fles 



FARMERS' REGISTER— HORIZONTAL PLOUGHING. 



deciino by an anonymous author, published in 

 1755, tlie Ibllowing reniarks occur: 



"I can't introduce a very useful observation in a 

 more proper place than this; and tiiat is, when the 

 land you are to plough is the side of a very steep 

 hill, as it otten is, 'tis down-riirht madness to pro- 

 ceed, as most countrymen do, by ploughing direct- 

 ly up and down the steep. In this case, 'tis pity 

 the driver is not in the place of his team; he would 

 then, perhaps, discover that 'twould be the wisest 

 way to plough across the hill, by which means the 

 cattle would not only draw with the same ease as 

 if they worked on ])lain ground, but the harrows 

 lying athwart would prevent the rains from wash- 

 ing down the fatness of the soil with every flood — 

 a misfortune to which at present they are yearly 

 liable, and often ruined and empoverished by it." 



I cannot but think that a person lamiliar with 

 the improved, as contrasted with the up-and-down 

 mode, if he had never heard mooted the question 

 of its origin, would in the above passages, recog- 

 nize his old acquaintance. Possibly, however, 

 there may be yet room tor doubt or objection, as 

 we have here only ambiguous terms. Ploughing 

 "across" or "athwart" a hill may not stand pre- 

 cisely for plougliing "horizontally." It maj^ mean 

 ploughing in a straight line, without reference to 

 inequalities. Be it so. Let the furrow proceed 

 straight across, climbing the swells and jumping 

 the ravines, till it reaches the other side of the 

 field; (though this interprelation will scarce hold 

 water more than the furrow it represents,) or let it 

 ramble like a sheep — (though a sheep Avalk on a 

 hill-side is not so badly graduated after all — ) still 

 let us see if we can find no evidence less equivo- 

 cal What says the great father of modern hus- 

 bandry? We present an extract from his "Chap- 

 ter on Ridges." 



Afler urging the importance of laying dry the 

 Boil on the hill-sides, (which in England are very 

 liable to be saturated with water,) he speaks of 

 two modes of effecting the object. First, by cover- 

 ed horizontal trenches, which he objects to as ex- 

 pensive and yet not permanent; and then suggests 

 that — "'tis a better method to plough the ridges 

 across the hill almost horizontally, (ma foi ! 

 here's the very word) — that their parting furrows 

 lying open, may each serve as a drain to the ridge 

 next below it; for ^vheu the plough has made the 

 bottom of their horizontal furrows a iew inches 

 deeper than the surface of the claj^, the water 

 will run to their ends very securely, without rising 

 into the mould, provided no part of" the furrows be 

 lower than their ends. 



"These parting furrows and their ridges must be 

 made more or less oblique according to the form 

 and declivity of the hill; but the more horizontal 

 they are, the sooner the rain-water will run off the 

 lands; for in that case it will run to the furrows, 

 and reach them at right angles, which it will not 

 do when the ridges (or lands) are oblique; and 

 therefore the waters' course across the land will be 

 longer. Every one of these horizontal trenches 

 receives all the water from the rills, or little gutters 

 wherein the water runs betwixt the mould and the 

 clay. These are all cut off by the trenches which 

 receive the water at their upper sides, and carry 

 it away, as the trunks of lead placed under the 

 eaves of a house do carry away the rain-water." 

 TulVs Husbandry, p. 243. 



In a note to this passage he says, "The natu- 



ral course of water being downwards, it would al- 

 ways run by the nearest way to the bottom of the 

 hill, if nothing stopt it. But the water runs from the 

 hill in two manners; viz. upon the surface of the 

 staple, and upon the surface of the clay that is 

 uutler the staple; that which runs under, keeps its 

 straight course from the top to the bottom of a 

 hill, under a ridge that is made exacdy with the 

 descent of the hill, except that part of the water 

 that rises up into the mould and a very little that 

 soaks into the furrows; for when the furrows are 

 not made exactly with the descent, the more ob- 

 lique they are to the descent, the longer will be 

 the water's course under the ridges, and the short- 

 er, as they are nearer being at right angles to the 

 descent. 'Tis also the same with the water that 

 fidls upon the surface of the ridges; for the more 

 horizontal they are, the shorter its course will be 

 from them to the furrows, which carry it ofl'; and 

 the less of the water will sink into the ridges, the 

 less oblique and the nearer to right angles to the 

 descent they are made." 



Here we have the whole rationale of this im- 

 provement. A little alter, he says, "Many hun- 

 dred acres of good ground are spoiled, and many 

 a good horse, in ploughing against the hill, and 

 against all reason, demonstration, and experience 

 too." 



If asked to ascend still higher for evidence, we 

 might call old Columella into court. "In plough- 

 ing," he tells us, "it nmst be especially observed, 

 that the furrow be always drawn across the hill; for, 

 by this method the difficulty arising from the ac- 

 clivity of the ground is surmounted and broken, 

 and the labor both of men and cattle is commo- 

 diously lessened." — Book If. Chap. IV. 



This may suffice, although additional testimony 

 might be cited fi'om Darwin's Phytologia and the 

 Complete Farmer, and perhaps others. 



Now, is it possible to believe that Gov. Randolph, 

 with the multifarious learning of which he enjoyed 

 the reputation, had never read any of the above 

 works? 



The truth, I take it, is about this. England and 

 the United States are essentially different in many 

 of their respective agricultural circumstances, pro- 

 ducts and wants. England is a foggy, dripping 

 country — where showers are frequent, but rarely 

 so violent as with us. Here, we have frequent 

 storms and torrents. Again, the soil of England 

 is particularly adapted to grass, and being filled 

 with vegetable fibres, is little disposed to wash. I 

 need not say how difierently we in the south are 

 situated. There, they have no crop like our maize, 

 set in ridges wide apart, with the plants separated 

 in those ridges — and the broad interval constantly 

 stripped of foreign growth; but their drill crops 

 are either roots or pulse, which lying close to- 

 gether, help to ])revent the bursting of the beds by 

 the force of the water. Their object then in 

 making the horizontal beds, is rather to drain the 

 steeps by topping the oozes and drawing the water 

 into the furrows: ours, rather the jireservation of 

 the soil, and the retention of all requisite moisture, 

 while that which is superfluous is suflered to flow 

 ofl; 



To Gov. Randolph then, be the praise of its 

 introduction and adaptationXo our peculiar circum- 

 stances. Title enough this, to our lasting grati- 

 tude. But let us not be putting "daw's feather'' 

 on the dead, lest some future critic, more uncere- 



