1906. 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
665 
HOW TO PLOW SIDEHILL LAND, 
I. G. S., Titusville, Pa .—Which is the best 
way to plow side-hill ground? Which way 
will it wash most? I claim up and down 
hill, as then the rain as it falls will follpw 
each furrow. Some claim to plow with the 
hill, hut I claim the land will wash more as 
the water in crossing the furrows soon forms 
a gulley. 
In plowing side-hill land I would prefer 
not to run the furrows up and down the 
hill. This would induce greater washing 
than if the land were plowed with the hill. 
As hills are ordinarily plowed the furrows 
are thrown down the hill. This causes 
them to overlap each other somewhat, as 
do the shingles of a house, and when the 
rain falls on ground thus plowed the water 
is inclined to run off as it does from the 
roof of a house. Where the hillside is not 
too steep, it is our belief that it is a bet¬ 
ter practice to turn the furrow up the hill; 
of course on some hills this would be en¬ 
tirely impractical. But where it can be 
done the water of rainfall seeps down 
through the soil rather than running off 
on the surface of the ground. If the land 
is plowed deeply and the furrows turned 
up the hill there will be less washing than 
in shallow plowing with the furrows 
turned down hill or turned directly up and 
down the hill. On much of our New 
England hill land, however, the soil is 
full of bowlders, and the hills are steep, 
and to turn the furrow down hill seems 
the most practical way. We use the sulky 
plow, which turns the furrow well, and 
it avoids all dead furrows and back fur¬ 
rows. L. A. CLINTON. 
Connecticut Agl. College. 
I live in a very hilly section, and there¬ 
fore have to plow more or less of this 
hilly land. 1 have some fields that have 
five, 10 and 15 per cent grade. Such fields 
as these I go around the whole field, or 
plow it in lands, whichever is most con¬ 
venient. I have no trouble with such 
fields washing, either in the up-and-down 
plowing or the sideways of the hill. But 
when I come to steeper grades than these 
I plow with the hill and have never had 
any trouble with their washing if such 
fields are planted to either corn or pota¬ 
toes or any crop that has to be cultivated. 
I furrow or mark out for planting diag¬ 
onally of the hill and in this way it will 
not wash; never as badly as it would if 
marked out and cultivated up and down 
the hill. I have an example of planting 
up and down the hill this year in a piece 
of potatoes. It was a narrow strip about 
30 rows wide by 200 long. The narrow 
way was up and down the hill, so to save 
so much turning around in cultivating I 
planted all one way. The consequence is 
that between the rows all the loose soil 
is washed to the bottom of the hill where¬ 
as if I had planted diagonally across the 
narrow way the water would have gath¬ 
ered in so much less quantities that it 
would not have washed any to speak of. 
My land has more or less gravel and sand 
mixed with the soil, and I have to be very 
careful when I seed down a piece for 
meadow not to leave any wheel marks 
up and down the hill with the drill, for 
if I do water will be almost sure to gather 
in these wheel marks and it is but a short 
time before a trench or gulley is formed. 
I haUe such a gulley now in one of my 
fields that was from four to six feet deep 
and 12 feet wide that started from the 
little mark that was left by the drill as 
I came from the field after drilling in my 
rye in September. In clay or heavy land 
probably there would not be so much dan¬ 
ger of washing. It is very hard for a 
team to plow or do any hard pulling up a 
steep hill, but directly or diagonally across 
it they will go easily, and when done in 
this way I have never seen any bad re¬ 
sults from washing on my farm, and I have 
lived on this farm for over 50 years. 
Columbia Co., N. Y.' geo. w. higgins. 
Our steep hillsides are plowed in such 
a way as to enable plowman and horses to 
do the best possible work with the least 
expenditure or waste of strength and en¬ 
ergy. To plow up and down such slopes as 
those with which I have had a very close 
acquaintance extending up and down hill 
a serious gully would in this way already 
be laid out and half completed, which 
surface water, from flooding rains, would 
soon enlarge to alarming proportions. I 
cannot agree with the inquirer in his be¬ 
lief that land plowed up and down hill 
will wash less than that plowed with the 
slone. I have often observed, (hiring or 
immediately after a heavy rain, the action 
of water upon newly plowed hillside, turf 
land that had been plowed with the hill or 
at right angles with the slope, the water 
would be compelled, by the cross-barriers 
formed by the furrows, to take irregular, 
zigzag courses, gathering in one place and 
becoming divided in another, and often 
so impeded and broken in its course as 
to become distributed in numerous little 
courses that did no serious damage at any 
particular point. It is possibly all right 
in theory to suppose that furrows running 
up and down hill, if the soil had been cov¬ 
ered with a stiff sod, might afford under¬ 
ground or sub-channels for the water to 
get quietly away beneath the surface. 
However, it is not altogether a question 
of sub-drainage that concerns the plow¬ 
man when a quick, sharp deluge comes, 
but a question of how much surface soil 
is to be washed away by the water which 
does not take time to seek sub-channels. 
After the surface of sod ground has been 
chopped up by the disk harrow and mel¬ 
lowed by the spring or peg-tooth harrow, 
it matters but little which way the fur¬ 
rows have been plowed, so far as the 
effect of surface running water is con¬ 
cerned. We usg a special hillside or re¬ 
volving moldboard plow for breaking our 
steep land, which enables us to turn the 
furrows all downward smoothly and even¬ 
ly, and without leaving the last or “dead 
furrows” which would prove inevitable 
“up and down” menaces to our land were 
we to use ordinary breaking plows and 
plow up and down grade. A “dead fur¬ 
row” running at right angles with a hill- 
slope will not only “stay dead,” but will, 
in time, become obscure, but a “dead fur¬ 
row” extending up and down hill almost 
invariably proves to be not only very much 
alive, but capable of making a surprising 
and alarming growth in the course of a 
single rainy season. In this brief discus¬ 
sion the writer is referring strictly to hill¬ 
sides and not to gradual slopes of gently 
rolling land called hills in some compar¬ 
atively level sections, where the soil may be 
readily turned whithersoever the plowman 
listeth. Upon these I should plan to plow 
in such a way as to secure the best and 
most uniform work without leaving either 
ridges or depressions extending up and 
down grade, and should not seriously con¬ 
sider the question of whether the furrows 
were to run up and down or obliquely or 
crosswise, for this will make little differ¬ 
ence in surface washing after the disk and 
spring-tooth harrows have done their 
Work. F. H. BALLOU. 
Ohio Experiment Station. 
A Nkw Tree Game.—I have just read how 
(lie lady was swindled in ginseng, page 004, 
and thought would give you a little episode 
that happened last week. While at work 
in the garden I was called in: a gentleman 
wanted to see me. lie Introduced himself 
as Mr. -, representing the - nurs 
cries. They are among the largest in the 
country, and I have known of them for years. 
I told him I needed some plants and trees, 
hut under no circumstances would I order 
before New Years for Spring planting, hut if 
he had plenty of time I would look over his 
catalogue, make out my order complete, ex¬ 
cept my signature, let him endorse the order, 
and I would send it in when ready, so he 
could get his commission on the sale. lie 
showed me through, I found what I wanted, 
prices were reasonable, and the order was 
made out; then he said to me: “If you will 
sign and give me the order now, I will add 
gratis so and so, and this and that,” pretty 
near as much in amount as the order. I 
declined, and lie refused to leave the order 
here. During the conversation I found out 
that he claimed to be traveling for a firm 
of same name, but different initials from the 
well-known reputable firm, and his house 
was located in a different city, or claimed 
to be located there. I firmly believe he was 
traveling for himself, gets job lots of trees 
and plants for a song, and will never show 
his face more than one or two seasons in 
same section. p. 
New Hampshire. 
« * C.r,^At KAAf, A t_ A r,A r„ k jir,^v.'L^LLLG«JO UL K* ?»L-1 L->LLG«JLOL ^ L«>GOLOLJMU O f 
Will You Let Us Send You a Sta=Rite j 
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You 
Have 
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To Make 
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Y ES, —we mean just exactly that, no more, 
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How’s that for practical proof , Mr. Fanner ? 
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we-OS* 
■'W'n 
JJ.J tJH.Jl.JW'.vV.vV.C 
to settle that question; ask any one who has 
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* * * 
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1 Yrite For Our Free Catalog To-day. ^ 
DREW ELEVATED CARRIER CO., 
Main Office, 128 Monroe St., WATERLOO, WIS. | 
Eastern Branch, Rome, N. Y. Factory, Racine, Wis. ^ 
A LALAL.ALAALA K A 
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RIDER-ERICSSON ENGINE CO., 
35 Warren St., New York* 239 Franklin St., Boston. 
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Stei^^nch Range 
THE ELEGANT 
“A Poor 
Stove is Not 
Cheap at 
Any Price." 
FINISH AND 
TIME SAVING 
FEATURES. 
The Sterling is the only Stove in which 
both the Lift Plate and the Lift 
Hearth are held up by automatic 
catches; the top plate to insure even 
fire feeding is also admirable for broil¬ 
ing, while the Hearth does not swing 
or slide into the room. This permits 
an extra large ash pan to catch all the 
ashes, and, aside from saving frequent 
emptying, does not let them heap up 
to burn out the grate. Note how all nickel parts 
lift right off for blacking the 
and also how door is removable from fire box to slide grate out at will. This grate is always 
free from file fire brick for they rest on an entirely independent brick frame of their own 
and not on the grate frame as in most stoves. 
Look at the transparent oven door, how the progress of baking or roasting may be noted 
through heavy mica without losing a particle of heat from the oven ; but by pressing your foot 
on a nickel lever the entire oven door swings open at will. 
The unsurpassed cooking qualities of the STERLING come from numerous patented 
features which cannot be incorporated in any other stove. Our booklet E, which fully describes 
over twenty such features, is free for the asking. No dealer can truthfully tell 
you he has "something just as good” as the STERLING RANGE. It will 
pay you to let us write and tell you where the STERLING may be seen. 
SILL STOVE WORKS, Rochester, N. Y. 
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