No. 6. 



Peruvian Industry. 



179 



occasion to regret it, for in every instance 

 that lias come to my knowledge, it has suc- 

 ceeded well. My land is what may be called 

 coarse sand and gravel, sandy loam, and 

 some rather stiff sand. Whether the same 

 practice would answer on a hard and clayey 

 soil or not, I cannot tell. 



I sow my wheat generally between the 

 10th and 23th of September. When the 

 wheat is sown the cultivator is passed over 

 the land bat once, which covers the wheat 

 better than two or three times with the har- 

 row. By the above plan, about one-half the 

 usual labour on fallows is saved, and a more 

 bountiful crop may be anticipated, than from 

 the former method of ploughing three times, 

 and using the harrow two or thrccymes. It 

 is a well known fact, that a stiff, nard clay 

 soil, provided the ground had been well pre- 

 pared, will grow more wheat to the acre 

 than can be grown on a sandy or loamy soil. 

 Now the question is, why is this sol To me 

 it is obvious, the wheat plant grows most 

 luxuriant on a hard soil, and that is the rea- 

 son that one ploughing on these sandy soils, 

 is preferable to three, and that land thus 

 prepared will produce more wheat to the 

 acre. The one ploughing leaves the ground 

 hard compared with three ploughings, which, 

 in these soils, leave the land loose, open and 

 spongy, unsuited to the plant. This has 

 been tested often in this neighbourhood 

 within the last few years. 



The practice which I have adopted, is 

 confirmed by a statement given by Henry 

 Col man, Esq., in his account of the culture 

 of wheat in England. He says: "The soil 

 preferred for wheat is a strong soil, with a 

 large proportion of clay; but experience has 

 of late years, contrary to early and strong 

 prejudices, determined that even the light 

 and loamy soils are capable of bearing heavy 

 crops of wheat, provided they can be suffi- 

 ciently consolidated. This is often done by 

 driving sheep over the land after sowing, 

 and by an implement called a presser." 

 ' "This implement passes over the land in 

 the direction of the furrow, and it forms on 

 the furrows two deep drills at a time, the 

 two rollers being eight or nine inches apart, 

 and the blade of the roller, if it may so be 

 called, or the rim being thin at the edge, 

 and growing wider above the edge; and 

 forming as it revolves, two furrows, hardened 

 by its weight, into which the grain drops as 

 it is sown; and when it comes up, it appears 

 as if it had been regularly sown in drills of 

 eight or nine inches apart, according to the 

 width of the revolving pressers from each 

 other." " The steam-pressor is in fact an 

 abstract of a drill roller, consisting of but 

 two cvlinders of cast iron, which following 



the plough in the furrows, press and roll 

 down the newly turned-up earth." 



"I believe the soil for wheat cannot be 

 too deep; though, as I have already stated, 

 it may be too loose at the top, and in such 

 cases, requires shallow ploughing and tread- 

 ing, or pressing on very light soils, in order 

 that the roots may be firmly fixed in the 

 soil, and the dirt not liable to be blown 

 away from them." 



I use a two horse cultivator for putting in 

 all seeds, such as wheat, rye, oats, barley, 

 and best of all for peas. This covers about 

 six feet at a time. I use a smaller one for 

 corn, having given up entirely the use of 

 the plough. I have given above my views 

 with regard to the proper management of 

 sandy and light soils for wheat; and if it 

 shall prove advantageous to the farmers of 

 New York, I shall be satisfied. 



Yours respectfully, 



Elias Cost. 



Oaks Corners, Ontario co., March, 1847. 



Peruvian Industry. 



Those who may distrust the accounts of 

 Peruvian industry, may find their doubts re- 

 moved on a visit to that country. The tra- 

 veller still meets, especially in the central 

 regions of table land, with memorials of the 

 past, remains of temples, palaces, fortresses, 

 terraced mountains, great military roads, 

 aqueducts, and other public works, which, 

 whatever degree of science they may dis- 

 play in their execution, astonish him by 

 their number, the massive character of the 

 materials, and the grandeur of the design. 

 Among them, perhaps, the most remarkable 

 are the great roads, the broken remains of 

 which are still in sufficient preservation to 

 attest their former magnificence. There 

 were many of these roads traversing differ- 

 ent parts of the kingdom; but the most con- 

 siderable were the two which extended from 

 Quito to Cuzco, and again diverging from 

 the capitol, continued in a southern direc- 

 tion towards Chili. One of these roads 

 passed over the grand plateau, and the 

 other along the lowlands on the borders of 

 the ocean. The former was much the more 

 difficult achievement, from the character of 

 the country. It was conducted over path- 

 less sierras buried in snow; galleries were 

 cut for leagues through the living rock; 

 rivers were crossed by means of bridges 

 that swung suspended in the air; precipices 

 were scaled by stairways hewn out of the 

 native bed; ravines of hideous depth were 

 filled up with solid masonry; in short, all 

 the difficulties that beset a wild and moun- 

 tainous region, and which might appal the 



