256 



General Rules for Ploughing. 



Vol. X. 



The sills are eight by nine inches. The 

 posts are seven by eight inches; and the 

 east end beams and braces are all white-oak 

 — rafters, ties, beams, studding, &c., black-l 

 oak, gum, or wihatever is most convenient ;| 

 the siding is of cedar, cut three-quarters of 

 an inch thick, one square edge, and lapped; 

 white-pine will do if cedar is not to be had. 

 The roof is white-pine; shingles steeped in 

 whitewash, before being put on — two light- 

 ning-rods, one erected at each end ; — they 

 should run along the ridge twelve feet, and 

 then be elevated eight feet above the roof, 

 running up a wooden steeple four feet to 

 support them, and a good vane upon one ofj 

 them to tell which way the wind is — very] 

 important to the farmer. 



but no direction on this subject will be found 

 universally applicable. Three of the most 

 eminent practical farmers with whom I am 

 acquainted here, plough not more than three 

 inclies; but the surface mould, in these cases 

 is very thin, and the under stratum is a cold, 

 clammy chalk. One farmer, whose cultiva- 

 tion is successful, and who cultivates "a 

 light, poor, thin, moory soil, with a subsoil 

 of either blue or white clay, peat, or white 

 gravel," carefully avoids breaking up the 

 cold subsoil, and cuts up the sward v;ith a 

 breast-plough, which is a kind of paring 

 spade; and after burning the turf and spread- 

 ing the ashes with a due application of arti- 

 ficial manure, consisting of equal quantities 

 of lime, wood and turf ashes, at -the rate of 



The ground floor is all occupied with sixty bushels to the acre, and sowing turnip- 



stables, except the twelve feet overshoot, 

 which is open for cattle in the yard. We 

 stable conveniently eleven horses and mules, 

 and thirty-three cows. I give a figure 

 as nearly as I can of the third floor: the 

 yard is shedded all around except on the 

 south-east side — sheds generally made of 

 crotches and poles covered with stalks, or 

 weeds cut from the stubble field, and re- 

 moved in summer. 



This building may be carried to any length 

 — continuing the thirteen feet floor — and all 

 the mows will come to the floor, and no ex- 

 tra pitching. After filling the mows then 

 fill the end floor. Whole cost of building 

 two thousand dollars. 



Mahlon Gillingham. 



Near Mnorpstown, Biirlinjrton 

 Co., N. J., 2nd mo., 1846. 



General Rules for Ploughing. 



The depth of ploughing, the width of the 

 furrow-slice, the number of ploughings which 

 should be given to land, and the season at 

 which it should be executed, depend on such 

 a variety of circumstances, that it would be 

 difficult to prescribe any universal rules. 



The objects of ploughing are, to loosen 

 the soil, and to render it permeable to the 

 roots of plants, that they may extend them 

 selves for nourishment and support; to make 

 it accessible to the air and rain, from which, 

 according to modern theories, it gathers both 

 oxygen and ammonia, for the food of plants; 

 and lastly, to give an opportunity of incor- 

 porating manures with the soil, for their 

 support and growth. It has another object, 

 of course, where greensward is turned over, 

 which is, to bury the herbage then on the 

 ground, and substitute other plants. 



The depth of ploughing varies in different 

 soils, and for different purposes. The aver- 

 ag e depth may be considered as five inches. 



seed, cultivates between the rows with a 

 single-horse plough, which cannot, of course, 

 take a deep furrow. The second year of the 

 course, when he sows wheat, he ploughs it 

 very lightly with a horse, after having first 

 breast-ploughed it, so as thoroughly to cover 

 in the manure which the sheep who have 

 been folded upon the land have left upon it. 

 The third year it is breast-ploughed, sown 

 in turnips, and cultivated between the rows 

 with a horse, as before described. The 

 fourth year it is simply breast-ploughed for 

 barley. The fifth and sixth years it is in 

 grass. Thus, in the whole course of a six 

 years' rotation, this land is only ploughed 

 four times by men,' and three times with a 

 single-horse plough. Another farmer in the 

 same neighbourhood says that, upon this de- 

 scription of land, any other than the breast- 

 plough would not leave the ground suffici- 

 ently firm for wheat. Mr. Pusey, M. P., 

 whose excellently managed farm I have had 

 the pleasure of repeatedly going over, in re- 

 marking on the above accounts, says, " Oc- 

 cupying similar land, I may add that I never 

 plough it deeply, but I repent of so doing ; 

 and am falling more and more each year, by 

 the advice of neighbouring- farmers, into the 

 use of the breast-plough, instead of the horse- 

 plough. This manual labour is quite as 

 cheap, for a good workman can pare such 

 hollow tender Innd at 4s., or even at 3s. per 

 acre. It is possible that the drought of our 

 climate in Gloucestershire and Berkshire 

 may be one cause of the success of this 

 practice in those counties, and that the 

 same soil, if transferred to Westmoreland, 

 would require deeper working. Therefore, 

 without recommending shallow cultivation 

 in districts where deep ploughing has been 

 hitherto practised, I would merely warn be- 

 ginners against plunging recklessly into the 

 subsoil." These examples are certainly well 

 worth considering. I do not understand that 



