48 



THE FARMEUS CABINET. 



TOL. 



is better than one, and every load judiciously 

 applied is better than a silver dollar. 



Convince them that three good cows are 

 better tlian half a dozen poor ones, and so of 

 all other stock. 



Convince them that raising their own bread 

 stuff' and a little to sell, is far better than 

 " going to New York to mill." 



Convince them that two blades of grass 

 may easily be made to grow, where only one 

 grew before. 



Convince them that experiment is the 

 mother of improvement, and improvement 

 the true source of wealth. 



Convince them of these simple truths, and 

 induce them to practice accordmgly, and the 

 work is done. 



You will then bring mind and body to act 

 in unison. You will elevate the husbandman 

 to his natural sphere in the scale of existence. 

 You will place him in the road to higher emi- 

 nence. He will thiiik for himself, he will be 

 learned, he will be wise, he will be wealthy 

 and influential. — Main Farmer. 



From the New England Farmer. 



Ploughs and Ploughing. 



Some time ago I promised to write you an 

 article on Ploughs and Ploughing. We farm- 

 ers are rather set in our notions of husbandry 

 and each of course prefers his own mode un- 

 til fully convinced of a better. 



Ploughing, is the most important opera- 

 tion in husbandry, and should be closely at- 

 tended to by all who choose this mode, to 

 *' turn the world upside down;" and with a 

 good plough we can do this with much less 

 hazard to the community than our Political 

 Mountebanks, or Trades Union Associations. 



The best ploughing is that which most com- 

 pletQly subverts the soil and buries beneath 

 it the entire vegetable growth. To effect 

 this a good plough is indispensible. Rough 

 and stony ground may indeed be rooted up 

 by the short rooter plough. Such lands are 

 usually cross-ploughed before planting. — 

 Plain fields require a different instrument; 

 a much longer plough is wanted here, to turn 

 the furrow flat without breaking and with- 

 out the aid of the Ploughman's foot. Such 

 an instrument runs easier than a short one, 

 because it enters the earth more graduallp, 

 as a thin wedge opens wood more easily than 

 a thick one. The furrow rises less suddenly 

 on the inclined plane of the mould board, and 

 falls whore it should do, in the bed of the 

 preceding furrow and completely fills it. To 

 make sure work, the coulter or cutter should 

 not stand perpendicular, but should lean to the 

 right being placed a little anglewise in the 

 beam for this purpose, and cutting the edge of 



the furrow slice in a bevil form, it will then 

 shut in like a trap door. Let not my brother 

 farmers be alarmed lest their lands should be 

 turned too flat ! If they wish to see them lie 

 edge up, or shingled, one furrow upon ano- 

 ther, or broken into short junks, they can use 

 a short rooter or a post, as the Africans do. 

 " But," say they, " the soil should be 

 light.'''' Newly plounhed green sward al- 

 ways lies too light the first summer and re- 

 quires thorough rolling and harrowing, to 

 prevent its sutfering for want of moisture ', 

 for unless the particles of earth, &c. come in 

 contact, capilliary attraction ceases nnd the 

 turned sod draws no moisture from the sub- 

 soil. Hence our crops, in a dry season, suf- 

 fer more on green sward than on old 

 ground. 



There is no danger in laying the green 

 sward furrow too flat; if turned as it always 

 should be, when the grass is green, that and 

 the roots soon begin to decay, and in our sum 

 mer months your horses will break through 

 the sod in passing, and demonstrate to you that 

 the furrow does not lie close enough. 



The advantages arising from this mode are, 

 we cover up and set to fermenting the whole 

 mass of vegetable matter that covered the 

 soil — we destroy all the noxious weeds— we 

 render the surface smooth and much more 

 easy to manage, and we avoid making loose 

 and broken sods in seeding down to grass — 

 for the furrow thus laid flat should never be 

 disturbed till a new breaking up afler a course 

 of grass crops. If seeded down to grass in this 

 state it will not lie so heavy and will not want 

 to be disturbed agam so soon as if it had been 

 completelypulverized before seeding. Ploughs 

 for our plains should, therefore be made long^ 

 — they run more steady aud cut the furrows 

 more true : and it is not green sward only 

 that should be turned fiat — stubble land, 

 weedy lands, and cornhills, should be turned 

 flat, and that only once till the matter turned 

 underneath is decomposed. In preparing 

 corn land for spring sowing, therefore, a 

 heavy harrow should be first used. Make 

 the surface as level as possible with this, 

 then let the plough turn the soil once over 

 and no more before sowing. This furrow 

 may be as fine as you choose, but when 

 once you iiave turned this mass of stalks, 

 of weeds, and grass underneath, it is absurd 

 to disturb it during the same week or month 

 — we do much injury by ploughing too of- 

 ten — we undo our own work. 



The ploughs in common use are quite too 

 short in the waist. For thirty years past we 

 have made no improvement in this instru- 

 ment excepting m the regularity and smooth- 

 ness of the mould board. 

 Y^ours, 



Wm. Buckministkr. 



