FARMERS' REGISTER— YOKING OXEN. 



667 



dy land, clover will not take, unless hruTowed in. 

 I would reconiniend the aj)plication of one bushel 

 of plaster immediately alicr the harrow. 



JKREMIAH. 



THE MODK OF VOKIN'G OXEN IN CUBA. 



To tlie Editor of tlie Fanners' ]?eg!ster. 



Your magazine havino; this moment met my 

 eye, and approving greatly its object, I beg leave 

 thrnui^-h that channel to make a coumiunication, 

 which I trust will be deen)ed interesting to the 

 agriculturists of your quaiter. 



1 am mysell" a planter in the island of Cuba, 

 and an enthusiast as regards improvements which 

 have a tendency to advance the interest of agri- 

 culture in general. it is therelbre with feelings 

 approaching to horror, that in travelling through 

 ail the southern states, (and no doubt the same 

 practice prevails in the northern,) I have observed 

 the oxen, employed in the fields, to be yoked to- 

 getiier at the shoulder, and the whole labor of the 

 animal, consequently, to press upon that part, as if 

 it were the most convenient point, and that of the 

 greatest strength; than wliich nothing can be 

 more foreign to the fact. 



The strength of the ox lies in its neck, and the 

 miHc'es and tendons thereto appertaining — as is 

 xvell known to every one acquainted with this 

 noble animal — and consequently, the ] roper place 

 for the yoke is behind tlie horns, and attached 

 thereto. In this position, the whole strength ol' 

 the animal is put forth without the least inconve- 

 ni'^nc^^ or eliort. 



This is by no means a new theory; but an old 

 established practice among various nations. The 

 Spaniards have universally adopted it, and I my- 

 pslf liave no other metliod. I have comnnmicated 

 it very generallj^, wherever I have found the 

 abominable practice ])revail of yoking to the fore- 

 shoulder. I should have thought that a bare in- 

 sinuation of this improvemesil, (sufffjested years 

 ago) would have had the effect of an instant 

 adoption in this country — but as I have said, I am 

 still a witness, recently, of the same vile practice 

 wherever I have travelled. 



AGUICULTOR. 



TVashington Ciiy. 



INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF HORIZONTAL 

 PLOUGHING. 



To tlio Editor of tlic Farmers' Register. 



Although a constant reader of your journal, in 

 looking over some of the recent numbers a day or 

 two since, I came across an article which by some 

 chance had escaped my notice until tiien, and 

 Avhich, although it gives an interesting account ol 

 a particular district of our state, contains a para- 

 graph which I think should not pass altogether 

 imnoticed. I allude to the communication of "x\ 

 Furrow Turner," in the Register for October last. 

 Although liighly pleased with his graphic descrip- 

 tion of the properties of the South West Moim- 

 tain soil, I believe him mistaken with respect to 

 the history of "horizontal ploughing" — certainly 

 so, if we are to infer from his criticism of the pas- 

 sage from jirator, that it was not known else- 

 where, previously to its introduction in Albemarle. 

 Having heretofore been struck with this passage 

 myselt; I was induced to make further inquiry, to 



learn if no mention was made of this important 

 inijirovement, or its principle, in the earlier books 

 of husbandry. The search resulted in the con- 

 viction, that it was known long ago — that in this, 

 as in so mahy other things, the ancients have 

 stolen our best thoughts, and left to the moderns, 

 but the credit of adoj)tion and dissemination. 



I do not know on what authority ^ra/or assert- 

 ed its existence in Scotland a century since — 

 whether that of Lord Kanies or some one else. 

 But a passntre or two wiiich I subjoin from Sir 

 John Sinclair will go to show, that this, or some- 

 thing very nearly resembling it, was known there 

 before tlie ]:!resent centurj'. 



"In regard to steep banks or declivities, there 

 are four modes in wfiich ridges may be laid out. 



F'irst. When they are planted on the same level. 

 This is done partly with a view of preventing the 

 soil and manure from being washed down, and 

 partly from the idea that it is easier for tlie cattle 

 to work it. But it keeps up the water in the fur- 

 rows, and is an awkward mode of ploughing. 

 Sometimes this sort of ridge is carried all around 

 a small hill in a spiral form, beginning at the bot- 

 tom." 



Second. When the ridges are straight up and 

 down. Third. Wiien they receive a diagonal di- 

 rection sloping to the left. Fourth. Wlien 

 they slope to the right. 



Nov>', allhoufjh he condemns the second and 

 third mode, and prefers the fourth, yet his recom- 

 mendation is succeeded by the following exception: 



"Where the land is exceedingly steep, it is often 

 necessary to plough directly across, throwing tlie 

 furrow-siices all doivn hill, and with the ordinary 

 plough going back empty. But where there is 

 nmch land of this excessive steepness to cultivate, 

 a plough whli a shilling mould-board, usually 

 called a tvrnwrest plough, admits of ploughing 

 both backwards and forwards, shifting the mould- 

 board in such a manner as always to throw tlie 

 furrow-slice down the hill." — Systems (^f Husband- 

 ry, Vol. I. i)p. 168, 170. 



In the first volume of The General Bepcrt of 

 Scotland, drawn up under the direction of the 

 same author, we find at pp.351, 352, substantially 

 the same remarks. 



But perhaps Sir John may have written rather 

 too near to our time to render it altogether cer- 

 tain that liis countrymen did not adopt it from oura 

 without acknowledgement. 



W^ell then, let us come down to England. In 

 Fm-bes'' x/gricidi ure, written somewhere about 

 1778, we meet with this passage at page 638 in 

 tlie description of an agricultural implement: — 



"This is a turnwrist, or turnrest, and by some 

 called a turn-ridge plough. It turns the furrows 

 all one way, laj'ing the land level, without ridges 

 or parting furrows; and in sideling or sloping 

 grounds, where the descent is too great for the 

 cattle to draw the plough up and down the side of 

 a hill, and too steep to turn the furrows up against 

 it, this plough perlbrras the tillage very well, the 

 cattle drawing it Across' //je descent, it turns the 

 furrows downwards, or with the descent. It differs 

 rom the swing-plough in the mould-boards, which 

 111 this plough are double and moveable.'''' 



From this, it appears that the hill side plough 

 at least, is no novelty. In a still earlier work, yl 

 New System of /Igriculture, fyc, a small duo- 



