1 
THE CULTIVATOR. 25 
This machine is calculated for cutting the heads from standing grain, leaving the straw behind. Where grain 
stands up well, it is warranted to cut the heads from 25 acres of wheat per day—the power employed being three 
horses, requiring two men and a boy to manage the machine. It is claimed that from one to three bushels more 
grain is saved per acre by the use of this machine, than is saved in the usual way. As the heads of the grain are 
cut off, they are received into a large box, or te receiver,” and when that is filled, the heads may be conveyed to 
the barn, or secured in cribs-—the latter being considered preferable, as they afford the grain a better chance to dry. 
From half an acre to an acre of wheat (according to the condition of the crop,) may be cut at a time, without un¬ 
loading the “receiver.” The operation of threshing is much facilitated by this mode of cutting grain—making a 
saving in this respect of from fifty to seventy-five per cent. It is confidently believed that this machine is desti¬ 
ned to effect a great improvement in the saving of labor and expense in harvesting grain, and preparing it for mar¬ 
ket. By the use of it, the farmer is enabled to cut and secure, at the proper time and in good order, his wheal 
crop, with only the ordinary number of hands employed on his farm, besides abolishing the severe labor and 
drudgery of harvesting in the usual mode. The machine is manufactured by the patentee, George Esterlv, 
Heart-Prairie, Wisconsin, and will shortly be for sale at Chicago, and other central points in the western country. 
PRACTICAL HUSBANDRY. 
Improvement of Worn Out and naturally Poor Lands , Old 
Fields , fyc., in the Middle States . 
I intimated in a late paper in the Cultivator, (vol. 1? 
p. 344,) that I would shortly give the readers of that ex¬ 
cellent work an answer to the question how the im¬ 
provement of the kinds of land mentioned in the heading 
of this article, could be accomplished in the cheapest 
way. I now proceed to the fulfilment of my promise. 
Land is poor or rich from various causes. It may be 
poor naturally, from being deprived of the accumulation 
of decomposed organized matter, by the washings of rain, 
the overflowing of streams, &c., and by its own gravelly 
and porous nature, admitting the upward filtering of 
spring water, as is the case in low gravelly bottoms. It 
may also be poor from the too large a portion of iron in 
its composition. But the most universal cause of pover¬ 
ty of soil, is exhaustion, from over-cropping, taking 
away always, and returning nothing; as was so generally 
the practice in old times, and is too much the practice 
now in all the middle States. In a former paper I have 
expressed the opinion that a man may purchase and im¬ 
prove a piece of this poor or worn out land cheaper than 
will be the cost of removal to, and purchase of a piece 
of land in the west, especially when the sacrifices inci¬ 
dent to such removal are taken into the account. I most 
sincerely believe in the truth of this proposition. But let 
us proceed to the subject—the how, not the why, this 
land should be improved. 
The first object to be attended to in the improvement 
of land, is the grubbing up and clearing off* every tree and 
shrub that is not wanted. Let this be done at the begin¬ 
ning. Allow no clumps or clusters of bushes or briars, 
or single ones either, to remain in the field. The next 
thing is ditching and draining of all sunken and boggy 
places, if such exist. Very often the simple plow furrow 
will answer, but sometimes a deep ditch must be dug. If 
it be deep enough, a blind ditch should always be prefer¬ 
red, so that you may cultivate the land over the ditch, and 
also save your land the inconvenience of open ditches. 
Having grubbed and ditched, and thus drained the land, 
the next object is to ascertain the quality of the soil, all 
parts of it. You may find that the low places you have 
drained are composed of hard clay. Some of the upper 
or higher places may be too sandy. You will in such 
case, employ your carts in carrying clay to the sandy 
parts, and return with sand to the clayey parts; and be 
very liberal in your exchanges, too. You may spread 
the clay at once, or allow it to remain a winter in cart 
load heaps, and spread it in the spring. The sand may 
be spread, of course, at once. All this is merely getting 
the land ready. A carpenter builds his shop, and 44 getg 
out” his stuff - , before he thinks of “ going to work” at his 
trade. So does every other artisan or mechanic. Why 
should a farmer not, also, before he goes to work to make 
money and a living, first “ get his shop in order ?” Hav¬ 
ing properly grubbed, drained, and mixed the soil, the 
next thing to be done is to ascertain the quality of the 
whole. It most probably wants lime to make it com¬ 
plete. Take a handful here and there from the whole 
field, say twenty handsful in all; mix them well togeth¬ 
er; then take a handful from the whole mixture, put it 
upon a shovel and heat it red hot; then take it from the 
fire and let it cool; when cold, pulverize it into a fine 
powder, and pour upon it good cider vinegar; diluted 
muriatic acid is best, but vinegar, if good, will do; if it 
foams considerably, you want no lime in the soil; if it do 
not foam, you must then apply lime. Nearly all the land in 
the middle States wants lime, and is benefited by its appli¬ 
cation. If it wants no lime, then go to work as follows: 
plow in the fall with the deepest working plow you can 
afford. In the spring, sow corn broadcast; and as soon 
as it is as high as you can well turn under with a good 
plow and two or three horse team, turn it under well, 
and immediately sow corn again broadcast; as soon as 
that is high enough to turn under, turn that also with a 
deep working plow. Generally you may turn under three 
crops in the same season. In the fall plow deeply in 
turning the last crop of corn under, harrow and se.ed with 
wheat. However poor your land may have been, you 
may be sure of a good crop of wheat the ensuing harvest. 
In sowing the corn, about three to four bushels should be 
sown to the acre, each crop. 
If by the trial above described, you find your land re¬ 
quires lime, then, before the first plowing, apply twenty 
bushels of slaked lime to the acre, broadcast, then plow 
as before directed, sow the corn, and proceed as before, 
taking care to sow twenty bushels of lime before turning 
under each crop of corn; sow the lime on the corn as it 
stands, and turn corn and lime all in together. In this 
way, a first rate soil may be made out of the poorest old 
field in Maryland or any where else; and it will be ob¬ 
served that the only cost is in the liming and value of the 
