THE CULTIVATOR. 
13 
was mislaid, but has since been replaced. This 
communication contains no estimate of the expense 
—a material point to one who may wish to adopt 
the model—as every man should count the cost be¬ 
fore he begins to build. We beg our correspondent 
to supply the deficiency. We have also received, 
(in Feb.) three other plans and descriptions of farm 
houses. We intend to publish all these communi¬ 
cations, in some one of our future numbers, with 
the drawings which accompany them ; and to pro¬ 
long the time for competing for the twenty dollar 
premium offered for the best plan, to January, 1840. 
In the mean time, we ask such of our correspondents 
as have not done it, to send us estimates of the cost 
of materials—wood, brick or stone—for buildings 
like those they have severally described. 
Whitington Spring Wheat. 
We noticed the receipt of a sample of this beauti¬ 
ful grain in our January number. Mr. George C. 
Thorburn, of New-York, has just received a few 
bushels from England, which he sells at $8 per 
bushel. 
Smith’s Subsoil Plough. 
[Fig. No. 1.] 
The objects sought to be obtained by the use of 
the subsoil plough, are these, viz : 
1. To permit the surplus water to pass down. 
2. To render the subsoil permeable to the en¬ 
riching influence of the atmosphere—to those che¬ 
mical changes which take place in a fallow; and 
ultimately to deepen the super-soil, and thereby in¬ 
crease the pasture for the plants growing upon it. 
A superficial soil, upon a tenacious subsoil, is of¬ 
ten cold, inert and precarious, by reason of the water 
which settles upon the latter, stagnates in summer, 
and becomes prejudicial to healthy vegetation. By 
deepening the permeable stratum from six to twelve 
inches, with the subsoil plough, the surplus water 
settles down that much lower, and often beyond the 
reach of the roots of the crop, and the soil becomes 
correspondingly better fitted to sustain a healthy 
vegetation. Crops will not do well where the roots 
penetrate a stratum abounding in water. 
The atmosphere is always charged with the food 
of plants, in a gaseous form; and the subsoil con¬ 
tains more or less of the elements of this food, in¬ 
soluble or useless, from the presence of too much 
water, and the want of atmospheric and solar influ¬ 
ence to render it soluble, and fitted for the absorbent 
vessels of the plant. The subsoil plough not onlv 
frees it from excess of moisture, but renders it per¬ 
vious to atmospheric and solar influence—not only 
converts the insoluble into soluble food, but adds to 
it the fertilizing properties of the atmosphere. 
By the operations of the subsoil plough, in a few 
years, the loosened subsoil acquires the fertility of 
the super-soil, and becomes blended with it; the 
tilth, the pasture of plants, is deepened and enlarg¬ 
ed ; the roots have a wider range ; the soil will sup¬ 
port a heavier crop, and the danger from drought 
as well as from heavy rains, is materially lessened. 
The advantages which have resulted from the use 
of Smith’s plough, were sometime ago noticed in 
the Cultivator. Its reputation for usefulness has 
not since been impaired. At the Northumberland 
cattle show, in October, Mr. Gray, in the course of 
his remarks at the dinner table, stated, that his at¬ 
tention had been called, a few days before, to a field 
of wheat, one half of which had been ploughed 
with a subsoil plough, and the other half by the 
common plough. “Both of the divisions of the 
field,” said Mr. Gray, “were equally fallowed and 
manured, and there was indeed, no difference be¬ 
tween them, except as to the mode of ploughing. 
He had carefully examined the results, and had no 
hesitation in saying, that the half which had been sub¬ 
mitted to the operation of the subsoil plough, had pro¬ 
duced a crop full one third more than the other half; 
and many persons who had compared the respective 
crops, gave it as their opinion, that the produce had 
been doubled by the use of the implement in ques¬ 
tion. The diminished produce on the latter part 
of the field, was occasioned by the water settling 
in the furrows, and damaging or rotting the stocks, 
an injury which is obviated by the use of the sub¬ 
soil plough. In the part worked with this no dis¬ 
tinction was observed in the crop between the ridg¬ 
es and the furrows, but every part bore an abundant 
crop of fine wheat.” 
It is not to be understood, however, that the sub¬ 
soil plough is to supersede underdraining in all 
cases. 
Clover—Its Value for Cattle, for Seed and for the 
Soil. 
We have received a communication from Mr. 
Henry Brewer, of Enfield, Tompkins, illustrating 
strongly the value of clover, as a means of keeping 
up the fertility of his land, and of rendering its cul¬ 
ture profitable. Mr. Brewer was from old Dutchess, 
the land of clover. He purchased his farm in En¬ 
field, in 1830, at $8.50 per acre. It now gives a 
product of from fifteen to forty dollars per acre per 
annum ; and the improvement and the profit he as¬ 
cribes principally to the cultivation of clover. As 
the communication is very lengthy, and having the 
writer’s permission so to do, we give the purport 
of it in a condensed form. 
Mr. Brewer remarks, that New-York farmers pay 
to those of New Jersey and Pennsylvania, annually, 
many thousand dollars for clover seed, which they 
might raise for themselves with profit. He would 
as soon think of buying his seed oats and seed 
wheat, as his clover seed. He prefers the southern 
or dwarf clover, because it is fit to cut five or ten 
days earlier than the tall growing or northern kind, 
and is more certain of ripening the seed of the se¬ 
cond crop. He sows with his small grain, at the 
rate of fifteen lbs. the acre, and sometimes sows 
his corn fields after the last hoeing. 
Mr. Brewer appropriates his clover to three very 
valuable purposes—to feed his stock, to fertilize his 
land, and to fill his purse—and he has succeeded 
admirably in them all, so far as we can judge. His 
cattle thrive upon it both as a green and a dry 
crop—in summer and winter ;—his wheat and corn 
feed and thrive upon it, when buried and decompo¬ 
sing in the soil;—and his purse increases with the 
increase of his cattle and his crops. And finally, 
besides feeding his cattle, and fertilizing his soil, 
the seed of his second crop gives him an acreable 
profit, annually, of from fifteen to fifty dollars. 
Now there is no secret in the business—no patent 
right. He gives you his whole process, that you 
may profit by his example if you will. We will 
endeavor to give it in concise and plain terms. 
Clover is either used for hay or pasture the first 
crop, and unifoi’mly for seed and forage the second 
crop. If for pasture, he tui’ns upon it his stock 
about the first of May, or when the soil has become 
so firm that the feet of the cattle will not poach 
the sod. At this time, the growth is such, as to 
enable the cattle to thrive. He pastures till about 
the 20th June, and the closer it is cropped at this 
time, the better, he thinks. The cattle are then 
withdrawn, and the second crop is permitted to grow 
and mature its seed. If the first crop is designed 
for hay, it is cut from the 20th to the 25th June, al¬ 
though it may not have passed the bloom, or arrived 
at that state when most farmers deem it in a proper 
condition to cut. It is important to cut it as early 
as the 25th, Mr. B. thinks, in order to give the se¬ 
cond crop time to grow and mature its seed before 
it is injured by the frosts of autumn—five days of¬ 
ten making a material difference in the seed crop. 
We do not like Mr. B’s mode of curing this early 
cut clover : he takes it, when partially cured, to 
his barn, and spreads it about upon scaffolds and 
poles, till made, and then puts it into his bay. This 
causes unnecessary labor. Cured in grass cocks, 
according to our repeated directions, it will be as 
good as when spread over a barn, and more than 
half the labor will be saved. Mr. B. thinks clover 
hay made in the shade is much better than that 
which is made in the sun. “The next way of 
curing this green clover,” says the writer, “ is with 
wheat straw, that has been kept in the barn for that 
purpose, by laying a course of hay and then of straw, 
and so on, until you have it all secured.” The im¬ 
portance of mowing the first crop early, is illustrated 
by the fact, that one of Mr. B’s neighbors, who had 
been persuaded to cut his first crop some days earlier 
than usual, acknowledged that he should obtain last 
season, thirty bushels more clover seed than usual, 
in consequence of it. 
The seed crop is gathered with care, and brought 
to the barn as soon as it is fit, that rain upon it, or 
unnecessary exposure to the weather, may be avoid¬ 
ed, both of which materially impair the value of the 
buts or straw for fodder. The heads are separated 
with a flail, and the seed extracted by Robert Rit- 
tenhouse & Co’s, patent clover machine. The ave¬ 
rage product in seed, is four to five bushels the acre ; 
which, at present prices, is worth sixty to seventy 
dollars—a tolerable acreable profit for a second 
crop. In regard to his clover machine, Mr. B. has 
cleaned four hundred bushels of seed with his, with¬ 
out a dollar of expense in repairs. It is portable ; 
and “ when there is once a machine in a neighbor¬ 
hood,” says Mr. B. “I think the farmers will then 
raise their own seed, as is the case in my neighbor¬ 
hood. And if they raise it themselves they think 
it costs nothing; they then sow liberally, and get a 
bountiful return.” The clover machine costs sixty 
dollars, and it would verily seem to be worth more 
than that amount annually to the farmers of the 
neighborhood. Mr. Brewer’s machine was made 
by Blackwell, of Albion, Orleans county. 
In regard to the value of clover in keeping up 
the fertility of the farm, Mr. Brewer considers it of 
the first consequence ; for, says he, “I think I can 
manure my farm with clover, cheaper than I can 
cart out my manure from my own barn yard; al¬ 
though I have it all carted out in the spring of the 
year for my hoed crops, while unfermented, because 
I think it of more value to have it rot in the soil 
than in the farm yard. I do’nt wish to have it under¬ 
stood that I am an advocate of the miserable prac¬ 
tice of leaving my manure in my barn yard, as 
many of my neighboring farmers do, to waste one 
half of its best qualities, for I have it thoroughly 
cleaned every year.” 
One word as to the condition of the farm when it 
came under Mr. B’s management. The soil is de¬ 
scribed as a sandy loam, mixed with slate gravel, 
and most of it very stony. When he came on to 
it in 1830, “there was about fifty acres of cleared 
land, and it was considered one of the poorest farms 
in the town, by my neighbors, who assured me 
I could not get grass enough from the farm to keep 
one cow. There was but two acres of meadow 
upon it, and that was too wet to plough. But this 
did not discourage me. I purchased two and a half 
bushels of clover seed the first spring, which some 
of my neighbors thought was enough to seed my 
whole farm, weeds and all; but I sowed it on six¬ 
teen acres.” Such was Mr. Brewer’s beginning ; 
and the reader is already advised that this spirited 
beginning has been followed up for eight years with 
increasing advantage. The wheat crop has averag¬ 
ed from eighteen to twenty-four bushels per acre. 
An Agricultural Society iu Montgomery. 
A society is organizing in Montgomery, under 
the style of “ Agricultural and Rural Society ,” 
calculated to produce the best results, and to bene¬ 
fit every class and age of the population. Every 
town is expected to organize an auxiliary society, 
the president of which is a vice-president of the 
county society ; and the school districts constitute 
in a measure departments or branches of the town 
societies. The plan embraces—• 
“1. Whatever regards health and domestic comfort— 
and includes a provident care of all domestic animals. 
2. An improvement in the breeds of farm stock, and 
a better provision for their maintenance and comfort. 
3. An improvement in garden culture, orcharding and 
rural embellishment. 
4. Improvement in common roads,—an improvement 
much wanted every where among us. And as a sure 
and solid foundation to the whole, 
5. Covimon Schools —On the improvement and success 
of these, perhaps all else depends. There must be in¬ 
troduced agreeable manners and systems of education, 
to invite and allure children to useful action. Right 
education developes and directs powers of mind and 
body, where energies might otherwise slumber, or do 
mischief for life. It forms and fixes individual, social, 
and national character. There must be provided com¬ 
petent teachers, and geometrical forms and figures of 
surface and solid*; mechanical, mathematical and phi¬ 
losophical instruments and apparatus, and correct engra¬ 
vings and colourings to explain the general anatomy and 
economy of animals and vegetables; collections of plants 
and minerals. Books, composed and compiled, suited 
to the intelligence and condition of children; few such 
are to be found, and perhaps none, exactly fitting for 
American education. Adequate teachers are almost 
equally rare. Children themselves, and parents, and 
the friends of education, liberty, morals and religion, 
may do much, yet the co-operation of the legislature is 
demanded in a plan so desirable, so general and evi¬ 
dently so practicable.” 
Cuts of Farm Implements. 
We have received several drawings of new farm 
implements and machinery, to be inserted in the 
Cultivator. The rule we have adopted in regard to 
these is this. If the implement is patented, the 
right of using it is private property, and the pa¬ 
tentee, or proprietor, must be at the expense of the 
cut, if one is to be inserted. If there is no patent 
right, and every one has a right to make and use it, 
we are at the expense of the cut, if we deem the 
implement one of manifest public utility. This rule 
has only been departed from when we have been 
presented with the new implement, and have been 
satisfied, upon trial, of its usefulness. 
Patent Office. 
; . It appears from the annual report of the commis¬ 
sioner, that 520 patents have been issued during 
the last year; that 224 patents have expired; that 
the receipts of the office have been .$'42,123.54, and 
the ordinary expenses of the office have been $19,- 
180.18—leaving a surplus of $19,243.36. 
