THE CULTIVATOR. 
259 
both as respects the depth of the furrow and the width 
of furrow slice, with perfect facility and ease. 
We are quite sure that it runs very light and is of 
course easy for the team. But we did not make any 
trials with the dynamometer, and therefore are unable 
to make any comparative statement, between the draught 
of this plow and that of others. All we pretend to offer 
upon this point, is the result of our observation upon the 
apparent effort and fatigue of the team; a conclusion 
which can be relied on to some extent, though we ad¬ 
mit, far from being conclusive. We however would 
remark, by way of fortifying our opinion, that at the 
celebrated trial of plows, made at Worcester, a year or 
two since, this plow bore off the premium of one hun¬ 
dred dollars, after a very severe competition with some 
of the most celebrated plows. So far as the plowman 
is concerned, we can with certainty assert, that severe 
labor and strenuous effort on his part is almost entirely 
done away. Even skill is comparatively useless in 
working with this plow. 
This may seem a strong position to take; but in con¬ 
firmation of it we must state, that we saw furrow after 
furrow plowed with great nicety, the hand of the 
plowman having been laid to the plow only to enter it 
at the commencement of the furrow. As to the style of 
work performed, we can only say, that some of the 
plows lap the furrow slice, (and they are those which 
we prefer,) and to which our report mainly refers, while 
another (the one to which the one hundred dollar pre¬ 
mium was awarded at Worcester,) turns the furrows flat. 
The workmanship of the plow is excellent, and 
we beg specially to commend the casting of the share 
from a composition which is much harder than ordinary 
cast iron, thus ensuring a great degree of durability to 
the plowshare. If to this it be added that the share is also 
constructed upon the self-sharpening principle, it can 
easily be conceived that the purchasers of these plows 
are ensured against the too frequent recurrence of the 
vexation that results from the rapid and often unexpected, 
wear of the share. 
In conclusion, we would remark that this plow has 
obtained great celebrity, and has received and is daily 
receiving the cordial approbation of men whose opinion, 
have far greater weight than ours. We believe that is 
has lost none of its celebrity by the trial which we 
witnessed, for out of the numerous company presentt 
there was not one who did not seem to be both sur¬ 
prised and delighted with the performance of the plow. 
It may be asked how it comes that both this plow 
and the Worcester county plows, Messrs. Ruggles, 
Nourse & Mason’s, were condemned at the fair of the 
English Agricultural Society last year. Nor is it easy to 
answer the question. Prejudice, national prejudice may 
have had something to do with it. All we can say is, 
that some of the committee at least were practical men; 
we have reported only that which we saw. Moreover, 
there was present on the ground an English plowman, 
recently arrived, whose judgment was perfectly unbiased, 
who pronounced this equal to any English plow he had 
ever handled, and fully concurred with the committee in 
the opinion expressed by them. 
J. B. Nott, Albany Co. 
T. Hillhouse, « 
John McVean, Monroe Co. 
C. Hannam, Genesee Co. 
PLOWING FOR WHEAT. 
But few farmers are willing to undertake the purchase 
and use of the subsoil plow, but all may adopt the prac¬ 
tice of deep plowing by the ordinary method. In many 
parts of the country, the soil may be much improved in 
its wheat-raising qualities, by throwing up and mixing 
(With the surface, a small portion of the subsoil. In some 
instances this has been attended with strikingly success¬ 
ful effects. In others, where the subsoil has been thrown 
on the surface, the increase in the growth of wheat has 
been almost incredible. A neighbor scattered the earth 
taken from a ditch over the surface for many feet on 
each side. Afterwards when the crop of wheat averaged 
©n the rest of the field scarcely five bushels per acre, the 
portion which had been thus covered with subsoil, yield¬ 
ed from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre. In this 
case, the soil was light, and the subsoil somewhat clayey, 
and contained a small portion of carbonate of lime, effer¬ 
vescing slightly in acid; the operation rendered the 
soil stronger, firmer, and better adapted to the growth of 
wheat. Doubtless large portions of our country might 
be thus greatly, and perhaps permanently improved, by 
the use of such manure, thus lying in immense quantities 
just beneath the*surface. But there may be other sub¬ 
soils not only useless, but actually detrimental; hence 
the necessity of discrimination and care. 
PEAT AND POND MUD. 
In many localities, it is not practicable to obtain these 
enriching substances except at the driest seasons of the 
year, when the water is evaporated which usually covers 
them. The vast quantities of them which abound in 
many parts of the country, especially of peat and swamp 
muck, while the scant crops of the adjoining fields show 
how much their presence is needed, ought to stimulate 
a greater number of our farmers to seize the present op¬ 
portunity to cart them upon their fields. 
Many have been disappointed from the use of swamp 
muck or peat. Its results are much less striking than 
those of farm yard manure, not only because it possesses 
less inherent richness, but because it contains far less of 
soluble parts, and consequently imparts its strength more 
slowly to growing plants. This quality however only 
makes it more enduring. Chemists have found that by 
decoction in water, vegetable mould loses a small por¬ 
tion of its weight by solution; but if the remaining in¬ 
soluble portion is exposed to air and moisture a few 
months, another part may be again dissolved. Thus, 
peat, muck, and all decayed vegetable fibre, becomes a 
slow, but lasting source of nourishment to plants. 
Disappointment also results from the want of thorough 
intermixture with the soil. If peat or muck is merely 
spread in masses upon the surface of the soil, and then 
plowed in, it rarely proves of much benefit, until, by 
several years tillage, it becomes thoroughly intermixed. 
To prevent such failure, it should be very thoroughly and 
repeatedly harrowed, so as to promote a thorough ad¬ 
mixture with the surface soil, before it is turned unde*- 
by the plow. 
By such treatment as this, heavy soils may often be 
greatly improved, and rendered lighter and more free, 
ias well as more fertile. 
But it is when shovelled out and dried, to be mixed 
with farm yard manure, as a recipient for its volatile or 
liquid parts, that peat or muck becomes pre-eminently 
valuable. We say dried because if it is already saturated 
with water, of which it will often take in Jive-sixths of 
its own weight, it cannot absorb the liquid portions of the 
manure. But if well dried before hand, that is, if these 
five-sixths of water are expelled, it will then absorb 
five-sixths of its weight in liquid manure, and it then 
becomes eminently fertilizing. The chief reason that 
the application of peat to barn-yards has not proved of 
greater value, is, that farmers have applied it when it 
was already filled with water, and consequently it could 
take in little of any thing else. 
When peat or muck is to be drawn to a distance, it is 
obvious that a great saving would be made by shovelling 
it out under large coarse sheds, some months before 
drawing, that the water may be well evaporated, and so 
obviate the necessity of drawing several tons of water to 
every ton of peat. 
Pond mud is sometimes a highly fertilizing substance. 
Where the materials which streams deposit, consist of 
road-washings, or the drainings of farm yards or of ma¬ 
nured fields, they constitute frequently a compost of the 
richest kind. The same remark will apply to stagnant 
ponds which have been much frequented by animals, 
and which have become dry. In the latter part of sum¬ 
mer and early in autumn, these valuable materials may 
be easily carted out on the adjacent lands, and they form 
one of the best and most suitable manures for wheat, 
being free from the objections which exist in cases of 
unfermented or long farm-yard manure. 
