376 



Who shall decide 1 — Industry. 



Vol. IV. 



almost all circumstances. Most seeds are 

 comparatively small, and when they are 

 sown on a pulverized soil, it frequently hap- 

 pens that many of them are not in close 

 enough contact with the earth to be kept 

 moist, and excluded from the light; conse- 

 quently, they will not vegetate freely, if at 

 all ; and these young plants, if any come up, 

 easily dry and perish." And everyone who 

 has sown seeds in beds in a garden, must 

 have observed that those which have fallen 

 on the walks between the beds, have vege- 

 tated first, and made the strongest plants — a 

 roller on a farm is as indispensable to good 

 tillage as a plough. 



A Subscriber. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 



Who shall decide ? 



Sir, — I remark an article in the New Eng- 

 land Farmer " on Connecticut River Farm- 

 ing," over the signature of Z. Stebbins, " a 

 practical and successful cultivator in a highly 

 improved part of the state in which he re- 

 sides," in which we are told that the ravages 

 of the cut-worm in the young corn are only 

 to be prevented by late ploughing of the sod 

 in the spring : he says, " the way I manage 

 my corn is, I never plough my green sward 

 until I get ready to plant, for two reasons : 

 first, the grass, by not ploughing until May, 

 "will get up, and be almost as good as a coat 

 of manure; and second, the worms will live 

 in this grass, and it will thereby prevent a 

 great deal of damage which they frequently 

 do ; I have, therefore, entirely done plough- 

 ing sward land in the autumn, for I am 

 satisfied it is a bad practice." And I myself 

 remarked in a large field the present season, 

 "where the cut-worm had done infinite damage 

 in the best-cultivated parts, rendering it ne- 

 cessary to re-plant for the third time ; while 

 at one end of the piece was about an acre 

 of land, with the turf but partially turned, 

 in consequence of the rocky nature of the 

 soil, which prevented the plough from pene- 

 trating, and where the corn had escaped the 

 ravages of the cut-worm,* and was growing 

 luxuriantly ; and to this spot the owner di- 

 rected my attention in proof of the doctrine, 

 that "the worms will live on this newly- 

 turned sod, by which their attention will be 



* It is easy to imagine tlie cause of the cutworm 

 not beinif found in the dry and stony part of this field 

 — the egfis of the cut-worm are deposited by the female 

 in the dung dropped by tlic cattle while feeding on tlio 

 sod, burrowing the earth for the purpose; but thi^y 

 would be very short indeed, if they did not know how 

 much easier it is to burrow in the deep and soft parts 

 of the field, than on the rocky and dry soil : perhaps 

 too they know that the moist soil would be more con- 

 t'enial to the growth of their progeny, tlian the hard, 

 tiiy and rocky land. 



drawn away from the corn, until it be out of 

 the reach of their depredations." 



And yet, we are told, at page 355 of the 

 Cabinet for June, that a practical farmer ad- 

 mitted, that the cure for the cut-worm in the 

 spring was an autumnal ploughing! On 

 mentioning this difficulty to an advocate for 

 autumnal ploughing, he replied, "the first 

 of the above reasons is the reasoning of an 

 indolent manager ; I never depend upon a 

 growth of rubbish on my land to replenish 

 the soil, I have manure sufficient for the pur- 

 pose, and do not need it : the second reason 

 may be necessary for one who is willing to 

 keep and feed a race of cut-worms, and 

 every other species of depredators of the 

 crops about him, and such a person may feel 

 himself bound to furnish them with food in 

 the winter and spring ; but to me, who will 

 not permit them to breed and feed upon me, 

 such provision is unnecessary. I turn them 

 up in the autumn to be operated upon — both 

 eggs and vermin turned topsy-turvy — by the 

 rains, frosts and snows of winter ;* and 

 after they are destroyed, and the land has 

 been properly cleaned and pulverized by 

 spring tillage, the sods also being thoroughly 

 decomposed, and turned into fit food for the 

 plant, then I soiv my corn. To many, au- 

 tumnal ploughing is a subject on which they 

 are deplorably ignorant ; the way in which 

 it is performed, and the period to which it is 

 delayed, are sufficient of themselves to bring 

 the thing into disrepute — plough early after 

 harvest, deep and in small furrows, laying the 

 land high and dry that it might drain off the 

 surface water during the winter, and trust to 

 the event. I should not like to turn cut- 

 worm feeder." A. R. 



Industry. 



None have a right to expect a benediction 

 from heaven, but those whose probity is ir- 

 reproachable, and their industry indefatigable, 

 and who thus earn their bread by the sweat 

 of their brows. Our lands want only to 

 be cultivated with more understanding and 

 industry, to supply a sufficient quantity of 

 produce for all our wants. 



When you have meditated well upon any 

 objects of real utility, propose them with 

 energy, and execute them with fervour and 

 activity, and the blessing of Providence •will 

 not be wanting. 



The productions of the earth will always 

 be in proportion to the culture bestowed upon 

 it. 



*See a most interesting paper on this subject in tbe 

 Cabinet, Vol. 3, page 280, by Agricola. 



