1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



381 



they are permitted to share fairly and equally in 

 the profits of such labor as their sex does not pro- 

 hibit their performing. Without this reformation, 

 (which is more or less wanting in every region. oi 

 the globe,) women will remain dependent, suffer- 

 ing, and even degraded beings, in a far greater 

 degree than their nature makes necessary: and 

 whether as the objects of the adoration of civil- 

 ized and refined man — of slavish drudgery in sa- 

 vage life — oi" luxury and sensuality in Asiatic ha- 

 rems — or of passive suffering and of living mar- 

 tyrdom, as is so often the case in our own country, 

 as well as every where else— in all these cases 

 women are not permitted to exercise any profita- 

 ble faculties, and (in a politico-economical view) 

 are more or less expensive burdens on the hands 

 of the short-sighted and selfish oppressor, man. 

 The exalted estimation of women entertained in 

 many cases, serve to reach the same ulti- 

 mate result, as the stupid and cruel jealousy of the 

 "trades unions," which denounce the interfereftce 

 and competition of female laborers. Fathers, 

 brothers, and husbands, would use every painful 

 personal exertion,and submit to the extremes of pri- 

 vation, to avoid subjecting to the necessity of me- 

 chanical labor, the beloved females with whom 

 they were connected — forgetting that the death of 

 their protectors, or other misfortunes of probable 

 occurrence, would in consequence, throw them, in 

 so much a more helpless condition, upon the cold 

 charities of the world. 



It is not only their interests that I seek to main- 

 tain — but the "rights of women," 1 though not in 

 the sense of their advocate, Miss Wolstoncroft. 

 It is their indisputable and precious right to exer- 

 cise the talents and faculties with which they are 

 endowed, for their maintenance, for their happi- 

 ness, for their respectability and true dignity of 

 character — and this is denied them, in a greater 

 or a less degree, by the prejudices, the customs 

 and the institutions of society. 



POLECON. 



USE OF THE TETHER. CHOICE OF SEED 

 WHEAT. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Bethdagon, {King William,^) Aug. 1835. 



My first impressions on entering upon a farm- 

 ing life, were extracted from Arator. Plough deep 

 and raise grass — this I have ever kept in view. 

 To accomplish the raising of grass, and thereby 

 justify deep ploughing, I was necessarily comnel- 

 led to dispense with grazing — and the more effec- 

 tually to prevent my doing so, I suffered no cross 

 fencing to remain, lest the temptation should over- 

 come my determination. I kept but few cattle, 

 and soon found the scanty pickings of a poor high- 

 way would leave me caitleless. For the last four 

 years I have been so benefited by the tether, that 

 I am induced through the medium of your jour- 

 nal to recommend its use to farmers generally. 

 Horses, mules, oxen, and cows, can be moved 

 about with little trouble, and but little injury to the 

 land. The three-shift system, with tether graz- 

 ing, aided by marl, clover, plaster, and deep 

 ploughing, would, with our atmosphere, cause 

 even the deserts of Arabia to bloom. The im- 

 plement is simple in its structure. It consists of a 

 pole 10 feet long, which is attached to a similar 



one. 8 feet long, by a chain of 5 stout links, the 

 middle link having a swivel, such as is common 

 in trace chains. At the end of each pole is a 

 piece of iron, in the form of a loop, embracing 2 

 sides of the pole, and projecting a little beyond 

 the end. in which a link of each end of the chain 

 is fixed. At the other end of the long pole is at- 

 tached a. ring 2 inches in diameter, by a similar 

 loop. This end is staked down, the ring allowing 

 it freely to run around the stake. At the end of 

 the 8 feet pole is attached a smaller ring with a 

 similar loop, to which the halter is tied until 

 horses become accustomed to it. The halter 

 should be what is called a nose baiter. After a 

 time a collar around the neck will answer. Thus 

 situated, a horse will go over a space of 40 feet 

 diameter, without danger of being either entan- 

 gled, or breaking away. For a cow, a rope, 

 should be put around the horns, to which tie the 

 tether — to which place the milk maid may repair, 

 and after milking, change her situation. But the 

 principal advantage I think I have derived from 

 an experiment tried this ploughing season. Two 

 horses and two mules were, during the principal 

 season, alternately ploughed; those not engaged 

 were constantly kept to the tether on clover; and 

 at night, all. The result was, that the mules, 

 without corn, kept in good order — and the horses 

 each with four ears of corn once in 24 hours. The 

 ploughing I considered as equal to what I had 

 usually performed by three ploughs in the usual 

 way — the labor of one ploughman being saved, 

 and much corn, no small item during that season. 



Various are the opinions as it respects the best 

 kind of wheat, but I believe generally it is con- 

 sidered that the purple straw is much superior to 

 the bearded. Many farmers consider the purple 

 straw so muc 1 ? more productive, that if they only 

 make a full crop once in three years, yet it is to be 

 preferred to the bearded, notwithstanding it (the 

 bearded) is allowed to be much more uniform as 

 to product. This season I have made some com- 

 parisons which to me seem conclusively in favor 

 of the bearded. The great object being to obtain 

 from a given space of land the greatest product, I 

 selected of each kind under circumstances as near- 

 ly similar as could be, and carefully rubbed out. 

 The results were as follows: 



Twelve heads of purple straw wheat, and 

 twelve of bearded, being placed in opposite scales, 

 the bearded weighed the most by 46 grains. 



Ten heads of very superior purple 



straw, weighed - - - 242 grs. 



Ten heads of very superior bearded, 261 



Twelve heads ordinary purple straw, 196 



Twelve heads ordinary bearded, - 209 



In every instance there were many faulty 

 grains in the purple straw, which although they 

 would have passed through the sieve (in fanning) 

 were carefully weighed. This would be fair to 

 deduct. My impression is, that the reason purple 

 straw is considered so much more desirable than 

 bearded wheat, arises mostly from the fact that 

 a bushel of it will weigh more than a similar mea- 

 sure of the bearded, the grain being of a different 

 form, and generally smaller, more of them will be 

 in a given measure. But to estimate by the acre 

 of land, the result will be in favor of the bearded; 

 and as it is reasonable to suppose as many heads 

 of the one as the other may be raised on the same 



