No. 2. 



T7ie "Day's Ploughing." 



47 



examination of it might be there made at 

 leisure, and the result was confessedly un- 

 satisfactory — the plough would not go alone, 

 although the work done by it was very good. 

 In less than ten minutes, and without the 

 cost of a single cent, the adjustment of the 

 parts was made ; and this is one of the 

 ploughs which I selected to bring with me 

 to this place for exhibition, and for my own 

 particular use; and here the work performed 

 by it is perfect ; for with the aid of a pair 

 of horses, a heavy lay, that had been fed all 

 summer by horses and cattle, and covered 

 with a coat of manure, has been turned to a 

 good depth, and so completely broken and 

 pulverized, as to admit being sown with 

 ruta-baga — a perfect garden-mould culture 

 — the team turning an acre and a half a 

 day's work. I rind that a single turning of 

 the soil with this plough, is quite equal to a 

 ploughing and harrowing with any other. 

 The plough most in use in this part of the 

 country, is "Miles's," which, by means of 

 constantly sharpened irons, will cut the soil 

 as clean as a piece of cheese can be cut 

 with a knife, laying the land over so smooth, 

 that it falls as closely as it lay before re- 

 moval, leaving an edge of sod in every in- 

 terstice between the furrows, to grow away 

 with redoubled vigour: but the "centre 

 draught plough" requires no sharpened irons, 

 for the work is performed not so much by 

 cutting as by breaking; the share pene- 

 trating the earth and lifting it up, so that in 

 the act of falling, it is separated into a 

 thousand pieces; scattering the pulverized 

 mould without sod, exactly into the inter- 

 stices, or seams between the furrows, which, 

 however, are not turned over flat, but at a 

 proper angle to be operated upon by the har- 

 rows to fit it for sowing, in the most perfect 

 manner imaginable. 



I have two of these ploughs running every 

 day, greatly preferring them with wheels, 

 finding that a wheel saves the labour of half 

 a horse on a pair, and being still a greater 

 relief to the ploughman; the wheel passing 

 over hillocks and hollows, without at all af- 

 fecting the clean and smooth state of the 

 bottom of the furrow; the most uneven sur- 

 face, arising from former bad ploughing and 

 harrowing, being thrown by it, at a single 

 operation, into a perfectly level bed, and 

 with far greater ease of draught than that 

 required by any other plough whatever — 

 ease of draught being a peculiarity for which 

 this plough has received many premiums; 

 one of the last, to the amount of SI 00. I 

 have now, therefore, no hesitation in recom- 

 mending the "centre draught plough;" con- 

 vinced as I am, that a farm of 80 acres of 

 land, managed entirely with it, can be made 



as profitable as a farm of 100 acres, kept 

 under the tillage of any other ; the expense 

 of after-culture being greatly lessened by 

 its use, and the saving in the smith's bill, 

 amounting in the year to a great portion of 

 the first purchase money. It must be ob- 

 served, the land when broken up dry with 

 this plough, will remain more light and pul- 

 verized the whole year after; not falling 

 heavily together again, as when turned with 

 the "Wiley," the "Miles," or other sharp 

 cutting ploughs, that are valued for what is 

 really a defect in the operation of cultivation. 

 If a piece of chain, six or nine inches in 

 length, be added to the link at the clevis, 

 the plough will be found to go much stea- 

 dier, not being so readily affected by the un- 

 equal working of the land-horse ; a more 

 equal pressure on the wheel is thus obtain- 

 ed, and consequently a steadier power of re- 

 sistance will be offered to the furrow while 

 in the act of turning, by which it will be- 

 come more broken, and be laid more com- 

 pactly over. It may again be remarked, 

 the undermining of the land — the principle 

 which forms the ground for a patent in this 

 plough, facilitates, in a remarkable degree, 

 the turning over of the next furrow ; leaving 

 a portion of the sod, which would otherwise 

 be thrown into the interstice, to be carried 

 over by the next furrow and be deposited at 

 the bottom of the trench — a consideration of 

 the greatest moment. The principle upon 

 which this plough operates, is perfectly dif- 

 ferent to that of all others; it requires to be 

 studied and to be practised upon, before it 

 can be understood; after which, however, 

 there can be no question as to the result — its 

 very general adoption by those who have an 

 interest in the proper cultivation of the soil. 

 When used with a wheel, it must be re- 

 membered, that to make the plough take a 

 deeper furrow, the handles must be pressed 

 down — to go shallower, they must be lifted 

 up: as a swing plough, this order is reversed. 

 I am, sir, respectfully, 



James Peddeu. 

 Eden-Kill Farm, ]oth Aug. 1842. 



Canker in Trees. — One of the causes of 

 canker and immature fruit, even in orchards, 

 is the coldness and dampness of the soil. In 

 a cankered orchard, it was found that the 

 roots of the trees had entered the earth to 

 the depth of three feet, and during the sum- 

 mer months, while the average heat of the 

 soil at 6 inches below the surface was 61°, 

 at 9 inches it was only 57°, at 18 inches 50°, 

 and at 3 feet 44°. Measures were taken to 

 confine the roots to the soil near the surface, 

 and the consequence was, the disappearance 

 of the canker, and the ripening of the fruit. 



