No. 1. The One-Horse Subsoil Plough.— Agricultural Societies. 



23 



it being literally, a double ploughing'? To 

 which I could but reply, " yes, but the crops 

 will pay all that," and again enjoined upon 

 him the maxim, " I care not what I give for 

 an article, the only question is, what can I 

 sell it for!" . 



To the European cultivator it will sound 

 strange, to be told that we grudge the use 

 of a pair of horses only, in the stirring of 

 the subsoil! To be able to do it with so 

 small a force, will be cause of wonder to 

 them, and speak volumes for the soil and cli- 

 mate of our country ; but the wish to obtain 

 any good from the use of a single-horse 

 plough, will appear to those who do not ex- 

 pecf to accomplish the end with less than 

 four, and often with six, or even eight, the 

 height of folly, and a saving at the wrong 

 end. And although it is readily admitted, 

 that more improvement has taken place 

 within a few years past, in the formation of 

 our ploughs, than in any other implement ; 

 yet there is a point beyond which, alteration 

 ceases to be improvement ; and it is gene- 

 rally believed we have overstepped that point 

 in the introduction of the subsoil plough for 

 almost every kind of work— just as it is at 

 length discovered, that the heavier, in rea- 

 son, the construction of machinery, the stea- 

 dier, and therefore the easier it will be found 

 to work. To be sure, we are amused when 

 we read the accounts of the great number of 

 horses and oxen that it was thought neces- 

 sary to attach to their ploughs in former days, 

 and are, with some justification, inclined to 

 ask in these cases, whether the operation 

 must not have been "expensive;" indeed 

 wondering how any crop could be made to 

 pay it; and yet it has been found to pay, in 

 a country, too, where the charge upon the 

 agriculturist in the shape of duties, taxes, 

 poor-rates and tithes, in addition to high 

 rents, would be considered, in this country, 

 absolutely insupportable. I copy from an old 

 but very interesting work on husbandry the 

 following observations, for the amusement of 

 your readers ; remarking, however, after all, 

 there might not be so great a distance be- 

 tween this system, and that which is about 

 to be introduced amongst us in the shape of 

 a one-horse subsoil plough, if it be true that 

 " extremes meet." 



" My carter says, in ploughing stiff land it 

 is cheaper to use six horses in the plough 

 than four, and a farmer standing by, said the 

 same thing. I summer-fallowed for barley, 

 and used but four horses, but the land being 

 dry and hard they made but slow riddance, 

 the ploughman being obliged to wriggle the 

 plough to help the horses, whereas six horses 

 would have gone through thick and thin ; 

 so note, for the future I use six horses. An 



advantage of ploughing with oxen is, that 

 you may summer-fallow the strongest lands 

 in the driest seasons (their chains being 

 strono-,) by making a plough of ten oxen and 

 adding an extra ploughman the more, to hold 

 down the plough; whereas, if at such a time 

 you make a plough of eight horses, they will 

 not carry so true a furrow, and will break 

 their harness." 



Now this account must appear very amus- 

 ino- to your readers, yet not more so, than the 

 breaking up a subsoil with a single horse, 

 will astonish the natives of those countries, 

 where, to use four horses only, is to give the 

 ploughman the task to " wriggle the plough 

 to help the team !" John Mead. 



June 28, 18-12. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Cabinet. 

 Agricultural Societies. 



S IRj — Among the many useful purposes to 

 which agricultural societies may serve as the 

 most efficient means, is that of effecting an 

 interchange of seed, so that the best seed 

 from the best quarters may always be at the 

 command of the agriculturist. That the seed 

 of most cultivated plants degenerates if sown 

 for a series of years in the same soil, is well 

 known. Some ten years ago, a farmer in 

 Chester county, of my acquaintance, received 

 a bag of Genesee wheat. It was sown, and 

 the product preserved for seed. For several 

 successive years the crop was abundant and 

 superior in quality. It afterwards degene- 

 rated, probably became mixed, and lost its 

 superiority. It is unnecessary to adduce facts 

 or arguments to prove the advantages of a 

 cha ge of seed. Farmers are in the habit of 

 jeeking change, but they seldom go out of 

 their own neighbourhood. It is proposed, 

 through the agency of agricultural societies, 

 to extend these advantages. The crops of 

 rye for ten years past have failed in this 

 country; perhaps had good seed been im- 

 ported and substituted for the miserable sam- 

 ple raised at home, this evil had long ago 

 been avoided. 



Will the corresponding secretaries of the 

 various societies take up the subject 1 And 

 will you, Mr. Editor, favour us with a list oi 

 the various societies within your knowledge, 

 with their secretaries, as far as you may learn 

 them] S - 



There are in the world a set of men who 

 know enough already, and cannot recollect 

 the time when they did not : such men will 

 never know anything as they ought to know 

 it. I would as soon undertake to bale out 

 the ocean with a clam-shell, as to attempt 

 the improvement of such men. — Bates. 



