THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



AMERICAN HERD-BOOK, 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



" The Productions of the Earth will always be in proportion to t^ie culture bestowed upon it." 



Vol. VI — No. 6.] 



1st mo. (January,) 15th, 1842. 



[Whole No. 84, 



KIJ»IBER & SHARPLESS, 



PROPRIETORS AND PUBLISHERS, 



• Ifo. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 

 Price one dollar per year. — For conditions see last page. 



For the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Trial of Ploughs. 



Mr. Editor, — I stated in my last, my con- 

 viction that Small's Scotch plough was not 

 Buited to the purpose of properly cultivating 

 the soil — a consideration the most important 

 in that all-important operation. Its wedge- 

 Bhape adds strength to its construction, and 

 enables it to overcome obstacles, certainly; 

 and if "grubbing roots, and turning up stones 

 and gravel," be the object, I know of no im- 

 plement of the kind so well adapted to the 

 purpose. But, as I have already said, a man 

 had better keep a subsoil plough for this busi- 

 ness at once, and leave the mere trial of 

 strength to be decided by it alone; its wedge- 

 shape and narrow dimensions fit it also for 

 passing through the ground more easily, and 

 with a less power of draught; the circum- 

 stance of setting the furrow on edge being 

 peculiarly favourable, and adding greatly to 

 the steadiness so much boasted of in the trials 

 that have been instituted for the purpose of 

 showing its superiority. 



But I ought to be able to substantiate my 

 charge; which I believe I have it in my 

 power to do, to the satisfaction of those whose 

 interest is in the due performance of a labour 

 which consists of something more than an 

 attempt to penetrate an almost impenetrable 

 subsoil, by an implement which would be 

 much better employed in taking up a furrow, 

 the depth of the surface-soil only, and carry- 

 ing it over to that angle which might be de- 

 sired; leaving a wide and clean furrow be- 

 hind, in which the furrow-horse can walk, 

 without treading to pieces the land which is 

 about to be turned — an evil consequent upon 

 a narrow furrow, which every practical man 

 has seen and deplored, especially in a wet 

 season. I would just remark, en passant, 

 "he is not a good gardener who does not 

 keep a wide and open trench before him in 

 digging his land." But to the purpose. 



Some years ago, a Scotch gentleman, re- 



Cab.— Vol. VI.—No. 6. 



siding in London, purchased a large tract of 

 mountain-land, with a great breadth of valley- 

 land, in South Wales, (England,) which lie 

 undertook to stock and improve. As was 

 natural, a large portion of his live-stock and 

 implements, and many of his servants, were 

 Scotch — there were, in fact, Scotch cattle, 

 Scotch sheep, Scotch shepherds, and Scotch 

 dog.s, with a Scotch bailiff and Scotch plough- 

 man, Scotch carts and Scotch ploughs, of 

 Small's particular make; the owner's object 

 being to cultivate and keep his land by means 

 almost wholly Scotch. And it must be ad- 

 mitted, that the cattle were superb; the 

 sheep, the pure Cheviots, most excellent ; 

 the shepherds vigilant and unwearied, and 

 their dogs almost human ; the ploughman 

 super-excellent, also; and the carts — wide 

 and short, with low, broad wheels, and the 

 means of raising the load from the back of 

 the horse while descending a hill — the most 

 convenient that can be imagined ; just what 

 ought to be introduced into this, and every 

 other country where they are not known ; 

 but the ploughs were a total failure. They 

 were first placed in the hands of Welsh 

 ploughmen, who were employed on some of 

 the distant farms, but they could make no- 

 thing of them ; to be sure they entered the 

 ground like a wedge, but they came out of it 

 like a wedge, also, doing very little for the 

 cultivation of the soil, and nothing, scarcely, 

 for the turning over of the land, " setting the 

 furrow too much on edge, and passing on ;" 

 and although they were very easily managed, 

 by reason of their long and straight handles, 

 and correspondent length of beam — going 

 both steadily and straightly — yet they were 

 soon thrown aside, merely on account of their 

 inefficiency, and the old Welsh plough re- 

 sumed. This might not appear strange, when 

 we consider how apt we all are to prefer our 

 own modes and customs to those of strangers ; 

 and a lengthened trial of these ploughs was 

 insisted on, solely upon this ground. But the 

 truth was, as has been stated ; and as a proof, 

 even the Scotch ploughman, with all his pre- 

 judices in favour of these ploughs, was con- 

 strained to admit their inferiority and ineffi- 

 ciency, and willingly laid them aside for the 

 common ploughs of the country. It is true, 

 they were first-rate in hard gravel ; but the 

 land in that part of the country was a mellow, 



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