vo. 19. 



THK farmers' cabinet. 



297 



the manure so deep that the roots will not find 

 it— they can go as deep as you can by any 

 plough ever made. Ii is possible you may 

 not realize bo good a crop liie first year by 

 burying the manure deeply, you will not lose 

 it, the next year you will have deeper soil— 

 and in a short time, your land will ofcouree 

 be near double depth of soil. What makes 

 the intervales and bottom lands so much better 

 than most uplands I Is it not the dcptli of 

 soil? Aye but nature demands that. Take 

 nature's advice and make yours so. If nature 

 has made a plough of the elements and buried 

 her vegetable matter deep, and made a soil 

 ten times more valuable for it, follow her ex- 

 ample. She did not do all at once, neither 

 need you if von are not able. If you think 

 you have not"manure sutticient to make such 

 a soil the first year, or must have the benefit 

 immediatelv, act accordingly, but begin im- 

 mediately, 'if you can plough but four inches 

 this year, plough six the next, and increase 

 annually till you get the soil deeper than you 

 can get the point of your plough. We may 

 appear somewhat dogmatical in our advice. 

 But this is of small consequence provided we 

 cm dogmatize some into practice, who are 

 now utterly opposed to it. What runs a 

 farm out, as it is called? Is it not shoal 

 ploughing, a scratch over the soil, as if you 

 were afraid of getting out of the reach of the 

 sun and air ? We may verily believe this 

 is the principal cause. The remedy must be 

 the reverse course of management. 



An agricultural writer on the subject of 

 ploughing says, that the width and depth of 

 the furrows, for general purpose?, should be 

 as three to two, or when the furrows are 9 

 inches bioad they should be 6 inches deep, 

 and that where the furrow is cut in this prc- 

 portion, it will either be turned over, or re- 

 clining at an angle of tbrty-five degrees, and 

 that a°field fo ploughed will have its ridges 

 longitudinally, or be left in angular ringlets, 

 or drills, but if the furrows, or slices, are 

 much broader, in proportion to their depth, 

 they will be more completely reversed, and 

 the surface left more even, and suitable for 

 after operations. This 1 believe to bo correct, 

 and if the ploughman wishes to plough eight 

 inches deep, the furrows must be twelve 

 inches wide. This is as shallow as our best 

 wheat lands ought to be ploughed, when grass 

 ground is to be broken up. As it is the opin 

 ion of many of our best farmers that one deep 

 ploughing for each crop is better than more, 

 it is important that in that operation the fur- 

 rows should be laid as flat and even as possi- 

 ble, in order to receive the greatest advantage 

 from the decomposing vegetai)le matter which 

 was upon the surface. This can only be done 

 with the common ploughs now in use, when 

 there is a strong sward, but when we seed 



with clover, and plough it np after one or 

 two year.«, tiie furrows are but partially re- 

 covered, and the land left in a poor condition, 

 unless it is to undergo the usual process of 

 siinm)er rnllowing,in w hich ';ase the soil is ren- 

 dered fine with as little labor ns when turned 

 flat at the first ploughing, but much of the 

 fertilizing property of the sward is lost, being 

 exposed to the action of the sun and air, to 

 the detriment of the cultivator. In all cases, 

 when proper ploughs cannot bo obtained for 

 turning the furrows flat I would recommend 

 the use of a heavy roller, by which many of 

 the furrows which are left partially turned 

 will be pressed down, and the fertilizing 

 properties of the sward more eflectually 

 retained in the soil than would otherwise be. 



Last spring we published some suggestions 

 on the late sowing of spring wheat, as a 

 means of saving it from the ravages of a yel- 

 low worm which some incorrectly call iceei'?/ 

 A number of our subscribers tried the experi- 

 ment, and so far as we have heard, with 

 entire success. A farmer in Orange county 

 told us that he sowed one acre of spring wheat 

 1671 days later than the rest in the same field. 

 The first sowed was seriously injured, the last 

 not at all. Several, in other towns, made 

 similar statements. 



It has been observed, from the first appear- 

 ance of this insect, that the earliest winter 

 wheat was less injured by its attacks than 

 any other. It is evident therefore, that the 

 time of laying eggs is short. It is probably, 

 soon after the heads make their appearance. 

 Before they are defended by the leaf which 

 encloses them ; and when they appear, most 

 probably the husk soon becomes so hard that 

 the insect cannot pierce it to deposit her eggs 

 upon the kernel. We have, then, only to 

 ascertain the time, as exactly as we can, in 

 which the injury is done, and have our winter 

 wheat too forward, and spring wheat not 

 forward enough, for the operations of the in- 

 sect, and the damage is avoided. At present 

 sow your winter wheat as early as you can, 

 and sow your spring wheat as late as you can, 

 and give it time to ripen. 



Farmers, and all who find either pleasure 

 or profit in any thing made from wheat would 

 be greatly indebted to any etymologist who 

 should make us better acquainted with the 

 character and habits of this destructive in- 

 sect, — Vt. Chronicle. 



From the Whip. 



Hints to Farmers. 



The great scarcity and high price of every 

 food, ought to induce our farmers to spare 

 no pains to raise large crops of corn, potatoee, 

 turncps, buckwheat, &c. 



