1849. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
125 
no vacuum be left directly under the trunk. The turf 
should be placed snugly around the tree with the grass 
side up, and the whole pressed down with the foot or 
some suitable instrument. In this way, two men will 
carry to the distance of one or two miles, and plant 
from twenty-five to thirty forest trees per day.” 
The committee who awarded Mr. H. the premium, 
add the following to his statement: “ In transplanting 
trees, though great care be exercised, there will be a 
severe loss of roots, and the tops should be reduced in 
proportion to this loss. Where stones can be procured, 
it is well to place a. number of good size over the roots 
at a little distance from the trunk. They tend to pre¬ 
vent the roots from working in the ground, and also, to 
keep the ground moist about the trees.” 
Good Crops in Indiana. 
Eds. Cultivator—Ira Hopkins having stated in 
the November number of the Cultivator, (1848,) how 
thirty bushels of wheat could be raised to the acre, I 
have concluded to tell you how I raised one hundred 
bushels on three acres, and eighty-four bushels on three 
acres and eighty-nine rods, the past season, on land that 
produced but thirteen bushels to the acre in 1839, which 
was one of the best wheat seasons in this neighborhood, 
we had been favored with for the last ten years. 
In the spring of 1847, I plowed three acres of clover 
and timothy sod, as deep as possible. On the 16th 
April, harrowed, cross plowed, harrowed again, made 
drills about two feet eight inches asunder, manured the 
drills liberally, dropped potatoe sets in the drills, about 
nine inches apart, covered by running the plow both 
ways in each drill. Some days after, pulled a little off 
the top of each drill with a hoe. When the plants were 8 
or 10 inches high, plowed the soil from each side of the 
drills, run a cultivator between to level and pulverise; 
run the plow both ways, and threw back the soil to the 
plants. 
On the 14th September, commenced raising the pota¬ 
toes with the plow, by taking eight or ten drills at a 
time, and plowing round them, the first furrow turned 
one side off the two outside drills, the next threw out 
the middle, the next turned over the other side, the next 
fire row turned up the space between the drills; thus 
plowing all the ground thoroughly, and so deep as to 
turn up a little of the subsoil. Used hoes after the 
plow, and when all was plowed, harrowed both ways. 
Then plowed the ground as deep as possible into lands, 2 
rods wide. Sowed' one rod at a round, and on the 30th 
of September, sowed one and a-half bushels of Medi¬ 
terranean- wheat to the acre. 
We may let the wheat grow till I tell you of the pro¬ 
duce of the potato crop; but I cannot tell you this ex¬ 
actly, though I earn tell enough to show that a medium 
potato crop produces more value than a good corn or 
wheat crop. I sold 350 bushels at 25 to 30 cents per 
bushel—$92.07. Kept 101 bushels of the middle-sized 
for seed. Gave the small ones to the cows, and sup¬ 
plied a family of thirteen persons eleven months, besides 
a man half of the time, and four or five hands a month 
in harvest. I may say that potatoes, last season, did 
not produce half as much, as they took the rot during a 
very wet time in August. When the weather changed 
the rot ceased, and none have rotted in the cellar. This 
is the first appearance of the potato disease I have 
seen, except the two previous years, the end attached 
to- the stem, rotted in a few instances. 
In April the wheat appeared too rank, and I turned 
100 sheep on it for a few days; still some spots lodged. 
On the 20th June, reaped it—stacked it when cured. 
On the 6th September got it thrashed by a machine, 
and had 101 bushels, weighing nearly 63 pounds per 
busheL Sold part at 72 cents per bushel. 
You will observe the number of plowings this piece 
of ground got. From conversing with an Englishman 
and reading the Commissioner of Patents’ Report foi 
1847, I find that the English and Germans, generally 
plow the ground twice at least, before sowing wheat. 
The three acres eighty-nine rods, was clover and ti¬ 
mothy sod also, and was manured in the winter of 1845 
and 1846, with 80 two-horse wagon-loads of barn-yard 
manure, plowed deep and harrowed, and planted in corn. 
The cultivator was run four times through the corn, but 
the plow never. I think it produced 60 bushels to the 
acre. I did not measure it, but I measured another 
field the same season. The spring of 1847, sowed it 
with barley, and it produced only seventeen bushels to 
the acre, and never got more than this of spring barley 
to. the acre.. After harvest, I scraped up all the ma¬ 
nure I could get, and scattered it over the stubble, 
plowed it down, and on the 11th September sowed six 
bushels of what is called red-chaff wheat, on the furrow, 
and harrowed it both ways. Reaped on the 22nd June, 
got it thrashed by a machine, on the 6th September, 
and had 84 bushels bright plump wheat, rather over 63. 
lbs. per busheL 
I delayed forwarding this, till I had got out some bar¬ 
ley, the produce of three acres and 157 rods, on which 
I sowed 11 bushels, or 2§ bushels to the acre, which is 
half a bushel more than I ever sowed before. It was 
highly manured in the spring of 1847, and planted in 
corn and pumpkins, and brought about 60 bushels corn 
to the acre, and an immense quantity of pumpkins. 
The produce is 70 struck bushels, weighing rather less 
than 48 lbs. per bushel, which is the legal weight of 
barley in Indiana. In 1847, I sowed eight bushels on 
three acres eighty-nine rods, or about 2\ bushels to the 
acre, and had 611 bushels, weighing 49 pounds per 
bushel—each producing about 17 or 18 bushels per 
acre. In 1846, I sowed 11 bushels on 5| acres or two 
bushels to the acre, and had but 77 bushels, or 14 bush¬ 
els per acre. Part of this land was rather flat and 
wet, and I suppose all my land is too heavy for barley 
—it bakes very hard after rain. John J. Craig. 
Madison , Indiana , January 16, 1849. 
Breaking Rocks fty Fire. 
Eds. Cultivator —While perusing the February No. 
of The Cultivator , I observed a statement from one of 
your correspondents in regard to the manner in which 
he cleared his land of stones. His mode was to exca¬ 
vate a large hole upon one side of the boulder, and par¬ 
tially under the rock which he wished to remove, and 
then roll it in. I think the process might well be re¬ 
placed by one which is much more economical. Your 
correspondent observes that it is very hard to drill some 
hard-head ” rocks; an assertion which I truly con¬ 
firm, having been engaged in the business myself, for 
weeks in succession, upon my father’s farm, in Lewis 
Co., N. Y. 
In 1843, we were clearing a piece of ground of stone 
by the aid of the drill and powder; one very cold day a 
fire was built upon a rock, which was, perhaps, 4 feet 
in diameter, near the -wall where we are at work. By 
means of the heat there were large scales loosened on 
the top of the rock, which were taken off with a crow¬ 
bar, and used for filling up the centre of the wall. 
Subsequent to this, a fire^was built upon the same 
rock, and sometime after, the scales being removed, it 
was ascertained that the rock was broken through in 
two different directions, dividing it into four nearly equal 
parts. 
The quarters being left with face sides, fitted them 
admirably fnr laying into wall. From this time hence¬ 
forth, the drill was dispensed with. Experiment show¬ 
ed that one man could carry a sufficient quantity of 
