643 



FARMERS' REGISTER— AGRICULTURAL KNOWLEDGE. 



(in No. 9 ;) and to tender, freely, any information 

 I may possess upon llie siil'Ject of a<j;ricuUure. 



The liarrows used for initlino- in our wheal crop 

 are square — composed of ten pieces of oak tim- 

 ber, four feet nine inclies in len<jtl\ ; tive of these 

 are three inches square, with mortises thioui;h 

 them, at the space of twelve inches a|)art, for tlie 

 remaining five pieces or ' sUits,' to pass througl), 

 (which are three inclies by one.) The teeth, 

 which are of iron, and twentj' five in numlier, 

 pass through at the intersection of the mortise and 

 slat, so as to secure ttic whole together. The 

 teeth are twelve inches in length, and one square, 

 being drawn out to a point, and put in so that one 

 ecTge will be in front, (or diamond style.) It may 

 be necessary to mention that the chain by which 

 the harrow isdrawn, should be attached across the 

 harrow at the second tooth, otherwise it will fur- 

 row the grain. The teeth should be kept suflii- 

 ciently long and sharp : if not, your work cannot 

 he well executed. I sh.ould not consider very 

 heavy harrows so necessary for light or friable 

 soil ; but on slifT, I greatly prefer the land to be 

 well penetrated and combed by them. Harrows 

 of such dimensions as the above, are a good tug for 

 three horses. 



The land for corn (which has been preceded by 

 a wheat crop,) lies in eleven feet beds. If the 

 land should be of a wet character, and it is desira- 

 ble to keep it as free from water as possible, I 

 should undoubtedly recommend their being re- 

 versed ; that is, throwing one half of each bed to 

 the former bed furrow, and thereby making on 

 that, the ridge, or centre of the bed for corn. 

 There will be no unevenness in them at all, and 

 no obstruction whatever will be found from the 

 old water furrows, as presumed by your corres- 

 pondent. 



The operation of reversing for corn is a beauti- 

 ful one : and the land is kept entirely dry by 

 onening a few temporary furrows at the head- 

 lands, or wherever most suitalde for its effectual 

 draining. The corn is then planted in these beds, 

 two rows on each. When tiie .same land is put in 

 wheat in the fall, the lied furrow, or finishing fur- 

 row, which was made by the process of reversing 

 for the corn crop, is made the centre of the bed for 

 wheat. By this mode of causing the furrow to be 

 the centre of the bed after each ploughing with 

 the large ploughs, the land is not thrown up too 

 hi"-h, and yet quite enough so, to be kept well 

 drained. Indeed the land is much more easily and 

 readily ploughed in this way, than any other mode 

 I have ever tried. 



If preferred, the land can be broken up and 

 made ahiiost a perfect level or even surface, by 

 ploughing across the beds, and then harrowing it 

 in the same direction, particularly if the corn 

 crop has been laid off in checks, and cultivated 

 both ways. 



With regard to the time of sowing plaster of 

 Paris, there is a diversity of opinion with us. 

 Some of our best farmers think sowing it the first 

 spring on the wheat, causes the rust in that crop; 

 and consequently defer it until the second. I al- 

 most invariably sow it the same spring that I sow 

 the clover seed, and this is done so soon as the 

 young clover gels three good leaves ; for if it can 

 be secured the first summer from the hot burning 

 sun of our climate, there is but little danger of 

 losing it afterwards; and certainly it is much aid- 



ed in getting abetter growth, from the stimulating 

 effects of the plaster, by the time the wheat is re- 

 moved. I have suffered much from the rust in 

 my wheat, but have never been able to discover 

 that the wheat upon which plaster had been sowed, 

 suffered more than the rest that was not plastered. 

 If I could, I should sow it both the first and second 

 spring. 



A JAMES niVEU FARMER. 



SUGGESTIONS FOR THE DIFFUSION OF AGRI- 

 CUI.TURAI. KNOWLEDGE. 



To ihe Editor of the Farmers' Register. 



Jlalifax Co. N. C. Feb. 25th, 1834. 



Sir, — I do not believe there is one subscriber to 

 your agricultural paper in Halifax county. How 

 is this to be accounted for.'' Because this "is not an 

 agricultural county.? No — nineteen out of twenty 

 of the inhabitants not only expect their daily 

 bread, but the means of comfort for their families, 

 and the education of their children from the pro- 

 ductions of the soil. Is it because they have no 

 confidence in the editor ? Certainly not, for they 

 have never read an article from your pen, and but 

 few know that such a person exists, or such a pa- 

 per is published. The American Farmer, of a 

 prior existence, flires but little better. 



Permit me to suggest, (I fear in rather unintel- 

 ligible language, but in the sincerity of conviction 

 on my own experience,) what I believe to be the 

 cause, and then the remedy. Last fall your Essay 

 on Calcareous Manures fell into my hands. I read 

 it with avidity, and every page showed satisfacto- 

 torily that the ready pen was writing what tlie ex- 

 perienced head had well understood, and maturely 

 digested: and conviction of the truth necessarily 

 followed, as fiir as rightly understood. 



But sir, we cannot, from a written description 

 of soils, understand or decide to what class our 

 lands belong : every farmer is n')! a chemist, and 

 I find it quite impossible to follow your directions 

 for analyzing soils ; and to most farmers, your lan- 

 guage, though critically correct, and as simple as 

 the nature of your subject will admit, is unintelli- 

 gible jargon; — hence, ordinary men, if they were 

 subscribers, would rise from the perusal of your 

 paper unbenefilted. We do not call things by the 

 same name : what one man calls a loamy soil, ano- 

 ther calls alluvial — and a third, who may be called 

 in as umpire, avows most positively that the terms 

 are synonimous : and many a man, possessing 

 wealth, and having t'> an eminent degree the con- 

 fidence of his neighbors as a man of information, 

 will strenuously object to any theory of the rota- 

 tion of crops, if it embraces the three or four shift 

 system. And what do you think is generally un- 

 derstood by the four shift system in many parts of 

 North Carolina and Virginia.? Why, sir, to culti- 

 vate the land one year, and let it lie idle three — 

 that is, to shift the crop from one field to another 

 for four years; not to shift the kind of grain or 

 seed planted. Indeed, I know a man that was by 

 some means convinced that such a system as the 

 three or lour shift plan was requisite, and who com- 

 menced, and actually succeeded in clearing and 

 enclosing three times the land his hands could till. 

 The expense and labor of keeping these shifts en- 

 closed, would soon have made him a bankrupt, if 

 persevered in. When a writer in your paper re- 

 commends a " shovel plough," he might as well 



