238 Traxsactions of the Amerwan Institute. 



E. Todd. It works easily, is readily transported, and is not readily 

 broken, and can be repaired on the farm. 



Hand Corn aitd Seed Planter. 

 "Williams & Merrick, Sebeck, Maine. — This has a small seed-box 

 fastened to the neck of the hoe, and a slide along the handle, by 

 which, a valve is opened and closed ; and there are metallic blocks of 

 various sizes, for different kinds of seeds to pass through. It was 

 given to Mr. N. C. Meeker for trial. 



Fence Posts. 



Mr. II. Stewart, Sherwood, Iowa, stated that there is no difference 

 in durability where posts are set top or butt down ; it is more impor- 

 tant to have good material, and this is to be had in the butt, not in 

 the top of the tree, 



Islw II. Greeley. — I wish to state precisely why posts should be set 

 with the top down. The construction of the fibers, grains and pores 

 of the wood is such as to absorb moisture. Now if the top is set 

 down the structure is reversed ; and posts, I do not say of all, but of 

 many kinds of wood, will last longer by being set top down, thus 

 rei>elling moisture. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller could understand this, if it were not a ftict that 

 when live wood is reversed the sap will rise in an opposite directio:i, 

 as is tlie case with cuttings. The onl}- question is whether dead 

 wood will act in the same way. I think it will. 



Beep Plowing. 

 Mr. Wm. P. Passmore, Fainsville, Chester county, Pa. — Tlie bare 

 fact that we do sometimes dig materials from the bottoms of wells 

 that prove on exi)osure more fertile than tlie soil above, is not evi- 

 dence that the subsoil is always of like character. It has so occurred 

 in my experience. When a boy, working for my father, who was a 

 great admirer of Judge Buel, and The Cidtivator of years ago, we 

 set a bar shear plow built expressly for two pair of stout cattle, at 

 twelve inches deep, and kept that depth throughout the field. The 

 result was a very inferior crop, and some disappointment. I waited 

 to see the improvement, but to my eye the damage was ]ilain more 

 years than friend Quinn has been plowing in Jersey. Keither is it 

 true that the system of farming pursued in those days has produced 

 the evil consequences attributed to shallow plowing, such as short, 



