14 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



a turn for agricultural improvement, with n pow- 1 

 er of 8ub-lettiug under reeuonahle restriction?, 

 might go on improving one farm after another, j 

 and thus be the means of bringing extensive 

 tracts of country, even in remote districts, into 

 a productive state, liut this plan crmnol take i 

 place, where the tenant is not enabled, to ])ledge i 

 (he improvements on his farm, as a security to i 

 his creditors. ' 



From the American Farmer. 

 yrcm a Serirs of Essays on ^grituHure and Rural Af- 

 fairs ; by ^'■Agricola," a .'i/'orlk CaroU.ia Farmir. 



HORIZONT.\L PLOUGHING. 



There is no improvement in agriculture which 

 promises to be of more lusting benelit to our 

 country, than liorizontal ploughing. 



Such has been the system of agriculture a- 

 mong us for ages past, <hat hilly or broken lands 

 have been no sooner cleared, than wasteil. 



To test the correctness of this assertion, we 

 need only cast our eyes over the ditferent parts 

 of our country, to behold thousands of acres of 

 hilly laud rendered entirely barren, not so much 

 from the vegetable nutriment being extracted 

 by the crops cultivated thereon, as from the soil 

 itself being washed away and deposited in low 

 and sunken places, creeks, rivers, &c. 



What would be the consequences of such a 

 system of Agricultnre, if it admitted of no reme- 

 dy or improvement? As a great part of the U- 

 nited States consist of hilly or broken land, the 

 consequences would not only have terminated 

 in the destruction of the soil ; but would have 

 extended to the impoverishment of half a nation, 

 and even the destruction of navigation itself 



I do not, theretore hesitate to believe, that 

 I-orizontal and deep ploughing, promise to be 

 the salvation of our hilly lands, particularly if 

 combined with enclosing, the use of I'laster 

 of Paris and Red Clover. 



Horizontal Ploughing was first introduced in- 

 to practice in this country t>y Colonel Ran- 

 dolph of Virginia, son-in-law to Mr. .'elTerson. 

 Mr. Jefferson, who has frequently witness- 

 ed the great and beneficial effects, result- 

 in"' from this practice, not only on the farm of 

 Col. Randolph, but also on his onn, thus details 

 the mode of horizontal ploughing in a letter 

 to a distinguished farmer in ftlassachusetts, and 

 published in the Agricultural Repository : 



" Horizontal Ploughing has been practised 

 here O'lririnia) by Col. Ilandol])!], my son-in- 

 law, who tirst introduced it, about a dozen or 

 fifteen years ago. Its advantages were so soon 

 observed that it has already become very general, 

 and has entirely changed and renovated the face 

 of om- country. Every rain before that, while 

 it did a temporary good, did greater permanent 

 evil, by carrying otf our soil, and lields were no 

 sooner cleared than wasted; at present, we may 

 sav that we loose none of our soil — the rain not 

 absorbed in the moment of its fall being retained 

 in the hollows of the beds until it can be absorbed. 

 Our practice is, when we first enter on this pro- 

 cess, with a rafter level of ten feet span, to lay 

 off guide line*, conducted horizontally around 

 every hill side, and about thirty yards apart ; 

 the steps of the level on the ground are mark- 

 ed by the strokes of a hoe, and immediately fol- 

 lowed by a plough to preserve the trace ; a man, 

 or a boy of 12 or 16 years old wiili llie level, 

 and two smaller boys to mark the ste|)s, the one 

 with sticks, the other with the hoe. will do an 



acre of this an hour, and when once done, it 

 is forever done. We generally level atieldthe 

 year it is put into Indian corn, until all have 

 been once levelled : the intermediate furrows 

 are run by the eye of the ploughman, governed 

 by these guide lines, and is so done ;us to lay 

 the earth in horizontal beds of 6 feet wide with 

 deep hollows or water furrows between them, 

 to hold superfluous rain — the inequalities of de- 

 clivity in the hill will vary in places the dis- 

 tance of the guide lines, and occasion gores, 

 which are thrown into short beds. 



'' I have transferred this method of ploughing 

 to a possession I have near Lynchburg 90 miles 

 to the S. W. from this place, where it is spread- 

 ing rapidly, and will be the salvation of that, as 

 it confessedly has been of this part of the coun- 

 try. 



'' Horizontal and deep ploughing, with the use 

 of plaster and clover, which are but beginning 

 to be used here, we believe will restore this 

 part of our country to its original fertility, which 

 was exceeded by no upland in the State." 



A.? many persons may not have a correct idea 

 of the rafter level, the use of which is recom- 

 mended in this Essay, the Editor has procured 

 the annexed engraved representatioo of it. 



A B 



It is necessary to caution the reader, that un- 

 less horizontal ploughing be correctly done, it 

 had better not be done at all ; because I iiave 

 observed that many have attempted this mode of 

 ploughing, without understanding its principles: 

 If the water furrows, which are intended to hold 

 the superfluous water, have the least descent 

 one way or another, they will have the effect 

 of throwing the water to one point, whc^e such 

 a quantity will be collected in heavy rains by a 

 number of water furrows leading to the same 

 point, as will inevitably produce a breach thro" 

 the ridges. It is advisable, that before the lev- 

 el is applied to a field its surface be made as 

 even as possible ; this is best done, if its une- 

 venness renders it necessary, by flushing up the 

 ground in the fall or winter with a mould board 

 plough, and early in the spring to be well har- 

 rowed with a two horse harrow ; this last ope- 

 ration will not only level the surface, but will 

 have the additional valuable eftect of breaking 

 the clods and thereby ellectually pulverizing 

 the ground, which will ])rove of great advan- 

 tage to the corn in every stage of i(s growth. 

 The level, in this case, may be ap])lied in the 

 spring and the ground listed or thrown into hor- 

 izontal drills for the planting of the corn. Suc- 

 cess in horizontal ploughing depends on the ex- 

 actness of the level to suspend, and the depth 

 of" the ploughing to absorb the water. Inclos- 

 ing is indispensably necessary to make it bcn- 

 oiicial. as by that the earth is brought into a 



proper state for absorbing more water, and tl 

 suspension of the progress of this water by i 

 vegetable cover, allows more time for the op' 

 ration of absorption — In heavy rains, when tl 

 ground is in cultivation, and however accurati' 

 ly levelled, instances will occasionally occur f 

 breaches across the horizontal beds — The rer 

 edy is, to fill them immediately with brush, ha' 

 ing the leaves on, well packed. 



These instances, however, are very rare ai 

 easily thus cured. 



Besides the inestimable advantage from hoi 

 zontal ploughing in protecting the soil again 

 the wasting efTect of rains, there isa great one 

 its preventing the rains themselves I'rom beir 

 lost to the crop. The Indian com is the crc 

 which most exposes the soil to be carried offt 

 rains ; and it is at the same time the crop whic 

 most needs them — Where the land is not on 

 hilly, but the soil thirsty, (as is generally tl 

 case with such lands) the preservation of tl 

 rain as it falls between the drilled ridges, is 

 peculiar importance ; and its gradual settlir 

 downwards to the roots.,^ is the best possib 

 mode of supplying them with moisture. In tl 

 old method of ploughing shallow up and Aow 

 hill, the rain as well as the soil was lost, whi< 

 not only destroyed the upland, but rushed do\^ 

 and poisoned the vallies. The result of hoi 

 zontal ploughing in V'irginia is extremely e 

 couraging to those who may wish to adopt th 

 practice here. Farms there which are ve 

 hilly, whose soils were particularly liable to I 

 washed away, and which were excessively ga 

 ed and gullied, have been relieved probably 

 nineteen parts in twenty of those calamities 1 

 horizontal and deep ploughing in combinatii 

 with inclosin"'. 



ill 



JN'LW LNGLANIJ FARMER. 



BOSTOJ^. —SATURDAY, AUGUST 10, 182i 



THE SCIK.\CE OF AGRICULTUHE AND BOOK FARMING 

 Agriculture, the oldest of the arts, conjidercd as 

 science, is still in its infancy. It is, ■we believe, n 

 fifty yeare since chemistry was brought to the aid 

 agriculture, and this will evrntually prove one of . 

 principal pillars. Systematic Rotations of crops — Ii 

 provements in breeding cattle — the use of Plaster 

 Paris — Soiling of Cattle — the extensive Field Cuitu 

 of Roots, for the purpose of feeding cattle — Artifici 

 Grasses, 4:t. k.c. are of modern date, and have broug! 

 about great revolutions in the theory and practice 

 farming. The practical farmer, especially in the old 

 and more populous parts of the country, must unde 

 stand, and in some degree practice these improvement 

 or he will not only neglect to make the most of his mean 

 but probably make so many backward k down-hill mov 

 ments in the journey of life, that, ten chances to on 

 old age will find him in the vale of poverty. The cu 

 tivator who does not keep pace with his neighbors : 

 regards ;igricultural improvement and information, wi 

 soon find himself tlie poorer in consequence of the pro 

 perity that surrounds him. He will be like a stinte 

 oak in a forest, which is deprived of light and air b 

 its more towering neighbors. For instance, A. fine 

 out a mode of managing by which he can raise 30 

 luishels of potatoes with as little expense as B. ca 

 raise 20t» bushels of the same root. A. can not onl 

 undersell B. and thus injure him as an individual riva 

 but after a while Messrs. C. U. E. F. and so on to th 

 end of the alphabet, adopt A's mode of culture ; th 

 market price of potatoes is reduced, B. can no long( 

 affo;i tc raise them for what they will fetch— his occv 



