274 
I IiE CULTIVATOR. 
Sept. 
diameter, and some five or six feet in length, turned off 
smooth and round, with iron gudgeons at the ends, 
with a frame-work and tongue if to be drawn by oxen, 
or shaft if for one horse, will form a roller that is cheap 
in its construction, and can be made by any farmer of 
common mechanical skill, and such answer a very good 
purpose. The larger the circumference, the easier the 
draft, the less the ground will be cracked, and the 
smoother will be the surface. 
The roller is also useful for purposes besides the roll¬ 
ing in of grain and grass seeds. A few days since, we 
were on a farm where the owner uses a heavy roller on 
all the ground he plants, whether it is inverted sod or 
stubble ground. He believes it doubly pays—first in 
the increased ease with which the planting and hoeing 
is done, and secondly, in the increase of his crops. He 
has read Jethro Tull’s “ Essay on the Principles of 
Vegetation and Tillage,” and thinks a fine deep tilth 
of soil is more necessary for our hot and dry summer 
climate, than for the more cool and humid climate ol 
England. But this farmer does not believe that good 
crops can long be grown, and the fertility of the soil 
kept up by pulverization and tillage alone. His faith 
in this is proved by his works. 
Draining Prevents Injury from Drouth. 
That draining ‘‘deepens the soil,” “increases the 
effect of manures,” and “lengthens the season” of 
working the land, we have already shown ; the fact 
that it “prevents the injurious effects of drouth,” how¬ 
ever seeming’ a paradox, remains to be accounted for. 
We all know that a deep and mellow soil retains 
moisture much better than a shallow and hard one. 
“Water is held in the soil between the minute parti¬ 
cles of earth. If these particles be pressed together 
compactly, there is no space left between them for wa¬ 
ter.” Compact subsoils are but little permeable to 
water, compared with the same when broken up, pul¬ 
verized, and mellowed. The one is porous and drinks 
in moisture like a sponge ; the other absorbs it in but 
small quantities, and readily parts with the same on 
the application of heat. The one takes it from the air, 
which passes freely through it; the other, impervious 
to the air, or any slightly powerful influences, remains 
unchanged. Undrained soils, as we have shown, be¬ 
come compact after heavy rains, by the evaporation of 
the water with which they are saturated ; drained soils, 
on the contrary, become more porous from the filtration 
of the same amount of moisture into the drains below. 
Draining prevents injury from drouth, by giving a 
better growth to plants in the early summer. Seed 
sown on any soil containing stagnant water, sends no 
roots below that water-line, but may for a while grow 
well from roots near the surface. But let drouth come, 
the water-line sinks rapidly, the roots having no depth 
to seek moisture below, are parched and burned, and 
without rain the crop is irreparably injured. On a 
drained and deepened soil the roots go down without 
obstruction, and are thus prepared to withstand the 
effects of the long continued dry weather so often ex¬ 
perienced. That they will do so, a thousand facts in 
the experience of the farmer will prove to him that ob¬ 
serves them. 
If it be granted, as we think it must be, that drain¬ 
ing deepens and mellows the soil, it follows that drain¬ 
ing prevents drouth from affecting injuriously the 
growth of plants. In 1854, an excessively dry season, 
Prof. Flint of Mass , gathered a mass of testimony in 
regard to its effects on the crops, and the best means 
of preventing injury to the same. The returns came 
back, as with one voice, in favor of deepening and mel¬ 
lowing the soil, by draining, deep plowing, subsoiling 
and frequent culture, in the case of hoed ci’ops. “ The 
drouth affected deep plowed lands very little ; on those 
that were faithfully subsoiled, the corn leaves did not 
roll at all, while on those that were shallow plowed, the 
corn crop suffered much, and other crops were serious¬ 
ly affected.” A case has been stated, where a crop of 
beans were planted, grown, and ripened, on a drained 
and subsoiled field, without a shower of fifteen minutes 
duration, or supply of water from any source, save from 
the dews of Heaven and the moisture from beneath. 
At the same time, in fields adjacent, vegetation was 
parched and crisp, making no growth whatever from 
lack of moisture. 
Common Salt as a Fertilizer. 
The “ Annual of Scientific Discovery ” for 1858, 
contains the following article on the uses of salt for 
agricultural purposes, which, not having been re-pub¬ 
lished to my knowledge, I transcribe for your pages: 
“Function of Salt in Agriculture. —Mr. A. B. 
Northcote has communicated to the London Philosophi¬ 
cal Magazine, a paper of experiments undertaken to 
ascertain the rationale of the action of salt in increas¬ 
ing the fertility of certain lands. We have not space 
for details, but quote Mr. Northcote’s conclusions: 
‘ The results then which we must arrive at are, that 
agricultural salt is a most energetic absorbent of am¬ 
monia ; both in virtue of its chloride of sodium and of 
its soluble lime-salt, and that the proportion of the latter 
especially most powerfully affects its action ; but at the 
same time, its agency does not seem to be altogther a 
permanent one ; it will collect the ammonia, but it is 
questionable whether it can retain it for any great length 
of time, beca,use in the very decompositions which hap¬ 
pen in order to render tho ammonia more stable, salts 
are formed which have a direct tendency to liberate 
ammonia from its more fixed combinations. It may, 
however, retain it quite long enough for agricultural 
purposes; if the young plants are there ready to re¬ 
ceive it, its state of gradual liberation may be for them 
the most advantageous possible ; and to this conclusion 
all experiments on the large scale appear most obvious¬ 
ly to tend. It is described as an excellent check to the 
too forcing power of guano ; and from Mr. Barral’s ex¬ 
periment, we see that it either prevents the two rapid 
eremacausis of the latter, or stores up the ammonia as 
it is formed. As a manure for growing crops, all ex¬ 
perience and all theoretical considerations therefore 
show it to be the most valuable; but when employed 
to mix with manure heaps which have to stand for con¬ 
siderable periods of time, theory would pronounce, as 
practice has in many cases done, that its power of re¬ 
taining ammonia under those circumstances is at the 
best doubtful. 5 ” 
This statement is one of interest to our farmers, and 
ought to receive their attention. There is no doubt 
that salt is a most valuable fertiliser. In England, 
the salt used for agricultural purposes amounts to two 
or three millions of bushels annually. Mr. Johnston 
has several times lately alluded to the beneficial effects 
of salt upon his farm, in his correspondence published 
in your columns. In the vicinity of the salt works, 
salt is used as a top-dressing to a considerable extent. 
“ Second quality ” of salt, that is, damaged or duty 
