THE CULTIVATOR. 
209 
IMPLEMENTS FOR CULTIVATING CORN AND 
OTHER CROPS. 
Corn-ground should be kept light. In some instances 
the soil is not naturally too heavy, and where this is the 
case, the use of some implement that will merely cut up 
the weeds, seems all that is necessary in cultivating 
the crop. A light harrow and cultivator are perhaps as 
good implements as can be used. But where the ground 
gets too compact, something is required to loosen it, and 
give the roots a chance to penetrate and obtain the sub¬ 
stances necessary for the growth of the plant. The com¬ 
mon plow, though much used, we think is not the right 
kind of a tool for this business. It throws the soil too 
much into ridges, and instead of loosening, its pressure 
leaves the substratum heavier than it was before. We 
Yankees, generally suppose ourselves in advance of oth¬ 
ers in the proper construction and use of implements of 
husbandry; but in the use of the right kind of implements 
for cultivating Indian corn, the south and west are ahead 
of us. They use a coulter, a shovel plow, and a cultiva¬ 
tor, according as either is most suitable. The coulter is 
a simple, but very effective implement, particularly use¬ 
ful in securing deep tillage, which is effected without 
disturbing the growing crop, or inverting the surface 
soil, which is a great security against drouth. The im¬ 
plement is sometimes made with two points, as in the 
annexed cut. The late Hon. James M. Garnet of 
Essex county, Va., highly recommended this tool 
for cultivating corn, and gave the following directions 
for making such an one as is here represented: 
“ The lower part is made out of inch square iron, flat¬ 
tened and well-steeled at the points, and is twenty-tw r o 
inches long. The upright part is of bar-iron, about 
three inches wide by five-eighths thick, and should be 
eighteen inches high from the top of the bottom of the 
square bar. The front and hinder edge of the upright 
should be left square, as it is much easier to break, 
than to cut a root with a coulter. A half inch 
screw-bolt will suffice to fasten the upright in the mor¬ 
tice through the beam, which mortice should have a 
strong iron plate above and below, made so exactly to fit 
that part of the coulter, as to keep it firm in its place. The 
usual pitch for the beam of a two-horse plow should be 
given to the beam of the coulter.” 
The shovel-plow consists of a beam and handles simi¬ 
lar to that of the coulter above represented. The share 
is a piece of wrought iron laid with steel, somewhat re¬ 
sembling a round-pointed spade or shovel. The point 
should be drawn forward and the sides bent back so that 
the shape will be similar to a cultivator tooth. The 
share is fastened on by a screw-bolt to a piece of wood, 
(say 3 inches square.) morticed into the the beam. This 
implement, when rightly made, is very useful. It is 
generally made badly, which prejudices those who never 
saw a good one, against them. The share is commonly 
set too near at right angles with the beam, which pre¬ 
vents the tool from drawing readily into the ground, 
and while attached to the horse occasions it to have an 
unsteady, jumping motion. If the share is rightly set, it 
will be drawn into the ground by the natural draught, 
will work in any ground well, and will do better work 
among stumps or stones than any other implement. The 
share may be made of any width or size, or shares 
of different width may be made to fit the same wood¬ 
work, and used as needed. A wheel of proper size at¬ 
tached to the beam, for land not too rough, would be 
found an advantage in imparting steadiness of motion, 
and enabling the plowman to regulate the depth with 
more ease and precision. A good plow of this kind, al¬ 
though it more thoroughly loosens the soil than a com¬ 
mon plow, yet leaves it less thrown into ridges and in 
better order. The best farmers pass the the cultivator 
through immediately after the shovel-plow, at the last 
time of working the corn, which leaves the ground suf¬ 
ficiently level. 
In cultivating a crop on sward-gound, the sod ought 
not to be turned up the first season. Unless the furrows 
become run together by heavy rains, or settle down too 
hard, decomposition will more effectually take place, and 
the gases evolved will be more effectually taken up by 
by the crop, if the sod is left undisturbed. Should it be 
expedient to loosen the soil, the coulter will do it with¬ 
out bringing the grass to the surface, and the shovel-plow 
with its thin, sharp edge, will shave the furrows just as 
is wished without breaking them. A shovel-plow of 
small size may be run very close to the corn, and sufficient 
earth may be thrown by it to bury and kill the small 
weeds around the hill, without doing any hurt. 
Potatoes need a little earth thrown around them—just 
enough to keep the sun and air from injuring the tubers. 
The cultivator and shovel-plow will generally do the 
work right. 
For turneps, beets, &c., some tool is wanted that will cut 
the ground fine and kill the weeds, and at the same time 
run near the plants without doing harm. It must 
not throw the earth towards the plants because while 
they are small a slight burying will kill them. A frame 
like a cultivator with sharp harrow-teeth, and strong but 
sharp knives, turned in, will cut every thing close up to 
the plants. 
In cultivating all crops, it should be made a primary 
object to keep down the weeds from the outset—they 
should not be allowed to get the least headway. The 
harrow, cultivator or plow, should be kept constantly 
moving, and by due attention to this, the use of the hoe 
or hand-labor may be in a great degree rendered unne¬ 
cessary. 
Driving Horses with a Single Line. —While on 
the subject of cultivating corn, &c., we cannot avoid 
saying a word on the mode of driving horses with a 
single line, practiced at the south and west. Horses well 
broken to this mode, are much more easily governed by 
the driver than by the other mode. They will generally 
go straighter forward, and in marking out furrows for 
planting, or working among corn, there is no necessity 
of a boy to ride—a man skillful at the business will mark 
out his rows, for half a mile in length, as straight as if 
done by a line. The horse is soon habituated to the 
mode—he learns that a steady pull is intended to bring 
him to the left, and di jerk to incline him to the right. 
The heavy six-horse teams to be seen on the National 
road, are all driven by a single line attached to the lead¬ 
er, or near forward horse. The off horses are coupled 
to the near ones. It is true horses may be so disciplined 
that they will go right without any line, being fully un¬ 
der command of the driver’s voice, but they are not 
often found so, and for managing one horse, only, we 
decidedly prefer the single line instead of using double 
lines, or heating the horse by putting a boy on his back. 
TO KILL GOPHERS, &c. 
An animal by some called the gopher, a species oi 
mole, is sometimes very troublesome in meadow grounds, 
by throwing up little mounds of earth, which buries and 
destroys the grass. We have heretofore given various 
modes of destroying them, one of which, with a cut of 
the trap, will be found at page 70 of vol. 10. A writer 
in the Prairie Farmer, (John Sherfry,) says he poisons 
them with arsenic in the following manner :—“I take a 
small potatoe and stick holes into it with my pocket 
knife or a sharp stick, and put into the holes a little arse¬ 
nic; then I go where they have last been digging, and 
with a spade or hoe open their tunnel, and drop in 
the potato. I then put in a wisp of straw or grass or 
any thing else that will koep the ground from closing the 
tunnel, and cover it up with earth. Sometimes one can 
discover them when they have a hole open, throwing 
out earth; that is the best time to roll a potato in.” 
