164 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
nish food for the young wheat; whereas, by this 
second plowing, they are brought to the surface 
and dissipated in the air. Then, again, all the 
roots of the grass are not killed in so short a time, 
and this second plowing lays them back in their 
original position, and they begin to grow again, 
very much to the injury of the wheat. Would it 
not be far better to use a set of light “ gang- 
plows,” which break up the surface sufficiently, 
without disturbing the inverted sod ! 
Again : might we not more generally adopt the 
English system of green fallows, so far as to take 
off some such crop as peas or beans, whose broad 
leaves, drawing most of their food from the air, 
would not exhaust the soil, and yet the cultivation 
of which would tend to clear the land of weeds 
and to bring it into fine tilth 1 Clover land, in¬ 
stead of being devoted to the usual Summer fal¬ 
low, might be allowed to remain unplowed until 
nearly the time of sowing wheat. The sod then 
turned under, would afford a rich repast for the 
growing wheat. Sandy or loamy soils and those 
not infested with weeds, may often be treated in 
this way to great advantage. 
- O 4 11 =0 <3- g g" »-o»- 
Getting Rid of Rocks, 
AN AMUSING EXAMPLE. 
In our primary soils, where large rocks are 
imbedded firmly in the soil, and lie thickly on the 
ground, they are a great incumbrance to the 
cultivation of the land, and if to begot out of the 
way, are a great expense in their removal. 
Many of them are worked into stone fences, but 
ns better stones for such purposes usually abound 
on the same premises, these huge rocks are little 
less than a nuisance, to be got rid of in some way 
—and that usually by blasting, picking up, and 
carrying away altogether, when they can be devot¬ 
ed to no useful purpose. 
There is another way of getting rid of them, 
which we can best illustrate by a case in point. 
Some years ago a wealthy townsman bought a 
country-place, a rude farm, rather, having good 
capabilities for a fine residence, a few miles out 
of town, and went to work to improve it. In lay¬ 
ing out his building grounds, a huge granite rock, 
of several feet in circumference, lay deeply imbed¬ 
ded in the light yellow loam where he purposed 
to have his lawn. That rock he must have out of 
the way, and as he had no tools to blast it with, 
he set to work with his half dozen laborers, 
and two or three yoke of oxen, to remove it. The 
owner “ bossed ” the work himself; but as he 
Knew much more about merchandise than moving 
rocks, the work went on but badly. He ordered le¬ 
vers and handspikes ; the laborers shoveled a hole 
on one side, to get the levers under the rock ; they 
dug holes on the other side ; and they dug holes on 
all sides ; the chains were wrapped around it, and 
hooked, and the cattle whipped up and bawled at by 
‘he teamster, all to no purpose. The chains broke, 
.he workmen gabbled, the teamster scolded, and 
the “ boss ” fumed and fretted. It was no go, de¬ 
cidedly, after toiling at the rock half a day. There 
it lay, heavy, sullen, immovable. 
As they were about leaving for dinner, a lank, 
lounging Yankee came traveling along, with a 
stick over his shoulder, and a bundle tied in a 
cotton pocket handkerchief hanging on the end of it. 
Hearing the “ muss ” over in the field, he turned 
from the highway to the fence near where the men 
were at work, and took a look to see what they 
were about. The men had now scattered, leav¬ 
ing the owner of the premises still at the rock, 
where he quietly stood, apparently musing nn the 
ill success of his morning's labor. Singing out to 
him, our Yankee exclaimed ; “ Say, neighbor, 
what ye dewin’ on!’’ 
Feeling exceedingly nettled, yet still willing to 
receive comfort from almost any quarter, he mut¬ 
tered, half angrily, yet somewhat coaxingly : 
“ I’ve been working here all day with a lot of stu¬ 
pid fellows, and a couple of teams, to get out this 
rock, and here it lies just as fast as ever, and 
I believe I shall have to abandon it after all.” 
“ Dew tell! I never !” said the Yankee, climbing 
over the fence, and approaching the proprietor— 
where he carefully laid down his bundle, contain¬ 
ing probably the most of his spare wearing gear 
—“and what dew ye wantto dew with it 1” 
“ Nothing in the world but get it out of sight, 
some-way-or-other, so that I shall never see it 
again.” 
“Sartinl Never want to see the rock agin, so 1 ” 
“ Yes, out of sight; that’s all I care for.” 
“And heow much’ll ye give, to put the pesky 
thing where ye wont see it agin—never!” 
“ Why, I’ve fooled away five dollars on it al¬ 
ready ; and I'll give five more to any one who’ll 
do the job.” 
“ Sartin!” 
“ Yes ; sartin !” 
“Well, throw in my dinner, for I’m plaguey 
hungry, and keep them pesky fellows out of the 
lot, and give me a good shovel and I’ll dew it for 
ye this arternoon.” 
The bargain was struck, the Yankee given his 
dinner, and about one o’clock, p.m., he was seen, 
coat off and sleeves rolled up, of a pleasant day 
in the month of April, shovelling away like “ all- 
possessed,” in sinking a huge hole on one side, 
and partly under the rock aforesaid. Tee owner, 
of course, was not far away, directing his men 
about other labor which they prosecuted with more 
apparent success than at their morning’s work. 
Long before sundown our Yankee sung out to his 
employer, and beckoned with his hand to come to 
the spot. He was there in a moment, and found 
a huge hole which would furnish a cellar for a 
moderate sized building. 
“ Say, mister ; yew jest take hold o’ that e’end 
of this ’ere pry, and bring it round here, while I 
throw round t’other e’end, so’s to give the rock a 
jintle tarve , and I guess we’ll fetch it.” 
So the “boss” now playing the workman, did as 
he was bidden, and the lever was laid so that 
when the Yankee had thrown out a few shovels 
full more of earth the stone was nicely balanced 
upon it, and a stout lift would throw it directly 
into the pit. 
“ But don’t we want some help! Stay a min¬ 
ute, and I’ll call my men to help you.” 
“ Not a single head on ’em ’thout yew want 
’em buried in that pit—the best possible use such 
an idolatrous set o’eritters can be put tew ! We’ll 
do it ourselves.” 
So saying, our Yankee just eased the further end 
of his lever, while by his direction his employer, 
with a hand-spike on the other side of the rock, 
gave it a gentle lift, and over went the enormous 
boulder into the pit, with its upper side laying 
full two feet below the surface of the adjoining 
ground. Seizing again the shovel, before the sun 
was fairly set, the stone was covered in, and the 
surface leveled. Our Yankee rolled down his 
shirt sleeves, put on his coat, and gravely turned 
to his employer, remarked : 
“ Neow, Squire, that ’ere five dollars, if you’re 
willin’! Fair bargain, ain’t it! You’ll never see 
that ’ere stone again, ’nless you dig for it.” 
“ Certainly, here’s your money; and if I had to 
pay you twenty it would be knowledge cheaply 
gained. I shall know what to do with the rocks 
on this place hereafte' ” 
“ Not with them pesky bog-trotters about ye ! 
I guess this arternoon’s work ’ll set me on abeout 
another hundred mile to’rd the West, and I’ll be 
joggin.’ So, good night, Squire.” 
And away trudged our hero toward the far West, 
and to competence, leaving our newly instructed 
farmer to vex and fret himself with his workmen 
as occasion might offer. 
Sinking is the best method to dispose of move- 
able rocks when not wanted for other purposes. 
M e have, indeed, seen stone wall inclosures six 
feet thick at bottom, two feet at top, and six feet 
high for no other purpose, apparently, than to 
get rid of the stones which lay imbedded, or loose 
about the fields. Land of course must be valu¬ 
able at the extravagant cost as the removal of 
such quantities of stones require, and it can only 
be done in the vicinity of a dense population 
where agricultural products are in demand at high 
prices. Our whole sea coast for many miles back, 
north and east of New-York, with few exceptions, 
presents a rock-bound surface ; yet the soil is 
usually warm, dry, and productive, when once 
cleared, and with good cultivation will yield re¬ 
munerating crops. Our seaboard, too, along that 
territory is populous, and remarkably available for 
commercial and manufacturing purposes ; and the 
time is not far distant when almost every desir¬ 
able position will be brought under cultivation, 
and devoted either to the residences of wealthy 
people in retirement, or to the current agricultur¬ 
al demands of the populous towns and cities ly¬ 
ing on the bays and rivers, and railways. 
Within our own recollection, sterile, rock-bound 
farms, which were considered comparatively 
worthless, are now converted into productive and 
beautiful estates, paying remunerating interest on 
their cost; and so it will be with thousands of 
others, as in England ; population, wealth, and 
luxury availing itself of everything near at hand 
which can, by a fair expenditure of money, be 
made serviceable to the enjoyment, the comfort, 
or the pleasure of human-kind. 
■-"»-*- — a m ---- 
Small Stones in Ditches. 
To the Editor of the American Agriculturist: 
Some agricultural writers recommend filling 
drains with small stones without any water-duct 
beneath. I have seen practical farmers follow¬ 
ing these directions. To satisfy myself of the 
utility of this practice I filled up the end of an 
open drain the past Winter with small stones 
raked from gravel that had been spread upon a 
meadow. They were from the size of a hen’s 
egg to that of a man’s fist, and were raked quite 
clean. According to the theory, they ought to 
pass -water readily. About a rod was thus filled 
in. I have carefully observed the condition of 
the water above and below the stones, imme 
diately after heavy rains, and at times when no 
rain has fallen for several days. The water is 
from three to six inches higher above than below 
the stones ; showing that a drain thus filled must 
always keep the w r ater line several inches nearer 
the surface than it would be with a free duct. 
Of course if the drain had been filled the whole 
length, instead of a rod near the mouth, the ease 
would have been much worse. The passage of 
the water is hindered by its friction against tne 
surfaces of so many stones, and by the filtration 
of dirt from the sides of the ditch. 
I am persuaded from this experiment, that it 
always pays to make a duct of some kind at the 
bottom of a drain. The labor is but a littlo in¬ 
creased, for after the channel is covered with flat 
stones, the small stones may be tipped from the 
