No. 4. 



Ploughing 



127 



bushels of small, since I have planted no other 

 kind for my late crop, being convinced they 

 are the most prolific of eight varieties I tried 

 for three years; the after culture is very 

 similar to earthing and blanching celery, and 

 on this depends the crop, as much as a corn 

 crop would in a dry hot summer. I cannot 

 give you a clear idea without the annexed 

 sketch. 



"V — \/~' 



^-^f^^— 



the potatoes bursting the ground at the sur- 

 face when the lowest was 11 inches under- 

 neath ; after the first frost, I mow the vinos 

 and haul them off" to my compost heap; and 

 when the ground is dry take up the crop, by 

 ploughing a fiirrow from each side of the row, 

 and turning the middle over; my expense of 

 tlie whole crop, from hauling the manure, till 

 the potatoes are in the cellar, is 1.^ dollars pet 

 acre, and have had 2G5 bushels on 5 of an 

 acre — to illustrate the advantage of often stir 

 ring the ground during the growth of escu 

 lents in a dry season, 1 planted in 1816 two 

 cabbage beside each other, they were from 

 the same seed bed, and each manured with an 

 equal weight of old hot bed dung — one plant 

 I hood every evening, the other when the 

 principal crop was hoed ; in November they 

 were weighed, one 24 lbs. the other 43 lbs., 

 of the fiat Dutch kinds : other experiments 

 prove that often working or stirring the 

 ground, will double any crop in a dry season. 

 Thomas Massey. 



Roseville, Delaware. 



Fig. 27. 



1. Drills made with the plough. 



2. Log and chain, dung and seed. 



3. Covered. 



4. Harrowed level, after the first rain and 

 before the plants are up. 



5. First ploughing. 



6. Second ploughing. 



7. Third ploughing. 



A is the surface of the field before making 

 the drills. 



The drills are four feet from centre to cen- 

 tre ; after the seed are up, as fig. 5, I run a 

 triangle harrow between each drill and throw 

 a very liglit furrow to the plant with a small 

 plough. Two weeks after harrow again and 

 throw a heavier furrow to the plant as fig. 6, 

 and before the tops get too large harrow 

 again ; with a large plough with a thin piece 

 of board fixed to the extremity of the mould 

 board finish the work as fig. 7. Fifteen large 

 ox cart loads of manure is all I use for one 

 acre, and fifteen bushels of seed cut in three 

 or four pieces. I have observed the growth, 

 and find the potatoes arranged as fig. 7. Hav- 

 ing dug several hills with my fingers, begin- 

 ning at the side, and in two seasons have had 



For th.o Farmers' Cabinet. 



Plongliing. 



I see in the second number of Vol. III. of 

 the Farmers' Cabinet, psge 69, under the head 

 " Farmers' work for October," some observa- 

 tions on ploughing. Now I think they must 

 have been made by one who is entirely igno- 

 rant of the practical part of ploughing. In 

 the first place I would ask " Fanner and Gar- 

 dener" what force he applies to his plough to 

 turn a furrow of 7 inches by 9 inches, and 

 also, what kind of plough he uses ; for I cannot 

 conceive by our ordinary means that we would 

 be able to perform it more than 7 inches wide 

 by 5 inches in depth ; and a more usual depth 

 is about 4 inches, and that generally turns up 

 the clay, on poor ground, to receive the seed, 

 and I am inclined to think that one reason 

 why we raise such light crops. I will grant 

 that a deep soil is better than a shallow one, 

 but unless we are able to make a seven inch 

 soil good, we had better be content with three 

 inches. Experience proves to my mind, that 

 there is something more required than deep- 

 ploughing to make it so. Neither is it a diffi- 

 cult matter to make the soil good, provided 

 you have the means beforehand. 



Farming upon paper is readily done — so 

 easy that many persons suppose it as practi- 

 cable on land. I can toll how ground ought 

 to be prepared for a crop of corn, supposing 

 the ploughing recommended was preparatory 

 tt) corn, (if any one can tell how the next 

 spring is to open, I will say whether to plough 

 in the fail or not) if an open and dry spring, 

 the fall previous manure on sod, sayseven good 

 four horse loads of stable manure to the acre. 

 Many persons may think this a light coat, but 



