16 
THE CULTIVATOR 
©riginai papers from Contribntoro. 
FARMING IN WISKONSAN. 
Messes. Gayloed & Tuceee —Our soil and climate 
are well adapted to the Cultuee or Wheat, but the dif¬ 
ference in the surface and climate here and at the east, 
made it necessary to adopt another course from that pur¬ 
sued there. We get a first rate crop, (perhaps the best, 
quality and quantity considered,) from the first breaking 
of the sward. The sod is turned over in June, from two to 
four inches deep, and then in the latter part of August or 
first of September, is dragged and backset, as we term it, 
or turned over again, and the wheat sowed, on 1^ or 1^ 
bushels per acre. If sowed early, it covers the ground 
completely, and withstands the severest winters. It ri¬ 
pens earlier than the crop on old ground, and is general¬ 
ly rather plumper and cleaner, though it should not be 
cleaner, but it is, as there has been no opportunity for 
weeds to ripen and fill the ground. The crop when to¬ 
lerably well put in, is an excellent one, on either open¬ 
ing, or prairie land; but after the first crop, some kind 
of protection seems necessary to insure a good crop on 
the prairie. It tillers out finely on old ground, but the 
soil is so mellow, that the surface is very smooth, and the 
snow not being deep it is blown off by the high winds, 
leaving the roots exposed to the action of the sun and 
frost. Hence on prairie, neither a summer fallow of 
stubble ground nor stubble ground itself, is very good for 
wheat. The most approved method of raising wheat on 
old ground, is to sow among corn as early as the last of 
August, and to cover it with a cultivator, and then gather 
the corn in baskets, and leave the stalks in the hill. They 
soon get broken down so as to admit the sun and air. The 
plants cover the ground, and are completely protected 
from the wind in the winter. As soon as the vegetation 
starts in the spring, the stalks are cut down and left on the 
ground. The corn is planted farther apart than is usual 
when the ground is intended for wheat. To be sure we 
lose our stalks for fodder, but that is not regarded. 
The Geasses. —Breaking up tame grass lands, has not 
as yet been tried here for wheat. It will probably suc¬ 
ceed as well as the first breaking up, but the inhabitants 
get wild hay from the low lands, which answers very 
Well. They do not seem to find any room to grow the cul¬ 
tivated grasses. We have sowed 10 or 12 acres of timothy 
«—5 immediately after the first breaking—5 more after the 
second plowing, and on old ground. The first grew 
and covered the ground, but it was very hard, and the 
grass was light. It was cut twice, but the present season 
it was not worth cutting. Next year it will be sowed to 
wheat. The five on the second plowing, were thinly 
seeded, but produced a tolerable crop the first cutting; 
this year, that too, was nearly worthless. The last spo¬ 
ken of, was mowed this year for the first, and though the 
grass was rather thin, it was tall and heavy, with the long¬ 
est heads I ever saw—some over 11 inches long. From 
the little experience I have had here, I should say that 
herds grass must be sowed very thick, on old land, deep¬ 
ly plowed, and then every year or two, at most, a top 
dressing of manure should be put on. Clover has been 
but partially tried in this section. It may not do very 
well on the prairie, but we have lands that will imdoubt- 
ed produce good clover. 
Seeing Ceops. —For spring crops of all kinds, this 
country is very fine. Spring wheat is raised in abun¬ 
dance and with ease. It is a very sure crop, and does 
best after corn and roots; the difference between the two 
is hardly perceptible, though rather in favor of the latter. 
On good clean ground, after those crops, 20 and 30 bush¬ 
els are an ordinary crop. Oats produce well—best after 
corn and wheat—though ours this year, were very smut¬ 
ty. They are the large Poland oats, I believe, and had 
as fine a growth as I ever saw. They were on corn 
Stubble, but nearly a third smut. What is the reason? Is 
it the variety, or the ground? They were sowed 3 bush¬ 
els to the acre, and grew very tall and stout. Corn does 
well here, and is in my opinion, the best crop of all to 
prepare land for any other. It does well after the grains, 
but it is death to it, if it be put after roots, especially ru- 
ta bagas. It will not do. Roots are easily raised here— 
grow large and rich—the only trouble is to prepare the 
ground properly. We plow three times before sowing. 
Our object is to let the seeds in the ground vegetate. If 
we did not, the weeds would choke them completely. 
They evidently exhaust the soil very much, but leave it 
mellow and fine for cultivation. Before wheat they are 
good, and I presume before oats, though I have not tried 
it as yet. The farmers here are paying some attention 
to raising sheep; though conveniences for manufacturing 
wool are as yet few. But the country is unquestionably 
well adapted for raising them. Very respectfully, 
F. A. Phcenix. 
Delavan, Walworth co. Wiskoasan, Nov. 19, 1842. 
Messes. Gayloed & Tuckee —I notice in the Dec. 
No. of the Cultivator, an article under the head of “ Im¬ 
pure well water.” Water passing through the “ geodife- 
rous lime rock” imbibes a portion of gas, very offensive 
to the smell, though not essentially injurious to health, 
and for which there is no convenient remedy. When it 
contains any considerable portion of gypsum, it is not 
only unpleasant, but to persons of feeble digestion, ab- 
lolutely unhealthy. It also exerts an unfavorable influ¬ 
ence upon certain animals, until accustomed to its use. 
Carbonate of lime is readily precipitated by boiling, and 
if a smaU piece of soda be placed in the tea kettle or ves¬ 
sel containing water for domestic use, the gypsum will 
be precipitated also. Chemist. 
ELEVATION,-* (Fig. 2.) 
DESIGN FOR A GENTEEL FARM HOUSE. 
See Figs. 2, 3, and 4. 
Messes. Gayloed & Tuckee —I submit to yourselves 
and readers, the accompanying design for a genteel Farm 
House of moderate pretensions and cost. It is gratifying 
that this subject is at last receiving that attention, in 
part at least, which its importance demands. 
In past years, the idea of a farmer’s dwelling with any 
pretensions to taste, carried with it to his mind, extrava¬ 
gance and ruin; and this false notion was often fostered 
by the mechanic, who while able to put his work toge¬ 
ther in a substantial manner, yet never had an idea of de¬ 
sign other than what his father and father’s father prac¬ 
ticed in days of yore. 
The result of this has been, in very many cases, that 
our atfluent and intelligent agriculturist inhabits one of 
those ‘‘shingle palaces” so inconvenient in their internal 
arrangement and so absurd in their appearance—the just 
object of ridicule. Many, very many of our beautiful 
landscapes are marred and deformed by these wooden teens 
on the fair face of nature. And these uncouth edifices 
were generally erected at double the cost of a more beau¬ 
tiful and convenient dwelling. 
Another prevalent absurdity is the choice of material; 
for even in districts where good stone or brick are abun¬ 
dant, how often is the glaring white clapboard substituted 
therefor, than which nothing can be worse as regards taste 
or economy. A radical change in the rural architecture of 
our country is “ a consummation devoutly to be wished.” 
This design is for a house 28 by 30 feet; first story 8^ 
feet high, chamber story 7^ feet high, with awing. The 
principal floor of main building is about 3 feet above 
that of wing. The dairy rooms I would place in the base¬ 
ment of main house, occupying all the area under the 
parlor and sitting room. For butter making, this is alto¬ 
gether preferable to having the dairy rooms above 
ground, being cooler and less liable to sudden changes in 
temperature. For this I have the judgment of some of 
our best Orange County butter makers. A small private 
cellar under the library, and another under the vestibule 
is intended. The root cellar I would construct under the 
wing. The passage way in the wing may be used as an eat¬ 
ing hall,except in very cold weather. The door A. (fig. 3,) 
opens upon the stair which descends into the dairy rooms 
and cellars adjoining. Door B. opens upon the landing, 
from which four or five steps conduct to the main floor. 
Door C. opens upon stairs leading to sleeping apartments 
of the farm servants, and door D. to stairs descending to 
vegetable cellar. A door on the landing of principal 
stairs will connect with attic of wing. If the small room 
marked office, is used for that purpose, it would be pro¬ 
per to have a door opening from it into passage way in 
wing. 
The roof of the main building, I would recommend to 
be of tin or zinc, for many reasons; shingles however 
may be used, (except in the gutter at the eve,) where they 
are much cheaper or more abundant. The roof of this 
building it will be seen, projects pretty boldly about 2 
feet over the line of the exterior wall. This not only 
secures a good, drj’’, and ■well sheltered house, but it gives 
the dwelling at once something of a superior air. This 
construction of the roof will be easily understood by me¬ 
chanics, as it is formed by employing rafters of sufficient 
length to project 20 or 22 inches over the face of the wall 
B. These may be ceiled on the under side, so as to show 
the slope of the rafter, (fig. 5.) or the finish may be 
made to show a flat ceiling under the projection, as in 
fig. 6. In either case the appearance of support is in¬ 
creased by adding plain brackets (C,) about 4 by 5 inch¬ 
es and nearly as deep as the projection of the roof. 
The roof of the 
wing should project 
rather less, and 12 or 
14 inches will be suf¬ 
ficient, and the brack¬ 
ets may be omitted 
here. The gutter, it 
will be perceived, is 
formed at the edge of 
the roof, and in this, 
tin or zinc had better 
be used. To carry out 
this building proper¬ 
ly, working plans, de¬ 
tails, and a full speci¬ 
fication might be ne- 
Section of Verandah.—Fig. 7. cessary, which can be 
furnished upon application. The estimated cost of this 
building is $2,000 in Orange county, either of stone or 
brick, probably a little less of wood. In other places 
it would be more or less, according to the price of mate¬ 
rials. Yours, with esteem, 
Neioburgh, Nov. 1, 1842. T. M. Niven. 
PREMIUM CROPS. 
The following premiums on field crops, were award- 
1 by the Wayne County Agricultural Society, at its 
leeting, 11 mo. 15, 1842: 
o. C. S. Button, for the best crop of wheat, 5 acres 11 rods, 
yielding 151| bushels,or about 30 bushels to the acre, $8,00. 
o C. S. Button, for the best crop of corn, 2 acres, 76 rods, at 
the rate of 99 bushels, 6 quarts per acre, $5,00. 
o Marvin Roundy, for the best crop of oats, 4 2-3 acres, 312 
bushels, or about 67 bushels per acre, $4,00. j 
o D. & G. W. Kenyon, for the best crop of potatoes, 72 rods, 
169i bushels, or about 376 bushels per acre, $3i00- 
'o Rocher & Miller, for the best crop of rula baga, half an acre, 
649 bushels, or 1098 bushels per acre, $3,00. 
The following is an abstract of the statements of the 
ompetitors: , ^ 
Dr. Button’s wheat was the white flint—the previous 
rop was corn, manured 20 loads to the acre ^the ground 
ras prepared by splitting the hills, harrowing down, 
nd plowing once—8i bushels were sown the first week 
n October, and harrowed once each way. 
Dr Button’s corn was the Dutton—the previous crop 
leas and oats—the ground plowed twice in May, and at 
ach Dlowing manured with 12 loads coarse manure-- 
,arrowed and planted the 12th of May, in rows 2 feet 8 
nehes by 2 feet—12 to 16 seeds in a hill, afterwards 
binned to 3 or 4 plants in the hill—after culture with 
ultivator and cutting out weeds twice. 
M. Roimdy’s oats were after corn, unmanured 10 
nshels of seed sown. . _ 
D. & G. W. Kenyon’s potatoes were a mixture, most- 
