No. 7. 



'' The Proiity Plough breeds Corny 



223 



acre of meadow, vvhicli in April I sowed with 

 oats and grass seed after spreading three 

 hundred lbs. of g'liano; tlie oat straw was 

 very rank, and the grass has started hand- 

 eomely. I have tried guano, salt, saltpetre 

 and ashes, this season ; but I forbear to speak 

 further of results, because you, gentlemen, 

 have seen them, and will determine for your- 

 selves. 



My corn land I usually plant but one 

 year; it is always ploughed in the full, be- 

 cause the team is in better condition for 

 work, more vegetable matter is ploughed 

 under, and the soil sooner becomes mellow. 

 I have practised ploughing- in August or 

 September for rye; laid the furrow flat, 

 rolled it, spread on from twenty-five to thirty 

 loads of compost (thirty bushels to the load), 

 harrowed well, then sowed one peck of 

 herds grass and one bushel of red top, 

 brushed it, and then laid all smootii with a 

 loaded roller. My rye and grass have al- 

 ways done well ; the straw selling from se- 

 ven dollars to ten dollars per acre, and the 

 grain bringing ten per cent, more than the 

 southern. Directly after taking off a crop 

 of hay, early in July, I have inverted the sod, 

 rolled, harrowed in a good deal of compost, 

 sowed one peck of millet to the acre, brushed, 

 then sown grass seed, clover, herds grass, 

 red top, and brushed and rolled smooth. I 

 have never failed of getting a ton of millet 

 fodder to the acre, and when the frost has 

 delayed for about seventy days from the time 

 of sowing, thirty or forty bushels of millet 

 seed to the acre, and the next year and for 

 several years a good crop of hay. But it is 

 not prudent to sow millet after the tenth of 

 July, on account of the frost ; it should not 

 be sown be.^ore the middle of May; best sov.n 

 in June. In August I ploughed two acres 

 of land, which was this year mowed ; rolled it 

 flat; spread sixty loads of compost, harrowed 

 it well, sowed one-half bushel herds grass, 

 and two bushels red top, then brushed and 

 rolled it smooth : this process has always 

 succeeded with me. 



In planting my corn the present season, 

 instead of cross-furrowing, I ran the plough 

 but one way, and not so deep as to disturb 

 the sod, nearly filled the furrovv's, which were 

 four feet distant in part of the field, with my 

 common compost, in part with pig manure, 

 then dropped the kernels in the furrows, six 

 inches apart, and covered, leaving the sur- 

 face of the ground even; in May went be- 

 tween the rows with the cultivator and hoe, 

 and again the last of June, but making no 

 hill ; and this, with the exception of pulling 

 by hand a few weeds, was all the culture. 

 The crop, as you witnessed, was clean and 

 heavy. 



In October, 1842, I ploughed three acres 

 of field land, which had been in grass five 

 years, and rolled it. in May following, har- 

 rowed it and spread seventy loads of compost, 

 which was well harrowed, then marked the 

 hills four feet apart each way, dropped the 

 corn and covered ; in June went through 

 with the cultivator and hoe, and late in July 

 sowed grass seed among the standing corn, 

 went through with the cultivator and hoe, 

 making no hills; in October, the corn was 

 cut up close, and the ground rolled with a 

 loaded roller. On one acre I had one hun- 

 dred and two baskets of good corn, and the 

 crops of grass have been lair. I have since 

 followed this plan with better success, when 

 I have used more and better compost. 



I have this year let five acres of meadow 

 and three pasture lots. I have top-dressed my 

 reclaimed meadows with a compost of loam 

 and warm manure, and have further extend- 

 ed my experiments in reclaiming meadows, 

 I have attempted some improvements on 

 bushy and mossy pastures, which now pro- 

 mise well ; on these I have sown winter and 

 multicole rye, with some spurry and common 

 grass seed. 



If I have raised no large crops, the ex- 

 pense and labour have been moderate; and 

 I have the satisfaction of thinking that my 

 farm is in an improving condition. 



Daniel P. King. 



Danvcrs, Nov. 4th, 1845. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 "The Prouty Plough breeds Corn." 



In the last Cabinet, S. M. Stapler, of New- 

 port, Delaware, finding the committee on the 

 ploughing match at the Chester and Dela- 

 ware County Agricultural Exhibition have 

 nothing to say for themselves, volunteers his 

 services to defend them from what he is 

 pleased to call the "censure cast on them 

 by Observer." 



The proprietor of the Moore plough, as 

 well as the committee, are under obligations 

 to him for this; for although he has given us 

 no new light on the subject, or made any 

 new issue as to the real merits of the ploughs 

 in question, indeed rather avoided the point 

 of difference between their respective advo- 

 cates, yet he has done what he could, and is 

 therefore entitled to their thanks. 



I, for one, should be entirely willing the 

 Moore plough should take all the premiums 

 for ''smooth work'' at ploughing time, if I 

 can get the premium for the crops, as with 

 the old motto, "the proof of the pudding is 

 in the eating," so with ploughs, let us judge 

 of them by their ej'ects on the crop, and after 

 trying them. No matter how the work may 



