No. 9. 



Ploughs. — Land-Measurer. — Field JVotes. 



295 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Centre Draught and Snbsoil Ploughs. 



Deaii Sir, — 1 owe a duty to you and the 

 Prouty centre draught and subsoil ploujjhs : 

 it is, to tliank you tor their introduction into 

 this part of the country, and to say I have 

 them both running every day, and the more 

 I use thetn the more I like them. My father 

 requests you to select a subsoil plough for 

 him, and forward it immediately by the "Bur- 

 lington" steamboat ; Captain Maxwell is very 

 desirous to obtain the centre draught plough 

 which he requested you to select tor him. I 

 need not add, they are quite superior to any 

 that 1 have ever before seen. Yours, 



Philip Re\bold, Jr. 



Fair Mount Farm, St. George'n, Del., 

 April 4, 1842. 



"The Farmers' Land-Measurer, or 

 Pocket Companion," 



Sbowino at one view the content of any piece of land 

 from dimensions taken in yards ; with a set of useful 

 tables. By James Pedder, Editor of the Farmers' Cabi- 

 net. Fhilada. : Thomas, Cowperthwait & Co., 184-2. 

 This little manual has long been a desideratum with 

 the a);ricultural community, and its real value can only 

 be known by constant use in the every-day business of 

 husbandry; ity principle* are so simple and easy to be 

 understood, that no one will find difficulty in the way 

 of computation, either of land or crops ; for in no case 

 of laying off the one or calculating the quantity of the 

 other, can a difficulty arise, but u solution will imnie- 

 dintely present itself. 



The measurement of land by yards instead of chains, 

 will be preferred for general use by the practical man, 

 for where is the farmer who cannot step a yard about 

 as exactly as it can be measured? As proof, six men 

 undertook, B short time since, to step otThalf a mile on 

 the King's road in Delaware, and it is u fact tliat they 

 all came out within half a yard of the same spot! The 

 difficulty is, to know how to square the land after hav- 

 ing stepped olT the length and breadth, especially if its 

 form be any but right angled ; but this is done by refer- 

 ence to the many hundred ready worked tables con- 

 tained in the work in an instant of time, and with 

 perfect correctness. To the want of euch a book of 

 reference on the spot, is to be attributed the strange 

 and incredible accounts which we sometimes hear, of 

 large crops grown on small quantities of land; and 

 without the use of such a ready, simple, and correct 

 mode of computation at hand, it is not possible hut that 

 enormous and conflicting statements must be for ever 

 occurring. In manuring, too, how often docs it happen 

 that tho farmer would be glad to know how many loads 

 at go many heaps to a load would be required to spread 

 over a certain field! Here he will find the question 

 immediately answered, be the size and form of the land 

 what it might. Again, he may wish to plant a portion 

 of a large field with potatoes, cabbages, turnips, or 

 other crops, confining himself to a given quantity of 

 land — his "pocket companion" will show him how 

 many yards long and wide that must be, of whatever 

 shape, to give him that quantity; but without its aid, 

 he may step H^nine acres instead of six, and his neigh- 

 l>our may sell an acre and three-quarters of grass for an 



acre, as was lately done in a certain part of the country. 

 Here also he will find how wide must be the land — the 

 length being given— to form an acre, computed by yards, 

 feet and inches ; applicable to ploughing, planting, 

 mowing, &c. Thus, too, in planting trees and com- 

 puting crops of roots — the plants or rows standing at 

 given distances — the required information is afforded 

 at a glance. In short, this little volume will prove a 

 valuable "companion" to the pocket of the practical 

 farmer in all his walks through life, and enable him to 

 "shorten distances" astonishingly. 



The imperial bushel table will form a most valua. 

 ble page in the book, when an assimilation of weights 

 and measures between this country and England shall 

 have taken place — a circumstance devoutly wished by 

 every one at all interested in the subject, and which 

 has repeatedly engaged the attention of the legislature. 



This truly valuable book is sold at 50 cents per copy, 

 and may be obtained from Thomas, Cowperthwait tc 

 Co., 253 Market street ; at Prouty's agricultural ware- 

 house, 17G Market street ; of Kimber &. Sharpless, ,50 

 N. 4th street ; and at the office of the Cabinet, No. 50, 

 N. 4th street, Philadelphia. — Ed. 



Field Notes, or Opening of Summer. 



"When spring-time came, I was in my old 

 haunts on the cliffs, observing nature as she 

 proceeded to dress up her fair scenes for the 

 gay season, and greeting the leaves and flow- 

 ers as they came laughing to their places. I 

 watched the arrivals by every soft south wind. 

 I thought I recognized many a constant pair 

 of old birds who had been to me like fellow- 

 lodgers the previous summer ; and I detected 

 the loud, gay, carousal song of many a riotous 

 new-comer. These were stirring times in 

 the woods ! The robin was already hard at 

 work on his mud foundations, while many of 

 his neighbours were yet looking about, and 

 bothering their heads among the inconvenient 

 forks or crotches. The sagacious old wood- 

 pecker was going round, visiting the hollow 

 trees, peeping into knot-holes, dropping in to 

 inspect the accommodations, and then putting 

 his head out to consider the prospect; and all 

 the while, perhaps, not a word was said to a 

 modest little blue-bird that stood by, and had 

 been expecting to take the premises. I ob- 

 served, too, a pair of sweet little yellow-birds, 

 that appeared like a young married couple 

 just setting up housekeeping. They fixed 

 upon a bough near me, and I soon became 

 interested in their plans; and, indeed, felt 

 quite melancholy as I beheld the troubles they 

 encountered occasionally, when, for whole 

 days, they seemed to be at a stand-still. At 

 last, when their little honey-moon cottage 

 was fairly finished, and softly lined, they both 

 got into It, by way of trial ; and when I saw 

 their little heads and bright eyes just rising 

 over the top, I could not help thinking that 

 they really had little hearts of flesh, that were 

 ab-solutely beating in their downy bosoms."— 

 Knickerbocker. 



