THE CULTIVATOR. 
257 
entirely both leaves and stalks. A very striking- benefit 
is derived from the use of the green stalks, during the 
latter part of summer and in autumn, for milch cows; and 
a proof of their excellence is furnished by the fact that 
when the dried fodder is thrown upon the ground and co¬ 
vered with the best hay, cattle will throw aside the latter, 
which will not be touched till the stalks are entirely con¬ 
sumed. J * 
PLOWS. 
Messrs. Editors —When I penned my communica¬ 
tion on plows for the May number of your Cultivator, I 
had no intention of engaging in any controversy on that 
subject, or of detracting any from the merits of Prouty & 
Mears’ Centre-Draught Plow. Nor -would I deem it ne¬ 
cessary to trouble you at this time, were it not for some 
errors into which a correspondent under the signature of 
« Centre Draught,” in your last number, has fallen. 
When I first observed the plate, of “the Boston Centre- 
Draught Plow, ’ I was struck with the obvious advantage 
of the new gearing, especially in adding strength to the 
plow, for it is not uncommon to break the beam, espe¬ 
cially in very stony and rough plowing. But where there 
is occasion as sometimes occurs to put the plow in to the 
beam, the fastening would interfere with the work. The 
wheel of the centre-draught is necsssarily placed on one 
side, for the iron bar that runs under the beam occupies 
the place ordinarily allotted for that instrument. 
But I am told that, what is matter of opinion is no ev¬ 
idence in a court of inquiry. I have not experienced 
this as law, but with due deference to your correspond¬ 
ent whose experience exceeds mine on this point, I would 
observe that I have yet to learn that farmers when giving 
their opinions on implements of husbandry are required 
to be tied down to such strict rules. If all were to act 
on this principle the inventors of the various new patents 
would be illy rewarded for their genius and labor. A 
good description or a good plate is sometimes sufficient 
for the practical man. But while your correspondent 
would trammel me with rules, he has himself totally 
disregarded such trappings. When he claims superiority 
for the centre-draught plow for all kinds of work, he has 
simply given his opinion- He has evidently not seen the 
Bergen plow, or he would not have fallen into the error 
of not observing that the wing or share reverses as well 
as the point. 
I observed in my former article that I had no direct in¬ 
terest in the sale of any plow, which I haveoniyto repeat. 
If Prouty & Mears 5 patent should prove superior to any yet 
in use, I will be benefited thereby in common with the( 
rest of the agricultural community. But as a matter of 
opinion—opinion founded on experience, I cannot assent 
to the doctrine laid down by your correspondent and 
claimed for the centre-draught plow; that a plow best 
formed for turning over a tough sod, is also the best for 
all other purposes —and the best for every kind of soil. 
For ordinary cross-plowing between rows and hills, the 
plowman requires no wheels and centre-draught fasten¬ 
ings. His machinery must be simple, and his plow 
light. In this section I have found Mr. Mayer’s patent 
generally preferred for such purpose. 
In conclusion I would inform “ Centre draught,” and 
the dozen to whom he alludes, that what was beforestated 
as belief in reference to the invention of the self-sharpening 
principle as applied to points and shares, is fact. The 
invention belongs entirely to Mr. Bergen and was secured 
to him by patent in 1819. So far from the name of the 
inventor being lost in the lapse of time, I have the above 
declaration from him in propria persona, together with 
his acceptance of the challenge to meet the centre- 
draught plow at the plowing match to be held at Pough¬ 
keepsie in the fall, where there may be competitors that 
will outstrip either of the plows under notice. 
Brooklyn, July 17, 1844. J. G. B. 
Cure for Founder.— The seeds of sunflower are the 
best remedy known for the cure of founder in horses. 
Immediately on discovering that your horse is founder¬ 
ed, mix about a pint of the whole seed in his feed, and 
it will give a perfect cure. 
ORNAMENTAL GARDENING. 
Those who have had the pleasure of reading the first 
number of Colman’s “ European Agriculture,' 5 will doubt¬ 
less agree with me in the opinion that the author has 
amply fulfilled the expectations which his abilities and 
opportunities had raised. Much that is interesting, and 
a great deal that is instructive, are comprised within the 
eighty pages before us; and the justness of his remarks 
in most instances, will be freely admitted; at the same 
time, those who are intimately acquainted with the state 
of society and morals in England, in the higher as well 
as lower classes, will see at once that in ascribing, though 
indirectly or by implication, all or nearly all the vice and 
immorality to one class only, he has greatly erred. They 
will also be surprised to find him contrasting, to the dis¬ 
advantage of the English laborer, their vicious habits with 
the worst cases to be found in our own country. We 
must not complain loudly of the abuses or illiberality of 
English tourists, unless we are exceedingly careful not to 
tread, though it be very faintly and at a most respectful 
distance, in their footsteps. But my object is not to crit¬ 
icise, but to commend the work before us; and the de¬ 
fects we may see are only the more visible from the beau¬ 
ty and excellence of the surrounding mass. 
You have already given some extracts from the work, 
and it is now my wish to call the attention of your readers 
to a few remarks, where not only the pleasure, but the 
utility, in a physical and moral aspect, of the cultivation 
of grounds for trees and shrubs, is strongly enforced. 
“ The cultivation of flowers and shrubs and vines, is a 
remarkable and prominent feature in the landscape of 
England: and a circumstance which has given no little 
gratification to my national pride, has been the profusion 
of American plants, which are seen in the shrubberies 
and plantations and pleasure grounds, both public and 
private. * * Green houses and conservatories are al¬ 
most universal in the country where any thing like a gar¬ 
den exists; and the better class of houses are surrounded 
and adorned with a great variety of flowering shrubs and 
plants, presenting through the season, a charming succes¬ 
sion of gay and brilliant ornaments. Even the laborer’s 
humble cottage, too seldom, I am compelled to admit, 
any thing but a picturesque object, will occasionally have 
its ornamental shrubs adorning its doorway, and the ivy 
hanging its beautiful tresses over its window, forming as 
it were, a mirror, set in a frame of the richest green. The 
village of Marr, in Yorkshire, not far from Doncaster, and 
the village of Edensor, in Derbyshire, near Chatsworth, 
and the village of Lord Brownlow, in Lincolnshire, the 
best built, and by far the handsomest villages I have yet 
seen in England, to cottages of an excellent and pictu¬ 
resque construction, add those beautiful rural embellish¬ 
ments of vines and shrubs and flowers, and at first blush 
compel a reflecting mind to admit the moral influence of 
such arrangements upon the character and manners of their 
inhabitants.” 
The sarcasm in the following remark, it will be seen 
is in the writer's own style: “ I have said and written a 
great deal to my countrymen about the cultivation of 
flowers, ornamental gardening,and rural embellishments; 
and I would read them a homily on the subject every day 
of every remaining year of my life, if I thought it would 
induce them to make this a matter of particular attention 
and care. When a man asks me what is the use of shrubs 
and flowers, my first impulse is always to look under his 
hat and see the length of his ears. I am heartily sick of 
measuring every thing by a standard of mere utility and 
profit; and as heartily do I pity the man who can see no 
good in life but in pecuniary gain, or in the mere animal 
indulgences of eating anil drinking.” 
Speaking of the facilities which we possess, in a free 
use of our own land, in a fine climate, and in the beauty 
of our native plants, for the formation of gardens and or¬ 
namental grounds, he says, “ Few countries intemperate 
climates are richer in the floral kingdom of nature, an/! 
the luxuriance of vegetable growth, and the splendors of 
vegetable beauty, than the United States. Why should 
they not be cultivated ? Was the human eye, that won¬ 
der of.wonders, that matchless organ of our physical con- 
I stitution, that inexhaustible instrument of the most exalt- 
