558 



FARiMERS' REGISTER— HORIZONTAL PLOUGHING. 



tails carefully taken off, and boil them together 

 four or live hours~. Add as much Avater as will 

 cause the hand to move easily ihroufrh the mass. 

 Squeeze down the turnips, and add three pounds 

 of pea-meal. Give this to a cow in the morning, 

 and the same in the evening, with as much sweet 

 hay as she will eat up clean five times a day, and 

 without much expense, her butter will be as rich 

 and of as tine a flavor as can be produced in win- 

 ter. Should the peculiar flavor of the turnip be 

 detected, which is not likely, a small quantity of 

 saltpetre put to the cream will take it off."* 



The plan of feeding adopted by one of the 

 greatest dairy farmers in Scotland, Mr. Ralston, 

 of Fine-View, is as follows : until the grass rises 

 and affords a full bite, the cows are kept in their 

 houses, but are then sent out to pasture. In hot 

 weather they are tinl on cut grass, in the house, 

 from six in the morning until six in the evenmg, 

 and are out at pasture all night. As the soil is 

 dry and sandy, when rainy weather comes house- 

 feeding is discontinued. In harvest, when the 

 pastures begin to fiul, the cows are led partly on 

 second clover, and partly on turnips scattered over 

 their pasture. As the weather turns colder in 

 October, they are housed at night, and in severe 

 weather durins: winter; also throuffh the day, re- 

 ceiving oat-straw with turnips. These roots are 

 partly stored, and the supplies of them ordered so 

 as to protract the feeding ; when they fail, Swedish 

 turnips and potatoes follow, with dry fodder. 

 Chaff, oats, and potatoes, are boiled for the cows 

 afler calving ; and the calves get rye-grass and 

 clover-hay during the latter part of the spring. 



The cows employed are of the Aj'rshire breed, 

 and are said to yield the amount of their own 

 weight and value annually in cheese. f 

 [To be continued.] 



Far the Farmers' Register. 

 ON HORIZONTAL, PLOUGHING. 



INIuch has been written in this work, on tlie 

 subject of hill-side ditches and horizontal plough- 

 ing. Believing this to be a most important im- 

 provement for our middle country, and, indeed, 

 one without which, all others would be nearly un- 

 availing, I beg to be indulged in a Tew remarks on 

 it. 



The writers on this species of improvement, 

 have difiered a little on the details of management, 

 but have conducted their differences of opinion 

 with candor and gentlemanly courtesy. Pitj', but 

 political and religions polemics could disagree as 

 pleasantly as we fiirmeis ! The design of all tlie 

 plans of levelhng recomn)ended, is (loubtless, to 

 save our gravelly and sandy country from being 

 lorn into gidleys — to prevent the upper and most 

 fertile earth from being washed away, and to pre- 

 serv^e — not merely the moisture, but also the soluble 

 matters contained in putrescent manures, on the 

 land. 



The retention of moisture, in our arid country, 

 is no trivial matter. Our crop of Indian corn is 

 almost every year shortened by drought. Every 

 practical planter knows how much this evil is ob- 



* Library of Useful Knowledge: Fanner's Series, 

 No. 12, p. 45, 1830, 



t Agricultural Survey of Ayrshire, and of Dum- 

 friesshire, Appendix p. 643, 



viated, by covering up the roots, while there is 

 what we call a good season in the eailh. It must 

 also be admitted that any mode of ploughing 

 which confines and retains the water of hasty 

 showers, must be beneficial. There can belittle 

 doubt, but that our thirsty high lands need as 

 much ditching to keep the water on them, as 

 marshy low grounds do to take it off. 



Gullej's form, perhaps, the greatest opprobrium 

 on Virginia cultivation. The traveller, go almost 

 where he may, is disgusted by their ghastly yawn- 

 ing. But if the "looks" were all, we would not so 

 much regard it. Gulle^-s operate on land, as ul- 

 cers do on animals. They drain from it, not only 

 its moisture, but all its valuable juices. The plan 

 of horizontal ploughing and ditching, affords the 

 only remedy and preventiv^e. I would here beg 

 leave to offer my cordial thanks, both to those 

 who first invented, and to those who intro- 

 duced into middle Virginia, either of those im- 

 provements. I would be glad to do homage to 

 every benefactor — more especiallj^ to every agri- 

 cultural one. 1 have heard it stated that some 

 merchants in Scotland invented horizontal plough- 

 ing, and that the late Gov. Thomas M. Ran- 

 dolph, of Albemarle, introduced it here. I know 

 not, to whom credit is due, for the discovery of 

 hill-side ditching. Perhaps the editor, or some 

 of his correspondents could tell. It has been 

 about twenty years, I think, since I learned that 

 it was practised both by Mr. Bruce of Halifax, 

 and Mr. Humberston Skipwith of Mecklenburg. 



I think I have seen more soil carried off from a 

 field by one great fall of rain, than could be 

 brought back by the whole laboring force of the 

 farm in an ordinary life-time. Any remedy for so 

 great an evil — though far from infallible — though 

 practically very difficult and very expensive — 

 would deserve prompt and serious consideration. 

 The remedy proposed, may be pronounced almost 

 infiVilible — when properly executed — and the diffi- 

 culty and expense — beyond that incurred in the 

 ordinary mode of cultivation — unworthy the re- 

 gard of a man determined to improve. 



The operation by means of what is usually 

 termed the rafter-level, is acknowledged to be te- 

 dious, especially in windy weather. But it may 

 be necessary to use it, where great accuracy is 

 desirable, in giving one inch fall lor every span of 

 tlie rafter, in very steep lands. But, having no 

 steep lands to operate on, and no experience in 

 their management, I would not presume to pro- 

 nounce on the best mode in relation to them. I 

 know that very broken grounds afford' frequent 

 outlets from furrows and ditches, for the water, 

 along their numerous rivulets and irreclaimable 

 ravines. In such situations, all surplus water may 

 be readily discharged; and it is a matter of impor- 

 tance to do this along channels of such gradual 

 descent, a!5 to remove the danger of washing. 

 This is usually done, I believe, by nailing a little 

 block about one inch thick, on the foot of that leg 

 of the rafter pointing towards the proposed outlet, 

 while as strict attention is paid to keeping the 

 plumb-line adapted to the centre-mark on the 

 cross-piece, as it" the work were progressing on a 

 perfect level. 



Lands of less acclivity afford these outlets much 

 more rarely, and sometimes none at all, in a large 

 field. In such situations, were graduation of the 

 ditches and furrows attempted, it would produce a 



I 



