72 



Ploughing. — Conducting-Rods. — Straio. 



VOL.V. 



and the same richness of soil to promote their 

 rapid growth, that is required by the vegeta- 

 bles of the garden. Let a farmer examine 

 the extent and depth to which the roots of 

 grain, in a loose and favourable soil, will 

 spread, and he will cease to wonder at the 

 failure of a crop where the subsoil, at the 

 depth of three or four inches, has never been 

 stirred by the plough, and over the hard-pan 

 of which the tender fibres of the roots vainly 

 wander in search of proper nutriment, and 

 as fruitlessly strive to penetrate. 



In loamy or sandy soils, the roots of trees 

 have been found to penetrate to the depth of 

 ten or twelve feet; and the roots of the Ca- 

 nada thistle have been traced six or seven 

 feet below the surface. Wheat, if planted 

 in a mellow, rich soil, will strike its roots 

 three feet downwards, and elongate much 

 farther horizontally. The roots of oats have 

 been discovered at eighteen inches from the 

 stem ; and the long thread-like roots of grass 

 extend still further. The roots of the onion 

 are so white that in a black mould they can 

 be readily traced, and in a trenched or spaded 

 soil they have been followed to the depth of 

 two feet. The potatoe throws out roots to 

 the distance of fifteen or twenty inches, and 

 the tap-rooted plants, turnips, beets, carrots, 

 &c., independent of the perpendicular root, 

 spread their fibres to a distance which equals, 

 if it does not exceed the potatoe. It is per- 

 fectly absurd to expect to succeed with roots 

 of this class, unless the ground is so mellow 

 as to allow them to penetrate. We have had 

 them in our garden, smooth and straight, 

 which exceeded twenty-six inches in length, 

 yet the soil, when first applied to the pur- 

 poses of a garden, was far from being deep 

 or penetrable. Land cannot be considered in 

 good tilth unless, by ploughing the earth, it 

 has been mixed with vegetable or animal 

 matter to the depth of 10 or 12 inches; — 

 and Judge Powel states, that by manuring 

 and ploughing he has converted shallow un- 

 productive earth into rich fertile soils to the 

 depth of at least 14 inches. 



. There is a constant tendency in eartiis to 

 consolidate, clayey or aluminous ones more 

 than others, which manuring and ploug'iing 

 will, in a great measure, prevent; and loosen- 

 ing the soil in all cases allows the roots to 

 sink beyond the reach of droughts, permits 

 them to range freely in search of proper nu- 

 triment, and in the same proportion increases 

 the chance for a profitable crop. — Gen. Far. 



" If farmers in our country, instead of in- 

 creasing the number of their acres, would 

 bestow more care and expense in cultivating, 

 in the best possible manner, every acre they 

 already possess, they would live easier and 

 become richer, and be happier also." 



For the Farmers' Cabinet, 

 Conducting-Rods. 



Among conductors of the electric fluid, the 

 metallic substances are, perhaps, entitled to 

 pre-eminence ; iron, although not the best, as 

 it answers the purpose perfectly well, on the 

 score of economy, has been selected for the 

 use of conducting-rods. As a satisfactory 

 evidence of its entire efficiency, perhaps no 

 instance can be cited, of a building not more 

 than sixty feet in extent from the point of a 

 properly arranged conducting-rod ever being 

 injured by electricity. 



Conductors should be made of round iron- 

 rods, half an inch in diameter, terminating 

 in a point of platinum, or of brass, highly 

 gilt; these metals are preferred on account 

 of their remaining unchanged by exposure to 

 the atmosphere, and bright surfaces appear to 

 attract the electric fluid with the greatest 

 force. In putting up conductors, it is essen- 

 tial that the point should extend six or seven 

 feet above the most elevated part of the build- 

 ing to which it is attached, and coming down 

 to the ground, to be connected with a bar of 

 iron, an inch or more square, and eight or 

 nine feet long, which is to be buried in the 

 earth its whole length, extending at an angle 

 of 45 degrees from the building. Prepara- 

 tory to placing the bar, a sufficient excavation 

 should be made to admit of three or four 

 bushels of charcoal being placed around its 

 lower termination, which should be wet with 

 water before replacing the earth ; this is a 

 very important part of the arrangements, 

 the charcoal being indestructible by time, 

 and exceedingly retentive of water, wftich is 

 a good conductor, it serves to difluse the elec- 

 tric fluid to the general mass of matter, as 

 fast as it descends the conducting-rod. 



t Agricola. 



Straw for Litter. 



" I AM paying at the rate of three dollars 

 per ton for straw, delivered at my stock-yard, 

 solely to keep my stock clean, dry, and warm 

 in the winter, and I think — indeed I know-^ 

 it is worth the money for tliis purpose alone, 

 to say nothing of its value as manure, and 

 assistance when ploughed into a heavy soil 

 to lighten and pulverize it. And yet, on 

 hundreds of farms that I passed during my 

 journey, I saw heaps upon heaps of valuable 

 straw transported from the barn to the field, 

 not for the purpose of being ploughed under, 

 to decompose and again make more straw, 

 but to be burned, and its ashes scattered to 

 the four winds of heaven !" — Cultivator. 



I think — indeed I Jaiow, that the man who 

 will sell his straw for three dollars a ton, let 

 alone delivering it to the stock-yard of the pur- 

 chaser, ought to be examined under a statute 

 of lunacy ! 



