1839] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



685 



ascertain the cause. Some toid us it was white 

 clover, some said it must be iottelia. On making 

 strict examination, we Ibund tiiat the last load put 

 into the barn, had much lobelia, and but Httle 

 white clover in ii. As an experiment, we, for 

 several days in succession, previous to feeding, 

 were carelul to cull the hay by handfuls, and 

 pick out the lobelia. From this moment the slab- 

 bering ceased. On giving the hay again without 

 picking it over, the salivation began again. So 

 that we are satisfied that lobelia is ihe cause of 

 slabbering in horses. Can any one tell us what 

 will cure ihis slabbering, without the pains ol'sep- 

 arating the lobelia from the hay?" 



PLOUGHING AND PLOUGHS.* 



From tlie Boston Courier. 



Ploughing is considered by all liirmers as the 

 most imponaiit agricultural operation, either as it 

 regards the immediate crop, or the I'uture and per- 

 manent improvement ol' the soil. The larmer 

 who so manages his field as to produce, in the 

 main, the greatest reward lor the labor and expense 

 bestowed, will undoubtedly be considered as acting 

 with a sounder discretion, than he whose sole ob- 

 ject is a present crop, without regarding the per- 

 manent un|)rovement ol' his fields. To deepen 

 tlie soil, by bringing to the surlijce, at each succes- 

 sive ploughing, a jwrtion ol' the poorer sub-soil, 

 and thereby ex"|)osing it to the enriching inliuence 

 ol" the atmospliere, and to cover up and preserve 

 i'rom washing rains and wasting winds, the light 

 vegetable matter upon the suriiice, as well as to 

 lacililate the subsecjuent operations ot'the husband- 

 man, are the only important uses of the plough. 



Our old fields are rapidly approaching to a state 

 of utter sterility. At each successive rotation ol' 

 crops, the vegetable mould is becomming thinner, 

 and the product less; and the plough, in the hands 

 of most I'armers. so liir liom deepening the c^oll, and 

 increasing its powers of producing, is really ex- 

 hausting It of all its natural fertility; and will soon 

 render it, as has already been done in some parts 

 of our country by the same means, an unproduc- 

 tive waste, unfit lorcultivalion. The rich treasure, 

 which our ibrelathers found upon the suil'ace, 

 which had been accumulating lor centuries, has 

 been scjuandered with a prodigal hand. Tiie ap- 

 parently inexhaustible deposite of vegetable food, 

 which covered the land, has, by an improvident 

 use of the plough, been given to the lour winds of 

 heaven, or washed away into the ocean. Tliey 

 have ploughed, cross ploiiuhed, and harrowed, till 

 their descendants have little else left than a mere 

 caput mortani. 



I have known rich swells of land in Maine, 

 which thirty years ago, were covered with tliick 

 forests, and what would have seemed an exhaust- 

 less store of food for vegetation, by means of the 

 plough robbed of every particle ot vegetable sus- 

 tenance, and now absolutely abandoned by ihe 

 occupant as worthless. 



Strange as the assertion may seem, it is never- 

 theless true, that liirmers generally plough too 

 much. The poorer sub-soil, which is turned up 

 by the first ploughing, instead of being kept upon 



*The auther of this paper is E. Phinney esq. an ac- 

 count of whose farming was inserted before — Ed. F. R. 

 Vol. YlI-74 



the surface, till it has become enriched by culture 

 and exposure to the air, is by cross ploughing inti- 

 medialely turned back again into its cold and life- 

 less bed; and the light vegetable mould, instead 

 of being keep beneath, (or the benefit of the crop, 

 is, by the same process of cross ploughing, broiiglit 

 again to ihe suriiice, and blown away by winds, or 

 washed away by rains. 



The manner of ploughing, and kind of plough, 

 which isused by mostliinners, have also a tendency 

 to diminish the natural or acquired lertility ol' the 

 soil. VViih ploughs but little difiering in construc- 

 tion from common wedges, the ground is not turn- 

 ed over, but crowded into ridges, or the furrows 

 lapped upon each other in such a manner as to ex- 

 pose much of its best properties to waste. The 

 writer has ascertained fi'om actual experiment, 

 that on an acre ol' land yielding not more than a 

 ton ot hay to the acre, at the usual season of 

 ploughing irreensvvard, say the tenth of May, 

 contains more than twelve Ions of vegetable matter, 

 consisting of the roots and tops of grass, and other 

 vegetable remains upon Ihe surface. Such a me- 

 thod of plouijhing then as will be best calculated 

 to secure, Ibr the benefit of the crop, this mass of 

 enriching substance, the iiirmer should not hesi- 

 tate to adojH. By completely inverting the sward, 

 and laying it as fiat and smooth as the nature of 

 the ground will admit, and then cullivaling the 

 sod with the application of a light dressing of com- 

 post, land may not only be kept in heart, but 

 wonderfully improved. With one ploughing in 

 this vvay, and spreading on one top-dressing of 

 compost manure, ofahout twenty cart loads to the 

 acre, and mixing it finely with the poor earth at 

 the surface, I have raised two crops of grain or 

 roots, and laid the land to grass. In the ordinary 

 way ofculiivating, four ploughinns, as many times 

 harrowing, and two dressings of manure, are con- 

 sidered necessary. 1 have then saved three 

 |)lout]:hings, and as many harrowings, one dressing 

 of manure, and at the same time have deepened, 

 and permanently improved the soil, and more than 

 doubled my crops. Ten years ago, I was upon 

 the point of abandoning some of my old fields in 

 despair. They had been cultivated in the usual 

 mode of ploughing, cross ploughing and cropping, 

 alternately under the plouirh, and in grass, and 

 had become so impoverished, that the products 

 were insufficient to cover the expense ol cultiva- 

 tion. The same piece of land which gave me one 

 ton of hay, will now at the same distance of time, 

 after laying to grass, give me three. 



In the cultivation of fund, which has been a year 

 or more under the plough, nearly the same course 

 is to be pursued, especially when it is intended to 

 sow wheat or rye; ijlough your land so as to turn 

 under the rich mould, bring to the surface a portion 

 of the fresh earth, that has never before been dis- 

 turbed by the plough, and mix this well, (if the 

 preceding crops have not been well manured,) with 

 a light dressing of well-rotted compost, and from 

 tv^enty to fifty bushels of slaked lime to the acre, 

 and I am confident you will never require a legis- 

 lative bounty, as an inducement to cultivate wheat. 



Good ploughing cannot be effected without 

 ploughs suitably adapted to the purpose. In this 

 ail-important agricultural i.iiplement, I venture the 

 assertion, without fear of contradiction, that the 

 Americans have made greater, and more useful 

 improvements, in its adaptation and fitness for the 



