THE CULTIVATOR. 
77 
wheel backwards, angling, to meet the beam a little for¬ 
ward of where the coulter should be put on, and fas¬ 
tened the same as the other ends. They should be 1-4 
or 3-8 of an inch thick and one inch wide, so that it may 
be used among stumps or firm stone without danger. 
The advantages of the gauge wheel are numerous. 
Any one who has ploughed old land in a natural and 
uneven state without it, knows that it is very difficult 
to turn the land evenly, ail over. With it, it can be done 
with perfect ease. By having the chain good length, 
you can enter all the hollows and turn the furrow well 
on the knolls; whereas, without it, the plough will in¬ 
variably run so deep on the knolls as to leave the fur¬ 
row edgewise, and ten to one it will turn back after you. 
Also, in ploughing where you ascend and descend, it is 
very beneficial, as the plough will run no deeper down 
than up hill; and if you wish to plough with three 
horses abreast, it keeps the heft of the whiffletrees and 
traces from urging the plough too much onto the point; 
and while I am here, let me just state, for the benefit 
of those who may wish to plough with three horses, 
that you can have a plough built with a play of one 
inch in the mortice of the beam through which the han¬ 
dle is put, which fill with a wedge, that when on one 
side of the handle will give it land enough for a single 
or common team, and when on the other none too much 
for three horses abreast. But to return. The gauge 
wheel is of great benefit when you wish to use four 
horses, as the forward pair can draw direct on a line 
from the end of the beam without affecting the running 
of the plough. Finally, it makes it much easier for any 
team, easier for the man that holds, and does the work 
far better. The whole expense does not exceed $2, and 
the only wear is on the bolt and box in the centre of the 
wheel. My neighbors Avho have used mine have each 
one of their OAvn. “ To try it is to be convinced.” 
Therefore, to every farmer I Avould say, get you a gauge 
Avheel. 
With regard to ruta bagas for hogs, I Avould barely 
say, that I kept my store hogs, ten in number, entirely 
on them, raw, for more than two months in the last win¬ 
ter, of which I raised some with good success the last 
season. One and a half bushels per day kept them Avell. 
They would Aveigh probably 150 lbs. each. 
If you think the above worth your notice, you may 
do with it as you think proper, and I am content. 
Your obd’t serv’t, 
L. A. BEEBE. 
Lima, Livingston Co. 7th May , 1838. 
New kind of Wheat. 
Sin—Last summer I received from Portugal a sack 
of wheat, the nature of which you will see by the sub¬ 
joined extract of the letter that accompanied it. I send 
you a small parcel that you may appropriate it as you 
may think best for the benefit of the public. 
“Lisbon, 1 1th April. 
“They have here a description of wheat which I 
think may ansAver your purpose, called Trigo Tremeg, 
or Trigo de sette somanas, for its being cut sometimes 
seven weeks after it is sown. It is only grown on the 
low marshy lands which are under water at the time of 
sowing the common wheat, or upon the higher lands, 
when the spring rains have been so violent as to Avash 
the seed out of the ground, by no means an uncommon 
circumstance here. On the marsh lands it gives regu¬ 
larly a very fine crop; on the hills it is uncertain, for if 
the hot weather comes on rapidly it gets burnt up be¬ 
fore it has strength to resist the sun; if it escapes that 
risk, it usually gives a more productive crop than the 
common wheat. It is usually sown in the beginning or 
middle of May, and reaped in the beginning of July.” 
Yours very obediently. 
L. ASHBURNER. 
Stockbridge, Mass. 
[Mr. A. will please accept our thanks. We have distribu¬ 
ted and sown the wheat, and will hereafter give the result.— 
Con. Cull. | 
Mode of disposing of loose Stones, &c. 
Plattekill, Ulster, 4th mo. 13th, 1838. 
As there is much valuable land in this section of our 
country rendered almost useless by the abundance of 
stones that cover the surface, it may be asked how I 
get rid of them ? I ansAver, there is a lane across my 
farm xvliich is not at all injured by being covered ttvo 
or three feet with stones, and the same gravel that co¬ 
vers one foot of stones would cover three, provided the 
large ones are laid in the bottom and the small ones 
atop. The same remark will apply to roads, one or 
more of Avhich is contiguous to almost every farm, and 
would be rendered better by filling the holloAvs with 
stones and taking earth from the hills to cover them. 
After clearing my rough land of stones, from the ma¬ 
ny encomiums on the ruta baga contained in thy valua¬ 
ble paper, I am induced to believe that to be the most 
likely crop to pay the expense, but it wants manure to 
cultivate it successfully, and I Avant all my stable and 
barnyard manure on my corn field and meadow. Are 
I there not other ways of accumulating a heap of manure 
sufficient for an acre or tAvo of ruta bagas on a farm of 
100 acres ? Every cleanly woman uses a barrel or more 
of soap in a year, and makes much rily water, by 
cleansing her floors, Avhich, xvith the soap suds, is 
throAvn out near the kitchen door, and forms a stagnant 
pool. Its miasma is prejudicial to the health of the fa- 
mily, and the cleanliness of the Avife is put to the blush 
by the slovenliness of her husband. 
Noav every house is, or should be, on higher ground ' 
than some contiguous part of the farm. I would sug¬ 
gest the plan of making an under drain from the house 
to some Ioav spot, put a fence around it, and a shelter 
for hogs, which, during the summer, may as well be 
confined at night as to be in pasture; in this yard throw 
Aveeds from the garden, straw, swamp earth, and no dis¬ 
advantage would result from mowing many a field of 
St. Johnswort and daisies Avhen in blossom, and con¬ 
signing the crop to this yard. Noav, lest I should tire 
thy patience, I will write no more. 
Jesse Buel. S. HEATON. 
A good suggestion. 
Wheatland, April 25, 1838. 
Dear Sir — I was highly gratified on seeing the pro¬ 
ceedings of the State Agricultural Society and Conven¬ 
tion. I think the appointing of committees to report 
on the various items of husbandry is an excellent plan, 
and if continued, cannot fail of being very useful, and 
if there were tAvo or three committees to report on each 
of the most important subjects, it would be better, as 
there is difference of opinion and practice on the most 
of them. We could then compare them, and be better 
able to judge which Avas right. Being some time ago in 
conversation Avith an intelligent gentleman, (Avho takes 
great interest in agriculture,) on the best plan for its 
advancement, he suggested the employment of a com¬ 
petent person to visit the various sections of the coun¬ 
try and spend a day or two in each neighborhood, and 
thus ascertain what each are doing, and wherein they 
are deficient, and give it to the public through the me¬ 
dium of our agricultural journals, without giving indi¬ 
vidual’s names. 
I thought that the plan Avould be an excellent one; if 
performed by a competent person, it would elicit vo¬ 
lumes of useful information. 
April thus far has been very cold, Avith severe frosty 
nights, which has very much injured wheat on most 
ground, but dry soils as yet stand it Avell, Avhich proves 
the great advantage it is to the cultivator to ridge and 
screen the ground so as to keep it dry. 
WM. GARBUTT. 
Remark. —The suggestion of our esteemed correspondent 
is a good one, and is'virtually recommending an agricultural 
survey of the State—by which a knowledge of the best prac¬ 
tices of every district, and of every good farmer, may be 
made known to, and adopted by, every farmer in the state 
who is desirous of improving his condition. There is no 
doubt but this important subject will engage the attention of 
our legislature,— as soon as personal and political matters 
will permit them to attend to those of a primary and public na¬ 
ture. As agriculture is of no party, she cannot expect her in¬ 
terests to have precedence of those which promise personal 
or political aggrandizement.— Conductor. 
Mineral Manures. 
Although there is much to please and interest the 
mind in practical farming, yet devoid and apart from 
the theory, it is little else than a routine, suited to the 
capacity and ambition of uncultivated minds. An ac¬ 
tive and enlightened mind seeks to understand the cause 
and effect—to apply the sciences; in short, it is restive, 
until the queries embraced in agriculture, are disposed 
of and determined upon sound philosophical principles. 
’Tis this constitutes theory! and ’tis this theory, that 
unfolds a world of beauties to the scientific agricultu¬ 
rist, of which the mere prejudiced practical farmer, the 
mere tyro and novitiate, must remain ignorant, and that 
too, of the highest branch of the profession which he 
follows. 
The improvement which has been effected within the 
last twenty years in several of the eastern counties of 
Pennsylvania, (and especially in Chester,) isalmost in¬ 
credible. And the whole is mainly attributed to a re¬ 
gular and judicious use of lime as a manure. To me, 
it has been matter of astonishment, to find this inesti¬ 
mable restorative meet with so little favor in the minds 
of the conductor and correspondents of the Cultivator. 
My farm is situated in a district of secondary forma- 
lion, and the soil is principally calcareous, yet I have 
seen the most surprising beneficial effects attending the 
free use of lime and plaster; the latter apparently re¬ 
acting on the former, and consequently, the greatest be¬ 
nefit is derived by using them together. The crops, not 
only on my own farm, but on others in this vicinity, have 
been doubled by a free use of mineral manures. When 
a farm has been improved so as to produce heavy crops, 
there will be such a corresponding increase in the quan¬ 
tity of stable manure as to insure its future fertility.— 
I look upon the immense beds of limestone in this re¬ 
gion as an inexhaustible store, designed by the wise 
Governor of the World to keep up the strength of the 
land, in all time to come. I regard the limestone of 
Pennsylvania as a mineral, which will confer more real 
benefit upon posterity than any of her other mineral 
treasures. The aid which it promises to contribute to 
the support and improvement of her agriculture cannot 
be easily overrated. Some idea may be formed of the 
estimation in which lime is held here as a manure, by 
the fact, that farmers come from 25 to 30 miles, i. e. 
from Maryland and the poor district of primitive for¬ 
mation in the southern part of Chester county, border¬ 
ing on the Maryland line, to my lime-kiln and others in 
the neighborhood: the lime costing those farmers twen¬ 
ty-five cents per bushel when delivered. To the farm¬ 
ers in that quarter, lime is the “anchor of hope;” there 
it has already made the barren and desert place glad, 
and is fast putting a new and improved face upon the 
country. The farmers, even there, Avith this far fetched 
means of improving their land, prefer bettering their 
condition by liming near a good market, rather than 
migrate to the exuberant soil, and realize the utopian 
dreams and fairy tales of the “ far Avest.” 
On part of my farm, 300 bushels of lime per acre 
have been applied Avithin 30 years, at the rate of about 
100 bushels per acre at a dressing, and always put on 
fresh, and slaked, then immediately spread. I am not 
inclined to believe that lime should become carbonated 
before it is applied. I adopt Sir Humphrey Davy for 
my prototype, in every case involving agricultural che¬ 
mistry. I shall be encouraged so to do, until some mo¬ 
dern wiseacre can clearly demonstrate that Sir H. is 
wrong. Doubtful points in Davy’s theory have become 
demonstrable truths Avith me, after being aided and en¬ 
lightened by the lamp of experience. Lime, in its fresh 
caustic state only, while an alkali, acts as a decompos¬ 
ing agent in the soil, rendering vegetable substances 
soluble—but when a mild carbonate, it operates only 
like marl, in improving the texture of the soil, accord¬ 
ing to Davy, whose authority is unquestionable, and the 
theory, at all events, may fairly challenge contradiction; 
hence the advantage of applying lime, like stable ma¬ 
nure, in its fresh state. 
With regard to the theory, or the manner, in Avhich 
gypsum operates on vegetation, an accidental circum¬ 
stance Avhich occurred in my practice and under my OAvn 
eye, goes further to establish the truth in my mind, than 
all the ink that has been spilled on the subject; even the 
adopted .theory of Prof. Low and British Husbandry to 
the contrary notAvithstanding. In April, 1832, I soAveda 
| bushel of plaster on a small piece of land in the middle 
of a wheat field, for experiment,—in order to ascertain 
whether the plaster would have the slightest effect, 
even of changing the color of the wheat,—the result 
answered my expectations; there Avas not a shade of 
change in the color of the Avheat in the future stages of 
its growth. In autumn folloAving, the same field Avas 
again ploughed for Avheat, and the plaster of course 
turned down, the field was deeply ploughed, say seven 
or eight inches—the spring folloAving the field wassoAxm 
Avith clover seed ; the secret then Avas speedily deA r eloped; 
Avhen the wheat Avas cut in harvest the growth of clo¬ 
ver on that same land which had been sown with plas¬ 
ter Avas so luxuriant as to interfere with the cradle in 
cutting the Avheat. Soon after harvest, the clover on 
the said land floxvered, and a heavy swarth might have 
been moAvn on it in September folloAving. The adjacent 
parts of the field, Avith the same soil and culture, exhi¬ 
bited a sickly contrast. In the autumn of 1833, the clo¬ 
ver on said land was trodden doAvn by stock, returning 
manure to the soil, and by that means the plaster indi¬ 
rectly prepared the ground for a sure crop of wheat.—> 
This one single and simple fact, serves to oAmrthroAV 
the theory that plaster must be sown on the plants, to 
be absorbed through the pores of the leaves—attract 
moisture from the atmosphere, &c. This mooted point 
I consider settled, and the soil and roots made the la¬ 
boratory instead of the leaves and the atmosphere. 
Although my agricultural career has been only short, 
yet the great object, improvement, has been ardently and 
zealously pursued—sufficiently, indeed, to create a most 
utter and implacable abhorrence against all vague and 
unfounded theory, Avhich is the bane of the agricultu¬ 
ral press. The mere conjecture of a Avriter, if in error, 
Avill do no harm; but ’tis the positive declaratory asser¬ 
tions, Avhere Avrong, that do mischief, inasmuch as many 
believe and adopt Avhat they read. 
Quere. Why is it that lime and plaster act much more 
efficiently when both are applied to the soil, since the 
base of both is lime ? 
WM. PENN KINSER. 
Springlathn Farm, Pequea, Lan. Co. Pa. April 25, 1838. 
Planting Com and Potatoes. 
Mark out the field (large or small,) one Avay two and 
a half feet apart, then plant two of these roAvs with po¬ 
tatoes, and two Avith corn, alternately. Both corn and 
potatoes to be planted fifteen inches apart between the 
plants or hills. Plough among the plants only oneway, 
or any other process of horse hoeing in the same direc¬ 
tion, not only cleaning and pulverising the soil, but lay¬ 
ing up the earth to the potatoes, so that very little hand 
hoeing is necessary; and Avhatever the produce maybe, 
the number of plants or hills is at least four, often five 
or six times, greater, than common planting by the acre. 
The philosophy of this mode of planting is, that the po¬ 
tatoes do not shade the corn any, and eA r ery roAV of corn 
is an outside one, so that it has light and air in abun¬ 
dance, and the potatoes are not hurt by the partial shade 
of the corn. I am a Scotch farmer. 
J. Buel.__ WM. SM ALL. 
A too Common Case. 
New-Scotland, April 18, 1838. 
Mr. J. Buel, —Sir,—Having been a constant reader 
of your valuable paper, the Cultivator, since its first 
publication, I haA r e invariably found you quite anxious 
to better the condition of the agricultural community 
generally. We New-Scotland farmers, many of us, are 
like the man who held the six-pence so close as not to 
see a dollar at arm’s length. Our practice is as folloAvs: 
if the land be nearly exhausted, to plough and soav the 
more, to obtain the greatest possible quantity of grain 
for market as soon as possible—to take crop after crop 
of small grain, and apply no manure, (except perhaps 
plaster) as long as a medium crop can be obtained— 
to reduce the stock in proportion to the quantity of hay 
and grain that may be on hand at the setting in of Avin- 
ter. The consequence is, a diminution of the quantity 
of manure, the stock so sparingly fed as to be quite un- 
