312 



Use of Lime — Elements of Practical Agriculture. 



Vol. If. 



send it to the blacksmith; and the point which 

 works behind, causes the coulter to run much 

 more steadily. A sintjle horse will draw it 

 easily in most of our lands, after they have 

 been well broken up with the plough; while 

 four, even of our miserable half-starved Vir- 

 ginia oxen, will break or tear up roots by it, 

 as thick as a man's wrist with no more "gee- 

 ing" and "hawing" than they require to drag 

 a load of wood to their master's door, or to any 

 other coulter, that I have ever seen tried. 



Fig. 53. 



The lower part of the coulter is made out 

 of inch-square iron, flattened and well steeled 

 at the points, and is twenty-two inches lono-. 



The upright part is of bar-iron two and°a 

 half or three inches wide, by a half inch or 

 five-eighths thick, and should be seventeen or 

 eighteen inches high from top to bottom, and 

 letl square both on the front and hinder edge. 



A half inch bolt will suffice to fasten it°in 

 the mortice through the beam which should 

 be at least four by three inches at that part. 

 A band of round, half inch iron, should also 

 be fixed on that part of th# beam, so as to 

 rest against the front edge ofthe coulter above 

 and its back edge below, which will keep it 

 firmly fixed in the mortice. 



If this drawing, with my description of it 

 should contribute only half as much as 1 hope 

 it will, to the benefit of our agricultural 

 brethren, it will be deemed an ample reward, 

 to the end of life, by their friend and yours, 



James M. Gar next. 



Use of liinie. 



Lockhart, in his life of Sir Walter Scott, 

 relates the following anecdote. 



' There see' — he continued, 'that farm there, 

 at the foot of the hill, is occupied by a res- 

 pectable enough tenant of mine; I told him 

 I had a great desire for him to try the effects 

 oflimeonhis land. He said he doubted its 

 success, and could not venture to risk so much 

 money as it would cost. Well, said I, fair 

 enough ; but as I wish to have the experiment 

 tried, you shall have the lime for the mere 

 carting ; you may send to the place where it 

 is to be bought, and at the term day you shall 

 strike off'the whole value ofthe lime from the 

 rent due to me. When the day came, my 

 friend the farmer came with liis whole rent, 

 which he laid down on the table before me, 

 without deduction, "How's this, my man; 



you are to deduct for the lime, you know." 

 "Why, Sir Walter," he replied, " my con- 

 science will not let me impose upon you so far 

 — the lime you recommended nie to try, and 

 which, but for your suggestion I never would 

 have tried, has produced more than would have 

 purchased the lime half a dozen times over, 

 and I cannot think of making a deduction." i 



Elements of Practical Agriculture. 



DRAINIJVG.-Continued. | 



Before beginning to drain a field or tract of j 

 ground, it is frequently well to ascertain, by ■ 

 examination, the nature of the substances to 

 be digged through. 



At the upper part where the wet tract to be i 

 drained appears, or between the wet and the i 

 dry, let a few pits be digged. The place of 

 each pit is to be marked out nearly in the di- 

 rection of the proposed line of drain, six feet ' 

 long by three in width, in which space one 

 man, and if required, two, can work. Let the 

 earth be thrown out to the lower side, and to 

 such a distance from the edge ofthe pit as not 

 to press upon and break down the sides. Let 

 these pits be made to the depth of five or six 

 feet, or more if necessary, so that we may 

 reach, if possible, the porous bed in which the 

 water is contained. Should we find no wa- 

 ter, then let us apply a boring-rod, in order to 

 ascertain at what depth the porous substance 

 lies in which the water is contained. 



Sometimes water will not be found until we 

 come to a great depth. It may be so deep 

 that we cannot reach it by any drain, or even 

 by boring with the auger. In this case a pre- 

 vious examination saves us the labor of making 

 the drain unnecessarily deep. Sometimes we 

 shall proceed to a considerable depth without 

 finding any appearance of water, when, all at 

 once, by breaking through some thin stratum, 

 we shall reach it. The water is frequently 

 seen in this case, to boil up like a fountain, 

 and this affords the assurance that we shall 

 succeed in our object. 



This species of preparatory examination by 

 means of pits, is therefore, in many cases use- 

 ful. It affords the means of judging ofthe 

 proper depth and dimensions of which the 

 drain shall be formed ; it prevents the com- 

 mitting of errors in the laying out ofthe lines 

 of drains; and it enables the drainer to enter 

 into contracts with his workmen with preci- 

 sion. 



When we have thus, by sinking pits in va- 

 rious parts of our intended lines, obtained an 

 idea ofthe nature of the ground, ofthe sub- 

 stances to be digged through, and ofthe depth 

 ofthe water, we mark our lines of drains upon 

 the ground. 



This may be done by pins, or by a plough 

 drawing a furrow along the intended line. 

 It is at this time very convenient to make 



