^% ^mM^fmrnsssf^ 



^^fiRlCAN HERD-BOOlC 



DEVOTED TO 

 AGRICULTURE, HORTICULTURE, AND RURAL AND DOMESTIC AFFAIRS. 



Perfect Agriculture is the true foundation of all trade and industry. — Liebio. 



Vol. XI.— No. 1.] 



8lh mo. (August) 15th, 184G. 



[Whole No. 139. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



B Y J O S I A H T A T U M, 



EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR, 



No. 50 North Fourth Street, 



PHILADELPHIA. 



Price onedoUarpcr year. — Forconditionsseelastpage 



Premium Farm in New York. 



The Stato AsrriciiUural Society of New York offered 

 for the year 1?-15, a premium of $50 " for the best cul- 

 tivated farm of not less than tifty acres, exclusive of 

 woodland and waste land, regard being had to the 

 quantity and quality of produce, the manure and ex- 

 pense of cultivation, and the actual profits;" as well 

 as premiums of smaller amounts for farms of second 

 and third grade. Reports are published in the Socie- 

 ty's Transactions of la-st year, and are highly valuable 

 for their practical details. Not having that volume 

 before us we copy the statement of George Geddes— to 

 whom was awarded the first premium— from the Cul- 

 tivator. Various questions were proposed by the So- 

 ciety, which were to be carefully answered bycoii pelit- 

 ors: and we lliink the following paper will be read 

 with great interest by our practical men who hold the 

 plough, and will understand at a glance, every state- 

 ment and mode of operation. — ^Ed. 



1. My home farm consists of three hun- 

 dred acres. Thirty are in wood. About 

 ten acres of the side hills are unsuitable 

 for ploughing, and are only used for pas- 



Cab.— Vol. XL— No. 1. 



ture ; the remainder is under cultivation, 

 e.scept what is required for roads, yards, &c. 



2. The soil is principally a disintegrated 

 gypseous shale, it being the first stratum 

 below the Onandaga lime, running up to 

 and taking in some sixteen acres of the 

 lime, which is covered with about one foot 

 of soil. This is in the wood lot, and fur- 

 nishes quarries of good stone. There were 

 formerly a few cobble stones on the surface, 

 and one very large granite boulder. A small 

 brook running through the farm is bordered 

 by about forty acres of soil that has been de- 

 posited by the brook, and is not suited to the 

 production of wheat. In t!ie valley of the 

 brook is found marl and prat, and at the 

 springs that come from the liill sides, calca- 

 reous-tufa. 



3. I consider the best modes of improving 

 the soil of my farm to be deep ploughing, 

 applicqiion of barn-yard manure, free use of 

 sulphate of lime, and frequent ploughing in 

 crops of clover. 



4. Unless I am ploughing in manure, I 

 plough from six to eight inches deep. Deep 

 'ploughing upon the gypseous shales, never 

 fails to increase fertility. Full trials justify 

 !my speaking with confidence on this point. 



I 5. I have not used the subsoil plough, as 

 I have no retentive subsoil on my farm. 



6. I apply my barn-yard manure in large 

 quantities at a time, preferring to at once do 

 all for a field that I can in this way. About 

 fifty loads of thirty bushels each, of half-rot- 

 ted manure to the acre at a dressing. 



C9) 



