226 



American Ploughs in Erigland. 



Vol. IX. 



Royal Cape, or Silesia, about nine inches 

 apart each way, will be found to be a proper 

 distance. Regular attendance to the water- 

 ing, giving air every favourable opportunity, 

 and covering over the frames every night 

 in season, is all that is necessary to ensure 

 fine early lettuce. 



CuUivation in the open air. — Early in 

 April, seeds of the Tennisball should be 

 again sown, and the plants will be ready by 

 the middle of May to transplant. It will 

 be necessary at this season to allow about 

 fifteen inches between the rows, in order to 

 admit the Dutch hoe, or scuffle, to advan- 

 tage, which should be frequently used. The 

 Imperial should succeed the crop of Tennis- 

 ball and Silesia, and the first of May the 

 plants will be in readiness. Continue to 

 plant as before advised, every month or six 

 weeks, from early spring to autumn, and 

 select a cool situation for the late summer 

 crops. 



Cullivalion of the Winter Crop. — This 

 is the sowing requiring the most attention, 

 and which is to supply the table from Janu- 

 ary to March. Select a warm situation in 

 the open ground, and manure the bed well, 

 and dig it deep; make the surface level and 

 smooth with a fine rake, and it is then ready 

 for the seed. The Hardy Hammersmith is 

 the variety to sow now; draw the drills 

 three inches apart, and cover the seeds 

 lightly. In a few days they will be up and 

 grow rapidly — and in October they should 

 be transplanted into beds, where they are 

 to be protected from frost. These should be 

 common hot-bed frames; and as soon as the 

 nights become cool the ashes >should be put 

 on, removing them early every fair day. On 

 the approach of severe cold secure the plants 

 from the effects of frost in season, for freez- 

 ing and thawing would nearly destroy the 

 whole. Very little water will be needed, 

 unless there should be a continuance of fine 

 weather till Christmas, when they will re- 

 quire moderate waterings. Give all the 

 light and air possible, and keep the plants 

 clean and free from damp, by picking off all 

 decayed leaves as soon as perceived. 



In December the plants will be very strong 

 and stocky, and ready for removal to hot- 

 beds, or pits in the green-house, where, with 

 the ordinary treatment, they will soon form 

 fine large heads. From time to time, as a 

 succession is wanted, the plants can be 

 transplanted from frames to heat, until the 

 season arrives for the sowing of the spring 

 crop. — Magazine of Horticulture. 



If thou intendest to borrow anything a 

 second time, use it well the first, and speed- 

 ily return it 



American Ploughs iu England. 



We wonder that our cotemporaries should 

 so worry themselves about the reported fjiil- 

 ure of the working of American ploughs in 

 England. Have not the English ploughs 

 always equally failed in their working in 

 the United States, with an American plough- 

 man at the end of the handles'! The truth 

 is, that the ploughs of the two nations are 

 of so entirely different construction, that an 

 Englishman with his prejudices, and without 

 any previous practice, is totally unfit to han- 

 dle an American plough ; and so is an Ame- 

 rican, an English plough. Had a thorough- 

 bred Yankee been at the handles of the 

 American implement, at the late trial be- 

 fore the Royal Agricultural Society, at 

 Southampton, the result would unquestion- 

 ably have been in its favour; for we know 

 from repeated personal observation, made in 

 both countries, that the American plough 

 will do more work with less draught than 

 any English plough whatever; and that it 

 is upon the whole better fitted to our pur- 

 poses of ploughing round stumps and rock.s, 

 or on uneven ground, and among stone and 

 gravel, than anything from abroad. But in 

 level, smooth land, we think it has some 

 defects; the principal of which are a want 

 of proper lever purchase in the handle, and 

 a miserably contrived clevis. 



When plough-handles are placed in so 

 upright a position as is usual with us, the 

 ploughman has not a proper control over his 

 implement, and it makes it hard work for 

 him to handle it in the furrow; besides, it is 

 continually bobbing up and down; running 

 alternately deep and shallow; and in and 

 out, instead of moving easily, steadily, and 

 smoothly along. This defect has been pretty 

 well remedied by Ruggles, Nourse, and 

 Mason, and some others; they having adopt- 

 ed nearly the happy medium between, we 

 think, the extreme length of the Scotch 

 plough-handles, and the short ones of Ame- 

 rica, and added a wheel upon the beam to 

 gauge the depth of ploughing, and make 

 the draught easier. The second defect, the 

 clevis, we suppose has been thus long sub- 

 mitted to, because more simple and cheaper 

 made — we ought to say infinitely dearer in 

 the end. To our mind, the Scotch clevis is 

 the most perfect of any we have yet seen. 

 It looks bungling, and seems to abound in 

 useless machinery; but let any one use it 

 on his plough a single season, and pay any 

 attention to its working, and he will afler 

 that never have any other, we will be bound 

 to say. As to the make of ploughs, they 

 must be of different sizes and forms to suit 

 different purposes; and this idea of offering 



