THE GENESEE FARMER. 



77 



dSfe 



noticed this was in the Trial of plows at the State 

 Fair at Poughkeepsie, in 1844; but I have always 

 felt a reluctance to come out against it; boiny; some- 

 thing new, I expected to have many to oppose me; 

 but you cannot have a very easy draft, and do justice 

 to the soil. In spriiii^, go into a field where you see 

 a team plowing stiff sod with case, turn up a few 

 pieces of the furrows, and 1 think you will find it 

 ribbed under them. 



I cannot answer " Virginia" about draining, for I 

 cannot tell what he wants. 



We are busy getting out clover seed — have al- 

 ready got one hundred bushels, and expect fifty or 

 sixty more. Draining pays in clover as well as in 

 wheat; it does wonders for both. 



Tell the fanners in Monroe county to drain and 

 manure, and they will not have to give up wheat 

 raising. When I was draining against the freezing 

 ont of wheat, I little thought that I was draining 

 against the wheat midge, but such has proved to be 

 the case. On some black muck soils, however, I find 

 that draining is not a sure preventive against the 

 midge, but I think clay or sand put on the surface, 

 after draining, would help it John Johnston. 



JVear Geneva, JV. Y. 



A FEW FACTS FOR THE GENESEE FAEMER. 



Messrs. Editors: — In response to your call for 

 facts, I will attempt to pen a few which have fallen 

 ander my observation in my brief experience in ag- 

 ricultijral matters, which you can use as you think 

 best. 



The first fact I will notice, and one which may 

 not be of much consequence in itself, but give more 

 significance to some other facts, is the fact of my 

 "whereabouts." I "hail from" Northern Pennsyl- 

 vania, a hilly country, with a cold climate, where 

 winter prevails about six nonths in the year. There 

 ia quite a variety of soil within a few miles circum- 

 ference, from sand and gravel to heavy clay and loam. 

 The soil most common in this section, and with which 

 mj facts are mainly connected, is a heavy, clayey 

 loam, mixed with stones and gravel, and resting on a 

 subsoil, very hard and impervious to water, and usu- 

 ally called "hard-pan." This hard-pan varies in 

 depth from one to two feet from the surface. Un- 

 derdraining has been tried a very little here, but 

 enough to convince those who have tried it of the 

 great benefit resulting from it — rendering the soil 

 more tillable arid productive, by draining off the sur- 

 plus water held by the hard pan, and which must 

 otherwise pass off by the slow process of evapora- 

 tion. 



My neighbor G., influenced by the high reputation 

 and flattering recommendations of the subsoil plow, 

 a few years since purchased the " arimal," and has 

 used it on his land, which is of the same '• hard-pan" 

 aforesaid. His neighbor B. considers it a failure, and 

 thinks that U.'s crops are growing less instead of 

 viore where the subsoil plow is used, the advocates 

 of said plow to the contrary notwithstanding. Will 

 those who recommend the "subsoil plow" be kind 

 enough to state the kind of soil on which it is used ? 

 I believe it will not work equally well on all soils. 

 Will any one give their experience in the use of it on 

 the "hard-pan land" that I have mentioned ? 



On the use of ashes, leached and unleached, I can 

 •P^k with confidence, having seen very encouraging 



results from their use oh grass. On a meadow of 

 the aforesaid soil, which had been in grass several 

 years and nearly run out, leached ashes were spread 

 on in the fall at the rate of about forty bushels to 

 the acre. The next season the hay crop on that part 

 treated with ashes was more than double what it was on 

 the rest of the field, according to the extent; and the 

 season following the effects of the ashes were nearly 

 as great — the grass growing more luxuriantly, and 

 keeping green longer than the rest. Unleached ashes 

 were tried in smaller quantities, with similar efiect. 

 For reclaiming grass land that has been cropped for 

 years, I think there is no manure, accessible to all 

 farmers, that is aa beneficial as wood ashes, as they 

 contain, to a great extent, those elerrents which have 

 been exhausted from the soil by the growing plants. 

 More anon. Juvenis. 



Jdckson, Pa. 



[Remarks — We are much obliged to our corres- 

 pondent for the above facts, and hope to hear from 

 him frequently, We have never known subsoil plow- 

 ing injurious ; but we have in several instances seen 

 diminished crops on land that was plowed unusually 

 deep for the first time. The Michigan double plow 

 is frequently called a subsoil plow, but it is a misno- 

 mer. The true subsoil plow follows in the furrow 

 made by an ordinary plow, and breaks up the subsoil 

 without bringing any of it to the surface. The 

 V ichigan double plow, on the other hand, brings the 

 .subsoil to the surface. This, though generally bene- 

 ficial, is sometimes injurious for a tew years. Will 

 our correspondents, in writing on this subject, please 

 bear this distinction in mind, and inform us which of 

 these two plows is used ?j — Eds. 



ERGOT THE CAUSE OF FOUL IN THE FEET. 



Messrs. Editors : — In the February number of 

 your useful paper, at page 50, 0. Ford makes an in- 

 quiry concerning a " Disease in the Feet of Cattle," 

 and asks, " Do any oi your correspondents know any- 

 thing about it ? " 



I have formerly known much of this disease, but 

 of late years, since our farmers have paid more at- 

 tention to the rotation of crops, there has been com- 

 paratively little of it in Western New York. I have 

 visited many herds of cattle where this disease pre- 

 vailed, and in some instances where the whole herd 

 was affected, and in every instance have been able, by 

 examining the mow, or stack from which the cattle 

 were fed, to point out the cause, which has been no 

 other than the ergot, or smut, upon speargrass. 

 The speargrass so affected was cut, in most instances, 

 from fields that had been in grass many years. In some 

 years the grasi* produces more of this smut than in 

 others, on the $ame land. Farmers are hardly aware 

 of the injury done to their crops and stock by the 

 Cryptogamous plants, most of which are poisonous, 

 and some very injurious to crops, as rust on wheatf 

 smut on spring rye, wheat and oats, rust or disease on 

 potatoes, &e ; and in some instances, I have known 

 the health of families injured from the use of food 

 which contained parts of those plants. I was once 

 consulted by a family where every member was com- 

 plaining of pain in the feet and limbs. I was con- 

 vinced that some part of their food was the cause, 

 and therefore inquired Into and examined all articles 

 of their diet, and found that they were making use 



