FARMERS' REGISTER— DITCHING, CANALS, PONDS, &c. &c. 



435 



gathers fifteen bushels to the acre, it will be more 

 than he has a right to expect, and certainly as 

 much as he can possibly gather from it. 



We will now go to the other field, which has 

 been subject to another kind of management, and 

 see the difference in product. The poorest lot as 

 I call it, ■was not ploughed early, though in good 

 season, with three stout horses. Immediately 

 after the ploughing, the harrow was applied, and 

 after that it was furrowed and planted. As soon as 

 necessary the corn was ploughed and hoed ; the 

 plough was likewise used once or twice afterwards, 

 and always in season, for the object was to keep 

 the young plant clean of grass and weeds, and thus 

 give it not only the entire surface of the ground 

 for its growth, but the roots all the strength for 

 their nourishment that the soil would afford. This 

 field of corn having come to maturity, is a good, 

 though not a heavy crop. It will yield, I think, 

 between forty and fifty bushels to the acre. Com- 

 paring the two fields together, therefore, the advan- 

 tage is two-thirds in favor of the seasonable farmer 

 over his more tardy neighbor. Should I be asked 

 which of these two farmers labored the hardest on 

 his farm, I would answer promptly, the man who 

 has the poorest piece of corn ; because I notice he 

 does all his work late, and is driven by it so that 

 he is always in a hurry, whilst the other, taking 

 "time by the forelock," seems to have plenty of 

 leisure and takes things easy. In circumstances 

 they are much like their respective pieces of corn; 

 and the disparity between them must become 

 greater and greater, unless the one will imitate the 

 example of the other. 



Reader, I have not amused you with a fictitious 

 story. I have stated only the naked truth, without 

 a particle of exaggeration ; and it is not necessary 

 for you to visit these two fields of corn to corrobo- 

 rate what I have said. You have only to look 

 around you, and by drawing a comparison you will 

 see the difference between a field of corn or every 

 other kind of grain on which the work has been 

 done properly and in good season, and another 

 where the labor !ias been performed not only out 

 of season but in an improper manner. A. 



ECONOMICAL METHOD OF EXCAVATING 



DITCHES, CANALS, PONDS, &C. 



Translated for the Farmers' Register, from the Journal d''Jlgri- 

 culture, etc. des Pays-Bas. 



Seven or eight years ago, having a considerable 

 number of ditches to make, I sought a mode of 

 lessening my expense. As I had had occasion to 

 compare the small quantity of earth removed by 

 any digging tool with that which is displaced by a 

 plough, I thought of employing the latter instru- 

 ment for the excavation of my ditches ; and I was 

 so well satisfied with it, that, from that time, I have 

 alwa)'S used it with success in cleaning out my 

 ditches, or loosening the earth for the establish- 

 ment of new courses. 



The process is very simple: I set up stakes at 

 convenient distances, and stretch a cord along them 

 that the horses may exactly follow the desired line ; 

 men with shovels afterwards throw out the earth 

 loosened by the plough; and, to avoid confusion, a 

 certain number of stakes is allotted to each of 

 these men, and within the limits of these, his labor 

 is confined. As the plough sinks deeper, it is 

 withdrawn from the edges of the ditch according 



to the slope intended to be given. The plough is 

 laid aside when it has reached to within two or 

 three inches of the required depth; and then the 

 workmen make use of the customary tools to level 

 and finish off the work. 



[We have had some experience in using the plough 

 for cutting ditches, and have found its operation to sur- 

 pass that of spades, in efficiency and cheapness, as 

 much as horse labor in other things is preferable to that 

 of man alone. The plough, however, cannot be used 

 in situations where ditching is most often required. 



Our northern coimtrymen liave long known and pro- 

 fited by the use of the plough and scraper for such ope- 

 rations as making and repairing roads, digging canals, 

 constructing, dams, &c. whicli are executed in Lower 

 Virginia, almost exclusively by hand labor. In this, as 

 ill many other respects, we might greatly profit by tlie 

 example of our northern brethren, whose necessity, in 

 the scarcity and liigh price of their labor, has served as 

 the faithful mother of many valuable inventions.] 



REMARKS AND QUERIES ON IMPROVEMENTS 

 IN FARMING. 



Caroline County, Noveviber 12, 1S33. 



To the Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



I have known a physician who could astonish the 

 admiring multitude, seated around him, with his 

 intimate acquaintance, with the causes, symptoms 

 and treatment of the various diseases to which the 

 human body is subjected; he could relate the dif- 

 ferent symptoms belonging to each stage, name 

 the remedies, he could allow for the difference of 

 constitution, age and temperament. All derange- 

 ments could be so exactly described, and the ap- 

 propriate remedies named, that you would have 

 supposed this must be an excellent physician ; but 

 he was not : when brought to the bedside of a pa- 

 tient, you might see him frown" and twist, and 

 turn, and seem impatient and anxious. Why.? He 

 was puzzled to find out whether thii patient, was 

 in this or that state, in which this or that remedy is 

 proper ! I have known the same ofa lawyer : seated 

 by a good fire of a winter evening, he could tell 

 you so much of law, &c. that you might suppose 

 in law matters, you might venture your all upon 

 him ; yet, put a case in his hands, lie would appear 

 at a loss and scarcely be able to manage the plain- 

 est cause. So it is with farmers : I have observed, 

 that those who may talk most jilausibly about the 

 management of a farm, are not always the most 

 successful agriculturists. Some farmers have their 

 minds so much occupied with the ivhole system of 

 agriculture, that they are not successful in any one 

 part ; others are so engaged in one particular 

 branch, that there is a total failure in the system 

 as a wliole. I am reminded here of an expression 

 of Bonaparte ; he said, " with him, Murat was every 

 thing; without him, he (Murat,) was nothing." It 

 seems from this, that Murat could execute with 

 courage, but could not plan ; yet we cannot say of 

 the other, that he could plan and could not execute, 

 for we know he could do 1 oth. So I presume, 

 there are some farmers, who have both planned 

 and executed, and from such would I gladly learn, 

 for in such would I have confidence. After premis- 

 ing so much, I will co'me to the point : being more 

 like Murat than Bonaparte, I will be thankful for 

 a Bonaparte of a farmer, to plan for me the man- 



