to the plough, and one yoke of oxen or a pair of horses or mules to the sub-soil plough, will be sufficient.
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