No. 8. 



Ploughs — Ploi/ghivg. — Productions of the West. 



247 



be admirablj^ ^vell suited for mixed cfoods; 

 and so firmly is its reputation now "estab- 

 lished, that there is every certainty of a 

 growing demand, to meet which an addi- 

 tional quantity will annually be required. It 

 is supposed that owing to neglect of the in- 

 habitants of Peru, there has been an enor- 

 mous decline in the number of Alpacas, 

 which will eventually render them difficult 

 to be obtained. W^e would therefore urge 

 strenuously gentlemen of wealth — manufac- 

 turers — merchants — and agriculturists — and 

 in fact all who feel an interest in the wel- 

 fare of the country, to come forward at once 

 and assist the Society in an undertaking so 

 worthy of all praise. We understand the 

 cost of bringing out three hundred will be 

 $10,500, delivered in New York; of which 

 sum three thousand have already been pro- 

 mised. We sincerely hope those engaged 

 in an enterprise so noble will not allow the 

 matter to flag. — New York Journal of Com- 

 merce. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Ploughs— Ploughing. 



Mr. Editor, — That Mr. Paschall Morris's 

 theory on cultivation is correct, we have the 

 fullest evidence in his crop of 110 bushels 

 of corn to the acre — see page 115 — while 

 the very apt observation in your editorial — 

 see page 225 — at the conclusion of the arti- 

 cle by " JosEPHTis," — " A man's own expe- 

 rience on his own crop and on his own land, 

 is certainly preferable to that of others on 

 other land, and consequently, under other 

 circumstances," sustains him in his position. 



But he should inform your readers of the 

 cause of the ditference between the Mooro 

 Plough and the Prouty Plough, to which he 

 attributes much of his success; while the 

 remarks of your correspondent Mr. Stapler, 

 go to prove the fact, seeing that "others 

 who had planted their corn as roell, and had 

 tended it better" were far short in produce. 

 Now the difference is just this: the present 

 " improvement" in the Moore Plough — for 

 it is by no means his plough of the last year 

 or the year before — lies in the concave 

 mould-plate, which, as has elsewhere been 

 remarked, operates upon the principle of the 

 screw, and can only lay the furrow smooth, 

 not being adapted either for ploughing deep 

 and heavy soils, or pulverizing the land. It 

 is, in fact, the Beech Plough in principle ; 

 with which so many are acquainted, and 

 which has long been in use in the light 

 lands of Jersey: but let any one go over to 

 Samuel Rogers's farm at Mantua Village, 

 and examine the corn ground that was 

 ploughed by the Prouty Plough during the 



three days of the Philadelphia Exhibition, 

 with a furrow fifteen inches wide and eigiit 

 or nine inches deep, and he will see the dif- 

 ference, for he will find the land lying so 

 light and dry, after a winter's exposure, as 

 to admit of cropping long before any other 

 land in the neighbourhood can be entered 

 upon. 



Permit me in conclusion to observe, there 

 is one crop which your correspondent " Ob- 

 server," has not enumerated, tor which the 

 Prouty Plough is peculiarly well adapted — 

 I mean potatoes. Let the farmer spread his 

 land with manure, throw out a furrow, and 

 plant his sets after the plough, and after- 

 wards, in every alternate furrow, say at 23 

 or 24 inches apart, raking the manure from 

 the next two furrows in width on the sets — 

 which will then have all the dung — spread 

 the surface after planting with lime, and 

 harrow the land just as the sets appear 

 above ground, flat hoeing the crop once af- 

 terwards, and all is done until taking up, for 

 which the Prouty Plough will be found by 

 far the best implement that can be adopted; 

 the potatoes rolling out after the plough like 

 eggs out of a basket, and saving one-half the 

 labour in cultivation. W. D.., 



West Philadelphia. 



Productions of the West. 



The last number of the St. Louis Price 

 Current contains some important statistical 

 matter relative to the productions of the 

 West, from which we condense the follow- 

 ing information. 



Tobacco. — The crop of the past season 

 was probably superior to any ever produced 

 in Missouri, and cultivators were well paid 

 for their labour, as prices ruled high through- 

 out the season. 



Lead. — The production of this article is 

 rapidly on the increase. The shipments 

 from the Galena mines alone, the past year, 

 amounted to 778,461 pigs, being an increase 

 of 150,560 pigs over the previous year. The 

 increased production at the lower mines has 

 been in an equal ratio — the total product 

 being estimated at 150,000 pigs. The ac- 

 tual demand has kept pace with the in- 

 creased production; and the stock on hand 

 at the close of the year amounted to only 

 34,500 pigs, which has nearly all changed 

 hands, and is now on board to be sent for- 

 ward on the opening of navigation. 



During the past year it opened at $3,1.5 a 

 3 20, and closed at 4.C0 a ^.\2\ per hundred. 

 In the latter part of May the market became 

 depressed, and rates receded to 295 a 2.98, 

 but soon after recovered, and with occasional 



