16 
BENEFIT OP SUBSOIL PLOWING- FOR CORN, ETC. 
in the habit of following the practice for 
years. 
Farmers labor diligently during spring, sum- 
mer, and autumn, to raise and harvest fodder, 
then allow a large portion to be wasted from 
sheer negligence. Winter is their leisure time, 
and they should endeavor, at some extra pains, 
to economise the food they have worked so hard 
to procure. Machines for cutting stalks, straw, 
and hay, have been greatly improved and multi- 
Elied within a few years past, and can now be 
ad at low prices. It is economical to possess 
them, and no farmer should be without at 
least one on his premises. 
BENEFIT OF SUB-SOIL FLO WHIG- FOR CORN. 
The first week in May, 1849, 1 planted a field 
with corn, the same having been planted the 
two preceding years with corn without manure. 
The land was partly a sandy and partly a grav- 
elly loam, and very much impoverished. I plowed 
it but once, and harrowed it after having thrown 
over a thin coat of coarse barn yard manure. 
The corn was planted in drills three feet apart. 
A succession of rains followed, in consequence 
of which, one third or more failed of coming up ; 
this I replanted the last week in May. It proved 
equally forward with the first planting, which is 
conclusive evidence to my mind that there is not 
that great advantage to be derived by early 
planting which is too often claimed, if the wea- 
ther subsequently proves favorable. After the 
corn was four inches high, I run a small plow as 
near to the rows as could be done without injury, 
turning the earth from the corn, it being planted 
in drills. This covered the weeds which were 
beginning to spring up, and was followed with a 
small sub-soil plow to the depth of a foot or more, 
loosening the dirt but not turning it out of the 
furrow. About a week after this, I took for each 
acre 800 lbs. compost made up of 200 lbs. Peru- 
vian guano, 200 lbs. bone dust, and 400 lbs. 
pulverized charcoal. This I sprinkled on each 
side the row in the furrow, following Avith a cul- 
tivator, which levelled the dirt in the centre and 
covered the compost. After two weeks I run a 
double furrow with the small plow (one of your 
double mould board plows would have saved half 
the labor), throwing the dirt to the corn. At the 
same time two men passed through, uncovering 
and straightening up any plants which needed 
it, and throwing out the dirt six inches to one 
foot. Some days after this, the sub-soil plow 
was run in the last-named furrow to as great a 
depth as possible, which was followed with the 
cultivator, leaving the ground nearly level and 
entirely free from weeds, except immediately 
round and between the stalks, which were cut 
up or pulled out by hand with very trifling labor. 
There was an extreme drought from the last 
week in June till August, and while the corn of 
nay neighbors was suffering exceedingly, mine 
was growing from 2 to 1\ inches per day, by 
measurement, and yielded 144i bushels ears, 
sound corn, per acre. I ought to have said the 
corn was covered by running the cultivator over 
it. Samuel Allen. 
Morristovm, N, Jersey. 
CLOD CRUSHER. 
We find in the London Agriculturist Gazette, 
a cut, fig. 3, of what is there called the " Cum- 
berland Clod Crusher." We think it might be 
introduced into use in the United States with 
good effect, particularly on a stiff clay soil. The 
writer thus describes it : 
It is so easily constructed that any carpenter 
can make one ; nay, so simple is it, that a neigh- 
bor of mine made a temporary one of his har- 
row sledge, that answered on his soil as well as 
the Crosskill crusher he had already on his 
farm ; and so effective are they for all the pur- 
poses of clod crushing, that farmers are laying 
aside their Crosskills to adopt them. They cost 
30s. to 40s., according to their size and the quality 
of the wood employed. Perhaps the best size is 
six feet square. For this size, two, three, or four 
horses are used, according to the state and char- 
acter of the soil, and the weight applied. For 
ordinary land, the weight of the crusher is 
enough ; if the clods are more stubborn, the 
driver, to give additional weight, steps upon it 
and rides at his ease to the end of the field 
stepping out at the turning, and resuming his 
station as the horses proceed. Should the land 
Clod Crusher. — Fig. 3. 
be one mass of large clay clods, he further in- 
creases the weight, by adding a few stones. 
The implement is made of two or three rails of 
ash or oak, as a frame 6 feet long, and laid par- 
allel to each other, to make the frame 6 feet 
wide. Each rail being about 8 inches deep, and 
4 inches broad, notched at the bottom to receive 
the cross boards. Across these rails are nailed 
18 boards, perhaps 2 inches thick, and so broad 
as to overlap each other, thus elevating one of 
their angles 2 inches above the one on which it 
is laid, and along each of these angles, the whole 
length, a piece of hoop iron is nailed, to prevent 
the angles chafing ; this being done, the imple- 
ment is finished. It is dragged by two chains, 
one from each rail, joined to a swivel ; the 
sloping sides of the boards forwards, the perpen- 
dicular sides following. The board next the 
drawing chains is sloped high up to the top of 
the frame, to prevent the soil from dragging. 
RAZORS AND EDGE TOOLS. 
The edge of a finely-set razor or knife appears, 
to the naked eye, as perfectly smooth, and fault- 
lessly polished. When viewed, however, through 
a magnifying glass of great power, the edge will 
appear rough and jagged, like an irregular-set 
saw. Nature would never leave her work so 
imperfectly. The more minutely you examine 
a flower — its petals, stamens, calyx or leaves ; 
the fracture of minerals ; the beautiful and har- 
monious arrangement of any part of the animal 
