THE CULTIVATOR. 
105 
trees of advanced size, twice the length of the trunk 
to that of the top, in good soil; and in poor soil to 
leave the top as long as the trunk; and 2d. to have 
one inch in circumference to 15 feet of height; and 
if the circumference is proportionably greater, so 
much the better.” 
With regard to coniferous trees, as. the silver nr, 
spruce, pines, &c. it is objected to their being prun¬ 
ed, in any soil or situation. 
The opinions of the writers as to the best season 
of pruning are variant. One recommends April to 
June ; another before the buds swell; another in au¬ 
tumn, &c. and Mr. Scott, to reconcile the contradic¬ 
tory opinions, proposes to prune “ a little before the 
buds begin to swell,—or a little while after the leaves 
have expanded.” We repeat—late in June. 
Farming Implements. 
The improvements which have been made in the 
implements of husbandry, in the last thirty years, and 
the introduction of new implements, have not only 
tended greatly to abridge manual labor, but, by do¬ 
ing the work much better than it was formerly done, 
have increased much the bounties of the soil. Having 
the desired implements, the next object is to learn to 
use them with facility and skill, a task more^ difficult 
in acquiring than many seem to imagine. Take, for 
instance, the plough, the most common implement of 
husbandry, and we venture to say, that not one in 
fifty who uses it, knows how to use it as well as he 
might do ; or, knowing, does use it as he ought to do. 
But not only have the implements long in use been 
improved in their model and fabrication, but new ones 
are coming daily into more general use, as cultiva¬ 
tors, drilling machines, rollers, straw cutters, hay 
rakes, mowing machines, root-slicers, potato hooks, 
turnip hoes, &c. which greatly aid in the economy of 
the farm. It has been our object to note such of these 
as came under our notice, and to commend them so 
far as our observation and experience would justify. 
This we shall continue to do, in the belief that they 
are calculated to facilitate greatly the labors of the 
farm, and to increase its products and profits. 
We in the first place invite the reader’s attention 
to the Potato Raiser, of the Messrs. Lawsons, of 
Edinburgh, figured and described in the present num¬ 
ber. The potato is extensively and profitably culti¬ 
vated among us, and its culture is likely to increase. 
It is an excellent crop to ameliorate and cleanse the 
ground—to convert long into short manure, and thus 
fit it for small grains, and no less excellent for stock 
and the market. Under the improved mode of ma¬ 
nagement, it may be planted and receive its af¬ 
ter culture, almost exclusively, with the plough, har¬ 
row and cultivator, with but little aid from the hand- 
hoe. The great expense is in harvesting the crop. 
If this can be lessened, and the Messrs. Lawsons and 
Capt. Center assure us it can be greatly, by a potato 
plough, like the one described, the culture of this va¬ 
luable crop may be profitably enlarged. The expense 
of procuring a potato raiser, or a potato mould-board, 
and fitting it to a common plough, will be trivial, com¬ 
pared to the advantages which are likely to accrue 
from its use. 
Hoyt’s Drill Barrow is also figured and described 
in the present number. We have not had it in ope¬ 
ration; but from examining the principles upon which 
it works, we give full credit to the declarations of the 
patentee. The cost is about $10, and it is said to be 
adapted to the sowing of all kinds of seeds. 
Bushnell’s Drill Barrow. —We have had this in 
operation, and it justifies the high expectation we ex¬ 
pressed of its value. It differs from any we have 
seen in this : the forward wheel pulverizes and levels 
the surface, and thus enables the workman to gradu¬ 
ate the coulter, while the after wheel breaks and 
presses upon the seed the earth which is thrown upon 
it by the brush or rake which is applied behind the 
hopper. This machine drops four to eight turnip 
seeds, at intervals of about eight inches ; and it has 
slides adapted to seeds of all sizes, which may be used 
at pleasure. These slides are of tin. They ought to 
be of wrought iron, like those in Merchant’s drill, 
which latter, by the bye, suffers nothing in reputation 
or value, by being better known. A Scotch farmer, 
familiar with the drill barrows of his native country, 
and who has used Bushnell’s, pronounces it the best 
he ever tried. Ample reference to the patentee and 
venders, will be found in our back numbers. 
Mr. Thorp has improved his Turnip Hoe, by mak¬ 
ing the shank, which connects the cutting part with 
the eye, stronger and of better iron, and by using 
belter copper rivets than heretofore. This hoe is 
worthy the attention of every turnip raiser, and of 
every gentleman who takes exercise with a hoe in 
his garden. 
Potato Hooks. —Several models of these have been 
sent us. They are all useful and serviceable in many 
operations of the farm and garden. In culture, they 
effect an important purpose—they loosen the surface 
to any reasonable required depth, pulverize it, and 
render it pervious to atmospheric and solar influence, 
as well as free it of weeds. It is excellent in raising 
potatoes and turnips. A new one has just been pre¬ 
sented to us by Messrs. Ripley & Spalding, the ma¬ 
nufacturers, residing at Norwich, Ct. They are for 
sale by our neighbor Thorburn, at 50 cents. 
Root Slicer. —We have received one from Mr. D. 
M. Walker, of Whiting, Vt. As our turnips were 
mostly fed out when it came to haqfl, we had not a 
fair opportunity of trying it; but we did experiment 
upon it so far as to ascertain, that it would not only 
slice, but cut into inch strips, a bushel of ruta baga 
in a minute, turned by a smart man. This machine 
was noticed and described in fhe last number of vol. 
iv. It is not patented. The iron work costs about 
$6. The wood work may be made by any carpenter, 
or an ingenious farmer. If Mr. Walker will renew 
his request, his letter having been mislaid, it shall be 
promptly attended to. We should advise that the 
knives and cutters be reduced one-half, in this ma¬ 
chine. It will still perform its work expeditiously, 
and be less fatiguing to the operator. 
Van Bergen’s Cultivator. —We have used this im¬ 
plement, the present season, in cultivating our hoed 
crops, and think it has a decided preference over the 
old triangular drill, though we have had no opportu¬ 
nity of comparing it with Bement’s. The side pieces 
are parallel with the centre one, and each of the for¬ 
mer has a forward coulter to cut the weeds and pul¬ 
verize the soil, and a coulter with a small mould- 
board in rear, to gather the loosened earth in the 
space between the rows, or to throw it to the plants. 
The implement may be contracted or expanded at 
pleasure, or the laterals may be taken olfi and the 
centre coulters used among beans, or other crops, 
where the drills are 12 or 18 inches asunder. In the 
first dressing of our corn, potatoes, &c. the loose earth 
was turned from the hills. The plants were then 
cleaned with the hoe, and when necessary, thinned, and 
the cultivator soon after followed, turning it to the 
rows, and giving the plants a slight earthing. In the 
potato crop, the small plough follows tiie cultivator, 
to give a slight, but the only earthing it receives. 
The cultivator may be advantageously used a third or 
even a fourth time, in the corn crop : it keeps the sur¬ 
face mellow and clean. We can with confidence re¬ 
commend this implement, for all lands not encumbered 
with large stones or stumps. The fault in this ma¬ 
chine, if any, is the weakness of the wood-work, and 
of the cast-iron teeth, which are liable to be broken 
if they are brought in contact with stout roots, or 
immovable stones. Our machine has suffered in this 
way. 
The operation of Bone Dust. 
Bones are a phosphate of lime, that is, they are 
composed chiefly of lime and phosphoric acid. When 
crushed, and deposited in the earth, by the action of 
heat and moisture, the bones are soon reduced to a 
state of decomposition, and the original elements of 
which they are composed are thereby set at liberty 
to form new combinations in the great circle of re¬ 
volving nature. By this means, the phosphoric acid 
is set free in the form of gas, and the lime is left in 
its caustic state, deprived of its neutralizing acid; 
these two substances are then left to produce the 
powerful vegetation which we see to follow their ap¬ 
plication as manure in their new state; and as we 
know of but few principles in nature more powerfully 
active than phosphorus, in all its states of existence, 
we have formed the idea, that phosphorus, in con¬ 
junction with the lime, perhaps in the state of phos¬ 
phoric acid gas, is the chief cause of the rapid and 
luxuriant vegetation produced by the application of 
bruised bones as a manure. The phosphorus of our 
shops is so easily ignited, that the least friction sets 
it on fire ; nay, if exposed to the air, it burns sponta¬ 
neously by a slow combustion, and therefore can only 
be preserved from combustion by being immersed in 
a vial of water ; hence I consider that crushed bones 
evolve a considerable quantity of gas and heat during 
decomposition in the earth. As I have attempted, in 
a field of my own, to try some experiments with the 
bone dust, I shall, with all deference, state the results. 
1. I find that old rotten bones, and dry bones, crushed 
properly, work sooner, and are more readily efficient 
as a manure, than fresh or green bones; the latter 
requiring a longer space of time to decompose and 
part with their phosphoric principle than old bones, 
already partly in a state of decomposition.* 2. I find 
that bone dust acts most readily and powerfully, if, 
the night previous to its being put into the earth, it 
be formed into a heap, and thoroughly wet,f and al¬ 
lowed to lie till it is beginning to become warm. It 
then ought to be put (in its wet state,) into the ground, 
when a powerful and luxuriant vegetation immedi¬ 
* Bones may, in this respect, be compared to dung: in a 
half-rotted state, they work sooner, but do not work so long 
—the gases of both, are lost by partial fermentation. 
t We have found this process facilitated by blending ashes 
with the bones. 
ately follows. In a dry soil, it remains long before 
decomposition, and also in very wet ground. This 
may account for what, to a certain extent, by some 
has been considered a partial failure of its usual ef¬ 
fects.— Aberdeen Journal. 
A Hint to Cattle Breeders. 
T. A. Knight, the very distinguished horticulturist, 
publishes in the Farmers’ Magazine, a communication 
on the ill effects of overfeeding young stock. Young 
cattle thus brought up, when taken into other districts, 
have been found,with their offspring, incapable of thriv¬ 
ing upon common pastures. Animals, he thinks, which 
have been overfed from their birth, and whose ances¬ 
try have been subjected to the same treatment, ac¬ 
quire a power of eating and digesting a much larger 
portion of food than others. He admits that the im¬ 
proved" Durhams are brought to market at a very 
early age, oxen of very great weight and excellence; 
yet he says it is well known that all those young ani¬ 
mals come to market deeply insolvent, the sums for 
which they are sold being greatly less than those ex¬ 
pended in feeding them. In illustration of their ex¬ 
pensive keep, he cites the following facts : 
“Three Herefords and three Durhams,” says he, 
“ were put into stalls, to be fatted, on the 3d of No¬ 
vember. The weight of the Herefords was then 33 
cwt. and that of the Durhams 38 cwt. and 14 lbs. Be¬ 
tween that period and the 30th March, when all were 
sold in Smitlifield, the Durhams consumed 12,755 lbs. 
weight more of turnips, and 1,714 more pounds of hay, 
than the Hereford; but the Durhams, notwithstanding 
the larger size when put to fatten, and the greatly 
larger quantity of food consumed, sold for only 20 
shillings more than the Herefords; and such I believe 
will ever be the result of similar trials, when one class 
of animals has been properly fed, and the other over 
fed, the merits of the breed being equal.” 
This reasoning is true in regard to perennial vegeta¬ 
bles—trees tor instance. If the nursery from which 
they are drawn, and in which they have been raised, 
is very rich, they will not thrive so well in a common 
soil, as those which are taken from a soil of an infe¬ 
rior quality. If the habit of gormandizing is esta¬ 
blished when the plant or animal is young, neither 
will thrive so well afterwards upon spare food, as if 
they have been brought upon more moderate fare. 
South Down Sheep. 
“ My chief reasons for preferring this breed,” writes 
Mr. H. Watson, “are:—that the South down sheep, al¬ 
though an active and spirited animal, are easily con¬ 
trolled and managed by a good shepherd—can go over 
more ground for food than any other kind of sheep, 
without stopping their growth,—and when tried by se¬ 
vere storms in winter, will brave it better than even the 
black-faced Highland,—and although reduced very low 
in spring, sooner pick up condition, than the other short 
woolled sheep. As a proof of the Southdown’s inclina¬ 
tion to fatten, when put to good keep, I may mention 
a fact, that while I have seldom been able to produce a 
fat Cheviot sheep the same season she has reared a 
lamb, I never fail to make good fat of the South downs 
off grass. Their wool is so closely matted on their backs, 
and about the head and neck, as to be almost impervi¬ 
ous to rain or snow; hence, so soon as the storm cea¬ 
ses, thqy appear dry and comfortable, their coat not 
the least disordered, and altogether free from that 
drenched appearance which longer woolled sheep exhi¬ 
bit, even for days, after a winter storm.” 
Mr. Watson says the South downs are remarkably 
healthy; that his loss in them has invariably been 
much under that of any other sheep he has bred; that 
when crossed with a well-bred Leicester ram, and 
brought into good keep, they produce the most profi¬ 
table lamb that is bred ; that the wool fetches the 
highest price of any British wool; and that he has 
realized from them, when 16 months’ old, not less 
than 40s. ($8.88) each, wool and mutton. But mark ! 
Mr. ,W. gives this preference over every other sheep, 
for districts “ too high to be occupied during the whole 
season by a flock of Leicesters (Bakewell) and under 
that level which the native (Scotch) sheep only can thrive 
upon.” 
ON AN AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION OF GENTLEMEN FARM¬ 
ERS, AND THE SCIENTIFIC EDUCATION OF PRACTICAL 
ONES. 
Men are prone to become idle as they grow 
wealthy; but if they have been early imbued in the 
practical knowledge of their business—say, for in¬ 
stance, have been brought up at the counter, or on 
the farm, their early habits, and the practical know¬ 
ledge acquired in youth, are of invaluable service to 
them in more advanced age, though they do not sub¬ 
mit to manual labor—in superintending and directing 
their affairs. It is a kind of knowledge which no man 
can get rid of, if he will, but it will intrude upon his 
mind, and guide his judgment, in after life. The 
theory will not do alone. The head may teach the 
hands what should be done; but the hands must 
teach the head how things should be done. The 
man who undertakes to direct the operations of a 
farm, without a practical knowledge of the manipu- 
