668 



F A R M E R S ' REGISTER. 



[No. 1 



subpoil plough — which 1 have never f?een, and 

 know not il' it has been introduced into this (coun- 

 try — is said to be so contrived as to plouf^li fiiteen 

 or eifihteen mclies, without throwing the under 

 goil to the surll^ce. Perhaps, Deleplane's may 

 answer tlie same purpose. But, in this country 

 some of us, in the absence of these subsoil-ploughs 

 subfstitute a very simple expedient. It has not 

 the merit of novelty to all, tor it strikes me that 

 General Cocke used it ten or fifteen years ago. 

 We break up our lands by means of a three-horse 

 plough, as deep as we well can. Immediately be- 

 hind the team of horses, in the same furrow, a boy 

 follows, with a strong horse, and coulter plough, 

 with which he cute' the clay Ibur or five inches 

 more, without turning it to the suriace. This is 

 imperfectly done, of course, with one ploughing, 

 as il leaves serrated ridges on the sides of each 

 furrow; but b}' a lew successive crops or diago- 

 nal ploughing, in a lew years the main object is 

 attained, viz : a deep soil. 



In this country, upon the better class of iarms, 

 the economy of timber attracts attention. I have 

 been in the habit of clearinn- only five or six acres 

 annually, and that with a view to obtain fuel, ratf,, 

 and, by cutting ofl^ points, to add to the symmetry 

 and convenience of the (iirra. After this winter, 

 I shall desist entirely, and rely upon cutting from 

 the forests dead or decaying timber. My plan, 

 heretofore, when 1 cleared" was simply this. I cut 

 down and removed the trees in the winter, leaving 

 the brush, leaves, and roots to rot. A year or 

 more after, as many of tlie stumps as we could 

 burn, were fired, and the remaining brush remov- 

 ed. 1 then take a coulter plough, and cut the soil 

 as deep as can be eff(?cted, in parallel lines, about 

 a foot asunder. After this process, the three- 

 horse plough, with the aforesaid Conestogas, is 

 introduced, and thus, with the previous aid of the 

 coulter, the soil is pretty well turned up. It is 

 then stired with the shovel, which works up close 

 to the stumps. The ground is then harrowed and 

 the corn planted, upon which, or soon after it comes 

 up, little boys are employed lo drop half a Iiand- 

 ful of plaster and ashes, mixed in equal propor- 

 tions. It is then well worked with the shovel and 

 what we call the Lupton plough, an invaluable 

 implement, by the way, lor the cultivation of corn. 

 Jt is an angular plough, with three long narrow 

 shovels, which passes over a surface of two and a 

 half or three feet. Thus managed, it must be a 

 very inferior soil, or bad season, indeed, if it does 

 not produce at least five barrels of corn to the acre. 

 In the fall, the corn is cut and put up in heaps, 

 when the large bar-share plough is again intro- 

 duced, and the roots then being rotted, and the 

 land in kinder tilth, a still deeper ploughing is ac- 

 complished. This is harrowed — wheat sown, 

 which is shovelled in; then timothy seed, which is 

 harrowed in, which completes the process. On 

 the timothy, however, I add clover seed, to make 

 assurance doubly sure, and one year after, plaster. 

 The land remains in grass two years, when wheat 

 i^ again sown, and this strip of land is brought 

 within the range of my ordinary rotation. 



Next to deep ploughing, the most important 

 agent towards good tillage is manure. Of tins, I 

 make a sufficiency to cover fifty acres annually, 

 and without the aid of those "curious sheds, inge- 

 nious gtercoraries, and mellow compost pies," 

 which are empliatically and I think appropriately 



[condemned by John H. Powell, in the Memoirs' 



i of the Pennsylvania Agricultural Society, as be- 

 I ing, neither adapted to our climate, nor to our 

 j purses, nor plans. But I reserve a communica- 

 , lion on the subject of manures to a future number. 

 I I congratulate you sir, in the mean lime, that a 

 spirit of agricultural inquiry is abroad upon the 

 land. Indulgmg the pride of native Virginians, we 

 should feel a deep interest in the renovation of the 

 Old Dominion. Let us all unite then in one con- 

 santaneous effort, to wnden and deepen that 

 stream of national prosperity, whose fountain is 

 agriculture. An improved system of husbandry, 

 would inevitably, arrest that tide of emigration, 

 which is bearing along from the graves of their 

 fathers, some of the choiest spirits of the land, 

 to countries too, where nature has been less boun- 

 tiful, than to beautifiil Virgiifia, to a land where 

 steril soil is encountered, or a climate inlected 

 with distructive malaria, and a society in general 

 so unmeasurably inferior to the orderly, hospita- 

 ble and intelligent freeman of this commonwealth, 

 that that which an insalubrious climate leaves un- 

 done a settled despoiidencj', brand}- or the bowie 

 kaif , will soon complete. 



A Frederick Farbier. 



P. S. — In the former number there are a few 

 typoGiaphical errors, arising, doubtless fiom my 

 haste in writing. The intelligent reader will cor- 

 rect them. There is, also, a mistake of my own. 

 For " one gallon of timothy seed," read " one 

 quart." One gallon is the proper quantity ol' clover 

 seed to the acre. The two were confounded. 



A F. F. 



BROOKS' MACHIIVE EOR THRASHING OUT CLO- 

 VER SEED. 



Rockbridge County, Virginiv, > 

 liih December, IBZl. \ 



To tlie Editor of tlie P'armers' Register. 



# * # * 'Yi^Q copy of the Farmers' Regis- 

 ter, above ordered, was awarded Major Brooks, 

 by the Rockbridge Agricultural Society, as a pre- 

 mium for the best thrashing machine for getting 

 out clover seed, at our last Agricultural Fair, 

 held at 3Ir. Samuel Wilson's. It is a small ma- 

 chine and can be attached to any horse-power in 

 common use, and it is thought by the patentee, 

 and others who have used it, that it will readily 

 get out ten bushels of seed per day. It throws 

 the seed from eight to twelve feet from the ma- 

 chine, and separates it almost entirely fi-om the 

 chafi'. In three and a half hours it has gotten 

 out upwards of ibur bushels of seed. Tlie ma- 

 chine is on the cylinder and concave plan, to 

 which are screwed or nailed three-fourth or inch 

 strips of sole leather. It is believed to be the 

 best clover machine that has ever operated in our 

 valley. The proprietor has recently taken out a 

 patent, and is ready to sell single, county, or state 

 rights. The machine, when finished in the best 

 manner, will not cost more than $25. 



Respectfully, your obedient servant. 

 Henry B. Jones, Treahurer of 

 Rockbridge Agricultural Society. 



