372 
THE CULTIVATOR, 
plows, with sole reference to the indications of the dyna¬ 
mometer, without taking into account the goodness of the 
work. This would indeed bea very erroneous method 
of judging; but the results of the dynamometer are ex¬ 
ceedingly ambiguous on another account; that is, the speed 
with which the work is performed.. The resistance to a 
solid, moving through a fluid, is proportional to the 
square of the velocity. Whether the same law holds 
in relation to the movement of a plow through the fur¬ 
row, I believe has never been determined; but I know 
that a plow which marks 350, on the dynamometer, when 
drawn by a pair of slow cattle, will mark from 400 to 
450 when drawn by a pair of smart horses. This fact, 
which is very seldom taken into account hy judges, com¬ 
pletely vitiates these experiments and awards. 
N. N. D. 
Stockport, Nov. 10, 1845. 
WANT OF DEFINITENESS IN WRITERS. 
L. Tucker, Esq.—Probably you and your readers 
have often heard of the good old lady's test of the quali¬ 
ty of indigo. It being somewhat after this wise:—“ Take 
considerable water—put it into a tolerably sized tub— 
and into this place a small piece of indigo. If the arti¬ 
cle was of the proper quality, it would sink—or swim— 
she had forgotton which.” 
Without intending disrespect, and, I hope without 
risking the charge of obtuseness, I must say, of a similar 
character to the above, is much of the information in¬ 
tended to be conveyed by the thousand receipts and the 
scores of informants of the present age. 
Does the subject relate to matters of domestic econo¬ 
my, we have “ a little spice,” “a very little salt,” “ a 
small lump of butter,” “ a very little sugar,” &c. 
Are we to be made wiser in the details of agriculture 
or horticulture, we are told of “a part of an acre,” so and 
so—“ several loads of manure ”—“ a small quantity of 
plaster,”—“ a few inches in depth ,”—“a short distance 
apart,” &c. 
This constant use of indefinite terms, when communi¬ 
cating what is intended to be definite information, is ex¬ 
ceedingly annoying to one desirous of instruction, and 
with the less enlightened, contributes as much as any one 
thing, to bring “ book learning ” and “book farming” 
into disrepute. 
When a new or important fact is to be communicated, 
let it be done distinctly, definitely, so as to render it 
practically available. 
When a novel or otherwise remarkable experiment is 
detailed, let the manner be such as will enable another 
person, in like circumstances, to repeat it in precisely 
the original manner; or if under different circumstances, 
to so modify it as to realize, if desirable, the same re¬ 
sults. 
The above was suggested by a perusal of an experi¬ 
ment with “ guano for roses and grape vines,” given by 
your correspondent, A. T., of Brooklyn, in the Nov. no. 
of the Cultivator. 
According to his own account, the result was all that 
the most extravagant could have desired. I was pleased 
that his generosity prompted him to make you so taste- 
ingly sensible of its truth. 
But how was it accomplished? Why, in the case of 
the rose bush, simply by digging “ a portion ” of a mix¬ 
ture of one part guano with four parts of earth, in about 
the roots.” What portion of what quantity was thus dug 
in, or at what season the digging was performed, we are 
not advised. It might have been “ a small portion of a 
considerable quantity,” or the reverse; it might have 
been rather early in the season—or somewhat farther 
advanced. 
As for the one grape vine, we are equally in the dark 
here too. 
I am certainly much obliged to A. T. for his hint, for 
as it is given, it can hardly be called more than this; but, 
if he is correct in his impressions, I shall be under still 
greater obligations to him, if he will favor you with the 
precise modus et tempus operandi. in each particular case. 
J. B. C. 
Providence , R. I., Nov . 6, 1845. 
Ed. Cultivator —One of your subscribers has made 
inquiries of you concerning a “ root claw.” Above is 
a drawing of one which I have used on my farm, and 
though simple, I find it quite an efficient instrument. 
The shank is about twenty inches long, and the teeth 
twelve. The socket where the handle enters is two 
inches in diameter. The handle three and one-half feet 
long, with a pin. The thickest part of the shank is 
about two inches square. The thickest part of the teeth 
1| inches. I have used this claw for alders, willows, 
and bogs, and find it a valuable farming implement. You 
are at liberty to use this communication as you see fit. 
Yours, respectfully, Daniel Gaylord. 
N. B. The claw is a fine instrument to pull negro 
heads in the meadow. 
Gaylord’s Bridge, Ct., Nov. 1, 1845. 
KENTUCKY—ITS FARMERS AND THEIR HOMES. 
L. Tucker, Esq. —My protracted illness has prevent¬ 
ed me fulfilling my promise, and writing to you on this 
most interesting subject ere this. 
In order to prepare the reader for my plain pen and 
ink sketches, it may be well I should tell you an anecdote 
of the Duke of Wellington, when premier of England: 
He requested one of his old peninsular generals to take 
charge of the war department, and was answered by the 
veteran, that he felt his incompetency to fill the office, 
only from his inability to speak in public, and answer 
the questions necessarily put to him in Parliament. The 
Duke met him by saying, you will get along well, sir, 
if you follow my rule, which is, to speak in plain good 
English to the point in question, and avoid all attempts 
at embellishment by quoting Greek, Latin or poetry. 
Now, my situation is much the same as that of the old 
war officer; I feel my incompetency to write of the 
Kentucky farmers and their homes, only from the want 
of the “pencil” of a Willis to do it with; for no one 
is more sensible of their great worth, nor appreciates it 
more highly than I do, but I have to mourn over my in¬ 
ability to write of them, in other than plain English, un¬ 
aided and unembellished by either poetry, Greek or Latin. 
The old maxim of “green are the hills that are far 
away,” does not hold good as regards Kentucky. Though 
much I had heard of its fine lands, its extensive and well 
managed farms, and their hospitable owners, the descrip¬ 
tion fell far short of the reality, when I came to visit 
them. The lands are of the very first quality, yielding 
the heaviest crops of corn and hemp, year after year, 
without the slightest aid from manure. Where those 
crops are not growing, you find the whole of the remainder 
of the land well set in blue-grass; every inch of woodland 
throughout the country being cleared of the under¬ 
growth, and set in this grass. Your eye rests on no land 
that is not producing either fine blue-grass, or some cul¬ 
tivated crop. 
The hospitality of the farmers is hardly surpassed by 
the proverbially and prodigally hospitable Irish. You 
are greeted at every door by its gentlemanly owner, say¬ 
ing, “ Alight, sir, walk in. Tom, or John, take this gen 
