THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



139 



Turkey. I was particularly struck with the 

 substantial appearance of one carpet, and on in- 

 quiry, was informed that the filling was entirely 

 cow's hair, carded and spun by hand ; the cost 

 was but a trifle, and a more durable looking 

 carpet I never saw. I think the whole filling 

 of cow's hair, all white, did not. exceed two dol- 

 lars for a whole carpet. Persons near a city 

 would do well to turn their attention to the ma- 

 nufacturing this article, as it has generally been 

 deemed useless. A small quantity of cow's 

 hair, with the inferior and coarse wool, would 



make a carpet that would outlast any carpet 

 that could be bought : and in these hard times, 

 every thing that tends to economy should re- 

 ceive attention. Politicians may rant as much 

 as they please as to the why and wherefore, and 

 settle the cause of hard times among themselves, 

 but when they come to the remedy, they will 

 find that nothing but industry and economy will 

 afford relief. 



Yours, respectfully, 



George W. Craven. 

 Franklin, May 10, 1843. 



For the Southern Planter. 

 A JUMPING COULTER 



Messrs. Editors, — I noticed that in No. 4 of 

 your valuable periodical some allusion is made 

 to the form of a grab for getting up ivy roots, 

 &c. Now, I don't know much about ' grabbing, 7 

 but I will try and give you a description of a 

 plough that is in common use in this country, 

 that will destroy ivy and every other small 

 growth with which it comes in contact. We 

 call it a "jumping coulter." Our mode of clear- 

 ing our forest lands is to cut off every thing 

 (with the exception of the large trees) close to 

 the ground : we then rake off the trash, and 

 put the "jumping coulter" to work, with three 

 mules hitched to it, and they break it up tho- 

 roughly, cutting and tearing almost all the grubs 

 and roots to pieces; we then cross-plough it 

 with the same implement and the land is ready 

 for cultivation. You would be astonished to 

 see what large roots will be severed by the 

 coulter-plough, which I will now endeavor to 

 sketch and describe. 



In the first place, you have a shovel made, 

 such as is common in Virginia, only much 

 stouter, that is, much thicker : then, have a coul- 

 ter made of bar iron, one inch thick, and two 

 inches wide, shaped as in the drawing; this 



coulter is to be layed on the front with the best 

 cast steel, and brought to a perfect edge ; it is 

 all-important to keep the coulter sharp, which 

 must be effected by grinding whenever neces- 

 sary. The temper should be as much regarded 

 as that of any other cutting tool. The wood 

 work is like that of other ploughs, except, that 

 it must be made uncommonly strong and heavy. 

 The coulter must be put in the beam inclining 

 as represented, and as it wears shorter, it must 

 be driven down, so that its point will always be 

 kept about two inches below the point of the 

 shovel. 



If we had to grub our lands in the old Virgi- 

 nia fashion, a man would hardly open a farm in 

 his lifetime ; for the growth here is heavier, and 

 the roots twice as numerous as with you. We 

 use a hoe something like your grubbing hoe, 

 only it is broader and is layed with steel, and 

 with this we cut off every thing under the size 

 of a man's arm — the larger growth we cut with 

 axes. You know, and every body else who 

 has had any clearing to do, knows, that a hand 

 can cut off in this way three or four times as 

 much as he could grub. 



Another advantage in these ploughs, is, that 



