46 How THE FARM PAYS. 



the answer I make to him (unless I have certain knowledge myself of 

 the subject), is to go and ask the clerk having charge of that depart- 

 ment to select for him the kind that is in most general demand, and 

 as a rule it will be such as is the best. However, I may state that I 

 have used for nearly twenty-five years a simple form of cultivator 

 which any blacksmith can make known as the Harrow-tooth 

 Cultivator. It is merely a triangular harrow having from twelve to 

 sixteen teeth, which we use to stir up the soil almost immediately after 

 a crop has been sown or planted, and this we continue to do once a 

 week or so, between the rows, until it may become necessary to use 

 (in particular crops) a cultivator to work deeper, such as the Planet, 

 Jr. But the use of this Harrow-tooth cultivator is of great im- 

 portance in checking the first growth of weeds, and as it is light and 

 easily worked, a vast amount of labor can be saved by using it often 

 enough, so that the weeds will never be allowed to be seen. 



Q. Do you make much use of the roller on your farm, Mr. Crozier? 



A. I used it on all crops and particularly on my pastures early in 

 the spring. I thoroughly believe in the practice which you so per- 

 sistently advocate, of firming the soil for all seeds and plants. You, 

 in your limited areas in market gardening, can afford to do this with 

 the feet, which probably there answers the purpose of firming the 



A FIELD KOLLEB. 



seeds or plants better than the roller, but on a farm that, of course, 

 would be impracticable ; but, whatever method is used, the principle 

 should never be neglected, of compacting the earth around newly sown 

 or planted crops, especially in hot, dry weather, and particularly so 

 on loose and porous soils. 



While you, as a gardener, advocate the use of the feet to firm 

 the soil, in sowing and planting, I, as a farmer, advocate the use 

 of the roller. The object in both is the same; and I am satisfied 

 beyond any shadow of a doubt, that millions and millions of dollars 

 are annually lost to the farming community, through a want of the 



