1860 ] 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
107 
application ; but it may be hinted here, that gyp¬ 
sum perha-ps acts only as an absorber of ammo¬ 
nia ; and that lime, and the other alkalies, may 
only serve the purpose of hastening the decay of 
organic materials in the soil, thus preparing them 
to give up their elements to the growing plants. 
-<©-* -—t>-qa»- 
Blinks from a Lantern.XVIII. 
BY DIOGENES KEDIVIVU6. 
PLOWING. 
The plowman is afield once 
more, turning the sod with his 
stout team, and deep tiller, his 
whip over his shoulder, and the 
blackbirds in the furrow re¬ 
sponding to his whistle. What 
a change in his circumstances since 1, Diogsnes, 
was in the flesh in olden time. 
“ In ancient times, the sacred plow employed 
The kings and awful fathers of mankind ; 
And some, with whom compared, your insect tribes 
Are hut the beings of a summer day, 
Have held the scales of empire, ruled the storm 
Of mighty war ; then with unwearied hand, 
Disdaining little delicacies, seized 
The plow, and greatly independent lived.” 
But could the present generation see the im¬ 
plement with which these awful fathers plowed 
the soil, not even their kingly state and grey 
beards would save them from ridicule. When I 
was a hoy, I remember to have seen King Philip 
of Maced'tn at the plow-tail, with all his nobles 
looking on. The only pattern-shop of the plow 
in those days was in the branches of trees. 
W'here a branch of four or five inches diameter 
forked, there was a plow in the rough. One 
branch of the fork was cut off to about a foot in 
length, sharpened and pointed with iron. The 
other branch served for the beam. A straight 
stick was fastened opposite to the plow nose, 
which was the only handle. The king employed 
a team of four bullocks, who were lashed to the 
plow with long thongs of cow-hide. The team¬ 
sters somewhat jealous of the royal invasion 
of the plowed field, drove fast at every stony 
place, and brought Philip to his knees. The peas¬ 
ants laughed at the sight of royalty in the dust. 
Not much damage, however, was done to the 
monarch’s garments, for grass was about asplen- 
ty where the plow had been, as upon the un¬ 
touched meadow. 
The plow was little improved until modern 
times; indeed, it has been more improved in the 
present generation than in all previous time. Of 
so recent date is the perfected plow, that it has 
not yet been introduced into all parts of the civ¬ 
ilized world. The Saxons used plows almost as 
primitive as those of ancient Greece and Rome, 
and not unfrequently hitched the plow to the tail 
of the horse. Even as late as 1634 we find the 
Irish Parliament passing an act against this cus¬ 
tom. It is entitled “ an Act against plowing by 
the tayle, and pulling the wool off living sheep,” 
that “ in many places of this kingdome, there 
hath been a long time used a barbarous custome 
of plowing, harrowing, drawing, and working 
with horses, mares, geldings, garrans, and colts,, 
by the taiie, whereby (besides the cruelty used to 
the beasts) the breed of horses is mech impaired 
in this kingdome. And, also, divers have, and 
yet do use the like barbarous custome of pulling 
off the wool, yearly, from living sheep, instead of 
clipping or shearing of them.” 
It will hardly be believed, perhaps, ttiat there 
are districts, in this country, where the plow is 
still a n.ovelty, and plantations where the whole 
work of tillage is performed with hoes and hu¬ 
man sinews. Yet such is the fact. Even where 
human sinews are quite too dear to be put to this 
use, we still find the plow of a century ago, with 
wooden mold-board, and wrought-iron nose. Not 
ten years ag.o, one-handled plows were on sale in 
a neighborhood on the Hudson River, and it 
would not be strange if they are still in use in 
that staid and conservative community. 
The art of plow making is far in advance of 
plowing in this country. We have in the imple¬ 
ment almost every thing desirable, good'material, 
simplicity of construction, light draft, thorough 
efficiency, great variety, adapted to all classes of 
soils, and of crops. But the best plows, some of 
which have been brought out within the last ten 
years, are not generally introduced. Reading 
farmers, who want to get the most work out of 
every dollar they spend in tools, purchase and use 
them. But Andrew Stokes and his friends up in 
Pomptown have never seen one of them in use ; 
they have never been inside of an agricultural 
warehouse, and firmly believe that the cast-iron 
plow of twenty five years ago, is the perfection of 
farming tools. There are many neighborhoods 
similar to Pomptown, where I have not been able 
to find, even with the light of my lantern, any 
good plowing. The tillers of the soil do not seem 
to be guided at all by the wants of the soil, or of 
the crops, in tiieir plowing. The amount of the 
team they can spare, the length of the chain, or 
the strengtli of the whipple-tree, the character of 
the plow, or the pressure of other work, any one, 
or all of tiiese, decides the depth of the furrow, 
and the fate of the field. A miserable scratching 
of the dirt, four or five inches deep, is still the 
best plowing seen in these districts. 
Though this is the fundamental work in the 
improvement of the soil, we have not yet at¬ 
tained to any definite rules, or uniform practice. 
The science of plowing is yet some distance in 
the future. Still, all the experience of our most 
intelligent farmers, in this matter, is not lost. 
Principles, by and by, will be settled, and the best 
mode of plowing for a given soil, and a given 
crop, will be well understood. 
It is already pretty well established, among ob¬ 
serving men, that a deeper stirring of the soil is 
called for—yet this deepening should be gradual, 
regulated somewhat by the thickness of the black 
loam, and by the use of the manure heap. Per¬ 
haps the host rule that can be given; is to bring 
up to the surface an inch or two of the subsoil at 
every successive plowing, until you have made a 
soil fifteen inches deep or more. The farmer 
who lias abundant stores of muck, and a large 
stock of callic to work it over, may go down 
more rapidly. With compost enough, almost any 
sub-soil can be made abundantly productive. 
As to the position in which tiie furrow slice is 
to be laid, there is a pretty general sentiment in 
favor of varying it according to ihe character of 
the soil, and the object which tiie cultivator lias 
in view. If it be a green sward, and tiie object 
is to rot the sod, it should lie laid as flat as possi¬ 
ble. Prairie sod rots soonest when it is plowed 
about three inches deep, and left flat. If Ihe soil 
is a heavy clay loam, and tiie object is to expose 
as much of the surface as possible to tiie amelio-, 
rating influences of tiie atmosphere, tiie furrow 
slice is left at an angle of forty-five degrees. 
Tiie whole field becomes a series of ridges and 
hollows, more than doubling tiie surface exposed. 
The rains wash down these.ridges, and tiie frosis 
disintegrate them, making tiie whole surface 
more loose and friable. 
To gain tiie same, object, the plowing is fre¬ 
quently done in the Fall, so that the field may have 
the full benefit of the Winter. When it is con¬ 
sidered that every particle is frozen and thawed, 
and undergoes a mechanical change, pethaps a 
hundred, times in tiie course of a winter, the in¬ 
fluence of this usage will lie belter appreciated. 
It is also found that tiie condition of the soil at 
the time of plowing, has a very important bearing 
upon the utility of the process'. A heavy soil 
plowed just after a rain, packs into clods that re¬ 
main unbroken ail summer, while, a week or ten 
days later, it would crumble, and give free access 
to the rain and the atmosphere. The farmer 
should study the philosophy of tiie process going 
on before him as he follows tiie plow. 
For the American Agriculturist. 
The Economy of High Manuring—Ex¬ 
periments with Bought Fertilizers. 
A neighboring farmer who is fond of experi¬ 
ments, last season put stable manure and harbor 
mud in competition with the concentrated fertil¬ 
izers. The land selected for the experiment, lay 
in adjoining fields, and was as nearly of the same 
character .as possible, a gravely loam, well 
adapted to corn. Both pieces consisted of sever¬ 
al acres. The one was manured liberally with 
tiie mud and manure at tiie rate of about thirty 
cords to the acre. The other was manured with 
super-phosphate of lime, American guano, and 
Sombero guano, applied at tiie time of planting, 
and in sufficient quantity to have given him a full 
crop, if tiie estimates of the salesman were cor» 
reel. Tiie former field was hoed but twice, and 
yielded eighty six bushels of corn to the acre, 
with a large amount of stover ; making grain and 
fodder worth about one hundred doMars to the 
acre. The oilier piece of corn was lined three 
times, and yielded only sixteen bushels of corn 
to tiie acre, with about half the amount of fodder 
in the other piece, making the crop worth about 
twenty five dollars to tiie acre. The bulky ma¬ 
nure was all made upon (lie place ; the other cost 
money. The one field paid a handsome profit 
upon the labor of cultivation ; the other brought 
him in debt. The experiment lias established 
him in tiie faith that high manuring is tiie only 
true economy in fanning. Rub in tiie manure, 
good measure, pressed down, and shaken togeth¬ 
er, and the like measure of grain will come out 
in the harvest. Shore Farmer. 
A Highly Manured Yard —A subscriber 
writing from Virginia, gives the following strong 
account of the condition of the door-yard of a 
place just purchased by him. *■ \Ve took out of 
t!i e porch two large two horse-loads of manure, 
and at least 35 loads from about the door and in 
the yard, consisting of ashes, night soil.old chillies, 
and all manner ol tilth imaginable. In digging, 
we came upon a large stove boiler buried under 
the accumulation of refuse.” Our more thrifty 
readers will excuse tiie frequency and urgency of 
tiie appeals made in these columns to ,l save the 
manure,” when told that incidents similar to the 
above are quite common in many districts where 
tiie Agriculturist is making its way. We want to 
“ change all that.” 
Proper Vessels for Boiling Sap.— Sap may 
be kept of a light good color when boiled in iron 
vessels, if tiie kettles are cleaned frequently, and 
no leaves or dirt are allowed in the liquid. -A large 
shallow pan of galvanized iron is best. Brass or 
copper vessels we do not like for boiling anything 
to be taken into tiie stomach. Sap, cider, and in • 
deed almost ail fruits and vegetables, contain 
more or less of vegetable acids, which unite with 
tiie copper, and form poisonous compounds. 
A Blunder-Buss —Kissing the wrong woman. 
