THE CULTIVATOR. 
67 
doctrine in agriculture, cannot, I think, have well con¬ 
sidered the downward tendencies of error. It is certain¬ 
ly a most curious “ fact,” that if the theory of transmuta¬ 
tion is correct, not a single instance has yet been adduced, 
not a single specimen has been exhibited, that would 
stand the test of a rigid scrutiny. If the doctrine that 
wheat turns to chess is well founded, it is one of which 
thousands of illustrations are presented every year, and 
yet strange to tell, of the multitudes of stories told and 
facts asserted, not one, no not a solitary one, has passed 
that ordeal of investigation to which all such matters 
should be subjected, without having its fallacy and un¬ 
soundness so exposed as to put to the blush those who 
have presented them. How many roots from which both 
wheat and chess are said to have grown have been shown; 
how many ears of wheat of which part were wheat and 
part chess, have been exhibited or reported, yet which 
thorough examination showed furnished as little support 
to the theory of transmutation, as any other stuff that 
dreams are made of. But I do not so much object to this 
theory on account of its palpable unsoundness, its contra¬ 
vention of the known laws that govern vegetation, and 
its direct contradiction of inspiration, as on account of the 
bad effects it must have on the farming of all who em¬ 
brace it. If I believe that wheat will turn to chess, 
cockle, or steinkrout, what inducement have I to keep 
fields free from these pests; what advantage in endeavor¬ 
ing to use none but clean seed? I condemn the doctrine 
as a premium for slovenly farming; as a theory which 
if fully carried out, would do more to lessen the prospe-. 
rity of western New-York, reduce her wheat crops, and 
destroy their value, than her worst enemy could in any 
other way devise. I repeat I am sorry that a gentleman 
so well known and so much respected as Mr. Allen, 
should have made such an “ advance backward,” and 
been found among the supporters of what I consider an 
agricultural heresy of the first magnitude. 
A CA.YUGA Farmer. 
« FIRST YEAR AT FARMING.” 
From a correspondent who signs “ Marion,” Ohio, 
we have received a letter, detailing at some length the 
experience of his “ first year at farming;” from which 
we give the following extract: 
“ My farm is a rich vegetable soil of over 2 feet in 
depth. I spread on about three acres of it 54 loads of 
stable manure (well filled with timothy seed) last spring, 
and harrowed it in; but I cannot see that the manure has 
added to the richness of the soil: a stranger could not 
point out the three acres. Where I put manure on the 
woodland it did well. Growth, oak and hickory; stiff 
soil, and after going 3 to 5 feet in depth underlaid with 
great thickness of lime stone; (so with the prairie.) 
Quere—Is not the lime stone too deep to benefit the 
crops? The strippings of my quarry nearest the rock, 
when exposed to the air soon falls, lays light, and effer¬ 
vesces when tried with acids. Would this pay expenses 
of applying it to crops, either on wood land or prairie? 
I can make lime for 6 cents a bushel, and can get stable 
manure delivered, at 31 cents a load. Which is cheap¬ 
est and best? Will fresh lime from the kiln, put on 
prairie in its natural state, 40 to 50 bushels per acre, kill 
out the wild grasses and weeds, and bring it into timothy 
and white clover? I have got up and sold about 1600 
perch of limestone this season. The spalls and offal I 
throw into a kiln, and in 48 hours burn near 400 bushels 
lime. The village, near by, can furnish 300 to 500 loads 
manure for the hauling cost of 25 to 31 cents per load; 
but I do not see that it benefits the prairie at all. I can 
and will make lime if you think it advisable. I have 
250 acres enclosed. The prairie furnishes good pasture, 
and plenty of stock offers on pasturage.” 
We have no doubt that one reason, and perhaps the 
greatest one, why the manure did not operate favorably 
on the prairie, is, that the land is too wet—and this, we 
think it probable, accounts for the different effect pro¬ 
duced on the timber-land, that being drier and warmer. 
On very wet and cold lands, manures lie latent or inac¬ 
tive. 
As it regards the expediency of using lime, we would 
say, make the experiment —for where lime can be made 
as low as six cents a bushel, not much risk or expense 
is incurred, surely—and the result may indicate the pro¬ 
per course for the future. After all that has been said 
about lime, we consider its modus operandi not well un¬ 
derstood, and we should decidedly prefer being guided 
by experience rather than theory. We should, however, 
be strongly inclined to the opinion, that either lime, or 
the decomposing lime-stone, would tend to ameliorate 
the soil described by our correspondent. We dare say 
his good judgment will soon teach him whether it will 
be most profitable to use lime or stable manures, or in 
what proportions he had better use each. The fact that 
the manure can be had for the hauling, and that it will 
only cost 25 to 31 cents a load when delivered on the 
ground, is important. There are many other situations 
in the west, where manure may be had in any quantity, 
on as low terms as is here mentioned, and in using ma¬ 
nures, or making experiments on new ones, this matter 
should be borne in mind. In conclusion, we presume 
<e Marion” has only to take care to drain off the surplus 
water from his lands, both by ditching and opening and 
rendering more loose the sub-soil, and using the means 
which seem to be readily at hand for improvement, to 
make himself a farm to his liking. 
RUGGLES, NOURSE & MASON’S SUB-SOIL PLOW. 
Messrs. Editors— We take the liberty to forward you 
a cut of the sub-soil plow, as now made by us. This 
plow is generally used to follow in the furrow of the 
common plow, breaking and crumbling the sub-soil to 
any desirable depth, by raising it gradually upon the in¬ 
cline plane, and dropping it again in its place, which al¬ 
lows roots to penetrate deeper, and in very retentive 
soils, or in wet seasons, the surplus waters will readily 
pass downwards, and on lands where vegetation is likely 
to suffer from drouth, by thus loosening the sub-soil ad¬ 
mits the natural moisture to ascend and become useful to 
vegetation. 
In-, at the suggestion of many eminent farmers, 
we imported from Edinburg in Scotland, one of Smith’s 
Deanston Sub-soil Plows, at an expense of $80—that be¬ 
ing the kind most approved and used in England and 
Scotland. That we believe to be the only plow of the 
kind ever brought to this country. It was made wholly 
of iron except the upper end of the handles, and being 
very long, heavy and complicated in its construction, it 
was expensive much beyond what the agriculturists of 
our country would believe necessary, or think they 
could generally afford. Since that time, we have been 
testing their operation and utility, through the farmers in 
different sections of the country, and find their effects to 
be most beneficial, equal even to the expectations of the 
most sanguine—and the demand fast increasing. We 
have so modified and simplified its construction, yet re¬ 
taining all the principles and adding some important im¬ 
provements, that we afford a plow for $15, that is capa¬ 
ble of doing the same and as good work as the original, 
and with the improvements, they are better adapted to 
be used in different soils requiring different depths. They 
were originally intended only to follow the common 
plow, but as made by us they have been successfully used 
in grass lands without first using the common plow, 
breaking the sub-soil without turning up the sward, and 
without disturbing it more than was beneficial. (See ad¬ 
vertisement.) Ruggles, Nourse & Mason. , 
Large Fleece.— Mr. Samuel Patterson, of Mur¬ 
freesboro, Tenn., informs us that he sheared from a two 
year old Bakewell buck, from the importation of Jas. E. 
Letton of Kentucky, fifteen and a quarter pounds of wool, 
free from burs. 
