430 



NEW ENGLAND FAHMER. 



Sept. 



off at farming, they do not readily see how there 

 can be too much of so good a thing as deep plow- 

 ing. The mistake committed by the gentleman 

 from Boston, as related by your Northampton cor- 

 respondent, is therefore of frequent occurrence. 

 Land of inferior quality, especially as regards the 

 subsoils, and that never was plow ed more than four 

 to six inches deep, is, perhaps, at once plowed ten 

 or twelve inches deep, turning up a huge slice of 

 loose and hungry, or cold, or sour subsoil, and 

 burying the manure at the bottom of the deep fur- 

 row, away from the agents of decomposition, where 

 it lies perhaps quite inert ; the crops are planted 

 on the deep furrows, and not succeeding well, the 

 proprietor is perhaps mortified and discouraged, 

 and concludes that deep plowing will not do. Now 

 the great point is to study the nature and condi- 

 tion of the soil and subsoil, and then adapt the 

 practice to them. In some cases, where the sub- 

 soil is quite good, and manure can be plentifully 

 applied, even if the land has heretofore been plow- 

 ed shallow, a furrow eight or nine inches may at 

 once be taken, with benefit to the land and all the 

 crops of the rotation following — especially if fine 

 compost is plentifully and thoroughly intermingled 

 with the under soil now turned up to the surface, 

 by cross plowing to the depth of four inches. The 

 after-cultivation of the crop also will stir the sub- 

 soil and manure up together. It is a good practice 

 in such cases, to leave the sod, or, what was before the 

 deep plowing, the surface, underneath through the 

 whole rotation, and the subsoil on top, where it is 

 made active by the compost intermingled with it, 

 and by the modifying influences of the atmosphere. 

 If, when preparing this land for grain and grass 

 seeds, the sod is thus left undisturbed beneath, and 

 the seeds are cast upon the subsoil turned up at the 

 first plowing, the new surface, while the land lies 

 in mowing, will be filled with the thickly matted 

 sward, so that by the time the land again needs 

 plowing, this portion that was originally subsoil, 

 will be well charged with vegetable matter, and be 

 good, active soil, adding materially to the depth of 

 the soil of the field. This I call good farming. 

 There are other cases, where, the subsoil being not 

 so promising, but still not very forbidding, the 

 plovang may be advantageously deepened some 

 two inches at a time, till the desirable depth is at- 

 tained ; and there are others, where the land being 

 decidedly poor, with a sour and deleterious subsoil, 

 the plowing cannot be profitably deepened, except 

 by a very gradual process ; though still a little at a 

 time of the subsoil may be brought up and correct- 

 ed by good tillage, and in time a soil of comforta- 

 ble depth be attained. In these matters one's eyes 

 and observation must be wide awake, and his own 

 good judgment must be the guide in practice. 



I have sometimes thought, that in farming, al- 

 most more than in anv other business, theories and 



methods in themselves, most excellent, are hastily 

 condemned from being injudiciously practiced, 

 while it is wholly the bad management that is at 

 fault, and should be condemned. 

 Braitleboro', Vt., August 7, 1856. 



OLD GORDON AED HIS LADDIES. 



John Gordon, who died near TurrifF, Bangshire, 

 some time ago, attained the age of one hundred 

 and thirty-two. All the travellers who ch:inced to 

 call at the neighboring inn of Turriff, were uniform- 

 ly directed by the landlady, Mi's. Vt^allace, to the 

 cottage of the patriarch, "where they wad see," she 

 used to say, "the auldest man i' Bangshire — ay, in 

 a' the warid." Among the visitors one day, about 

 the close of harvest, was a young Englishman, who, 

 coming up to the door of the cottage, accosted a 

 venerable looking man employed in knitting hose, 

 with, "So my old friend, can you see to knit at 

 your advanced period of life? One hundred and 

 thirty-itwo is truly a rare age." 



"Deil's in the man ! it '11 be my grandfather 

 ye're seeking — I'm only seventy-three, ye'll find 

 "him round the comer o' the hous." On turning 

 round the corner, the stranger encountered a de- 

 bilitated old man, whose whitened locks bore testi- 

 mony to his having long passed the meridian of life, 

 and whom the stranger at once concluded to be 

 Jordon himself. "You seem wonderfully fresh, my 

 good sir, for so old a man ! I doubt not you have 

 experienced many vicissitudes in the course of your 

 very long life." "What's your wull, sir ?" inquired 

 the person addressed, whose sense of hearing was 

 somewhat impaired. The observation was repeat- 

 ed. "O, ye'll be wanting my father, I reckon — he's 

 i' the yard there ! " The stranger now entered the 

 garden, where he at last found the venerable old 

 man busily employed in digging potatoes, and hum- 

 ming the "Battle of Harlaw." "I have had some 

 difficulty in finding you, friend, as I successively 

 encountered your grandson and son, both of whom 

 I mistook for you ; indeed, they seem as old as 

 yourself. Your labor is rather hard for one of 

 your advanced age." "It is," replied John ; "but 

 I am thankfu' that I 'm able for't, as the laddies, 

 puir things, are no very stout, now !" 



Glasgow Railway Journal. 



To Ascertain the Weight of Hat by Meas- 

 urement. — We observe a statement going the 

 rounds in some of the agricultural journals, that 

 100 cubic feet of hay in a stack or mow, make a 

 ton ! ! In a work, published some years ago, we 

 think the author said 268 cubical feet of hay in a 

 mow, which had become well settled, make a ton. 

 " Hay in the field-iick," says Low, weighs some- 

 what better than 112 His. the cubic yard, after be- 

 ing comprised in the stack, it weighs from 140 to 

 180 lbs., and when old 200 lbs." Or from 270 to 

 482 cubic feet will make a ton. 



We have had considerable experience in this 

 matter, as we put up a building some years ago, 

 for the purpose of stowing away hay, which we in- 

 tended for market. For several years we sold hay 

 from this building, both weighing and measuring 

 the quantity sold, till at last we came to the conclu- 

 sion that weighing was unnecessary. 



Since that, we have measured large quantities, 



