88 



FARMERS' REGISTER— CULTIVATION OF LOW GROUNDS. 



The members of the assembly of -.the state had at 

 the time under their consideration, -a resokition to 

 Ciiable them to remove, the. state legislature from 

 Albany; it was cxpoctetl- that the- resolution would 

 be carried the same night,j to the great and irrepar- 

 able injury of the i'.ihabitants. To the friend who 

 vvas waiting for nie, at the hotel, I comiliunieated 

 the glad tidings of having discovered the cause of 

 the disoi-der. He iannediately ran to the_ asseni- 

 blj'-rooni, and obtained the menibers' consent" to 

 adjourn the question until" the tbliowing morning. 

 '^I'he taveni where I was, was soon crowded by 

 t'le members and citizens, all anxious to know the 

 ca,use. It was no sooner communicated, with a 

 detail cf my own suliferings, than the members 

 searched tlie book shops and libraries, and found' 

 lo their great .satisfaction that the ergot was capa- 

 l>le of committing ravages upon mankind that I 

 had represented to them. One of the sceptical of 

 the faculty, on bemg requested to analyze the arti- 

 cle, and report on the subject, : took a few of his 

 iic(}uaintance8 some distance into the countiy, to 

 dine at his father's farrn, where an opportunity of- 

 fered to pi'ove -whether the ergot was injurious or 

 not; lor a large quantity of it that had been sepa- 

 rated from the rye was given to the pigs; and from 

 its iiutii effects (aw it caused. their death the next 

 day) the father became a convert to th-e- opinion. 

 A number of iti1s, cats, and dogs, also fell sacrifices 

 io its elTect!?, before the sceptical were convinced, 

 i — iriiildaw on ihfi Causes of L\Jlar,miat'wn, Sfc. 



Ct LTIVATION OF LOW GIlOUNnS, 



To tl;p ■K;:iioi- of the Farmers' Register. 



I fed it a duty incumbent on me (as eveiy pcr- 



grounds would not answer to prepare for that crop; 

 I should have too many water furrows — so many 

 indeed as to occupy one-fourth of the surface. 

 Afler a little consideration i concluded- to tlirow 

 two beds together, making them twelve leet wide. 

 I sowed my wheat on the. twelve feet beds, drag- 

 ged- it in v/ith a large iron tooth drag, had the wa- 

 ter furrows well opened, and cross flirrows, or 

 grips, opened across the beds wherever there was 

 a low place, that the water iiirrows could not drain; 

 but having to make the middle ol the beds in the 

 old turrowSj it caused the beds to be too low in tiie 

 middle, and to hold water,: and consequently in- 

 jured the wheat so much, that I made a short 

 crop. 



. Now comes my second year, I now intend 

 giving you my whole process of cultivation. Af- 

 ter having the kmd well ditched and grubbed as 

 before, I lldlow^ my land in the fall, or winter, with 

 large turning ploughs, into twelve feet beds, and 

 reliallow just before I commence planting corn, if 

 I have time; if not, I run a large iron tooth drag 

 over tlic beds, which kills mo.st of the young grass. 

 I now open the rows with trowel hoe ])loughs, two 

 rows on a bed. It will be well enough to mention 

 here, that I cominence planting my low grounds 

 about a ibrmight after having finiehed my high 

 land, 'so as to give me an opportunity of working 

 .over my highland before my low ground becomes 

 very grassy. As soon as I finish working over 

 my high land, "I commence in the low ground 

 with small turning ])longhs, and itui one furrow 

 on each side of the corn, tJirowing the earth from 

 it; if the land is very grassy, I run (wo furrows on 

 each side, making four furrows to the row. I now 

 follow on alter the j)loughs with the hoes, and 

 \veed the corji nicely, not putting any earth to it, 

 unless it is likely to. fall down. In about five or 



Bon that -vvishes to see agriculture flourish ought,) 

 to contribute my mite, be it ever so small, towards 

 sustaining a worlc ,so valuable as the Farmers' Re- 1 six days ailer v.'eeding, I plough my corn again' 



gisier, which I have not the least hesitation in 

 paying, in mj- humble Q]^,inion, is one of the most 

 valuable publications that has ever been offered to 

 the public, at least to the- farming oommunity, It 

 is a work that should be in the possession of every 

 farmer who can aflbrd to expend five dollars per 

 annum, towards purchasing an agricultural paper. 

 I have read the Farmers' Register regularly, and 

 can sav, that I have acquired much valuable and 

 useflil informatiGU therefrom. Under these con- 

 siderations, I have concluded to give you, in my 

 lame and imperfect manner, my experience in cul- 

 tivating lo^v grounds, which probably may be of 

 advantage to some of your subscribers, who have 

 had sfili less, experience than I have. When I 

 commenced farmii^, ailer having the land well 

 ditched and grubbed, I had my low grounds thrown 

 into six feet b-^tls, in the tidi, with large turning 

 (or mould-board) ploughs; in the spring just be- 

 fore I commenced planting corn I had the beds re- 

 versed, wliich put the land in very good order for 

 plantiiio;. The rows were then opened on the 

 nuddle of the beds, -with common trowel hoe 

 ploughs, and the corn .was planted with the hills 

 Hbout two feet apart. My memory does not serve 

 me well enough to statepvecisely, in what manner 

 the land was cultivated, but I recollect I made a 

 very good crop of corn. It was remarked by two 

 of my oldest and most respectable neiixhhors, that 

 it was the best corn they liad eecn grow on that 

 l.ip.d i-M- several yeai's. But when I came to sow 

 wheat, I li'.und that ihat plan of cultivating low 



with trowel hoe ploughs, -vvith small boards nailed 

 to the side of the helve of the hoe, to throAV a lit- 

 tle earth among the com, to cover theyoung grass, 

 if there should be any. The third ploughuig is 

 doiie with small turning ploughs, throwing the 

 earth to Ihe corn, so as to strengthen and fortify ii 

 against the winds and overfloAvings of the swamp. 

 I plough very deep when finishing the furrow 

 rows, so as to obtain deep water furrows, to carry 

 ofl' the water as quick as possible, in case of an 

 overflow; in the mean time taking care to plough 

 very shallow when finishing the rows on the mid- 

 dle of the beds, to avoid making deep furrows, as 

 I shall have to make the middle of the beds, when 

 I fallow for wheat, in those furrows, which if they 

 were deep, would cause the wheat beds to be low 

 in the middle, and hold w^ater, as I have before 

 stated. The fourth and last ploughing is done 

 precisely in the same manner as the third, and 

 tbllov/ed with the hoe hands to cut down the weeds 

 and adjust the earth around the corn. 



As soon as the corn is ripe enough to be taken 

 ofl" of the land, I commence fallowing the land for 

 wheat, with large turni no: ploughs, into Iweh^e 

 leet beds, making the middle of the bed in the 

 shallow furrows, by which means the middle of 

 them are higher than any oilier part; I now sow 

 my wheat, about one bushel to the acre, and drag 

 it in with a kirge iron tooth drag. After dragfring 

 I have all the water furrows well opened Avith 

 large turning plouo-hs, and at the ends where they 

 empf}" into a ditch or tlic main stream. I hav^ 



