30 
THE CULTIVATOR. Jan. 
learn how farmers had to manage in early times; and 
for this purpose I give an extract from The Plough 
Boy of 1821, vol. 3, page 5, with some verbal altera¬ 
tions.: 
u Ten years ago, the farmers of this town were satis¬ 
fied with the Bull plow. They thought it superior to 
every other among roots and stumps. It was easily 
drawn back when it got fast, for it generally had no 
coulter ; the share but little slant, and a short nose. 
“ Hard gravelly ground however, soon dulls a plow 
share. Many of us had to go far to a blacksmith’s. 
While we were gone, the team was idle at home. 
When we arrived the shop floor would be partly covered 
with plow shares, but first come, first served, was the 
rule. From one-fourth to half a day was often lost in 
this way. But this was not all our trouble. The share 
sometimes came back in a different shape—it no longer 
ran like the same plow. It often had too much or too 
little pitch, and the share warped in hardening. A load 
of dirt fastened on it.” &c. 
Such was the state of things when Jethro Wood 
introduced his plow. Its permanent shape, and cast- 
iron edge, wrought a total change in our condition, 
but not without great opposition for a time. He 
told me that all his friends, (with one or two excep¬ 
tions,) endeavored to discourage him from trying “ pot- 
metal !” and the same opinions were prevalent when he 
proposed to dispense with the old sheath or standard, 
and substitute a projection from the upper edge of the 
mould-board, to pass through the beam. His language 
to me at that time was, “ I intend to make it as sim¬ 
ple as a skimming dish.” For this improvement alone, 
(whether it pass through or be fastened under the beam) 
his name should be immortalized, and no candid person 
can deny him extraordinary merit, when he considers 
that every plow, down to that time, had been encum¬ 
bered with a heavy sheath of wood or wrought iron— 
expensive, and liable to get out of order. 
In his first patented plow, nearly a dozen screws 
were employed,* but in that of 1819, not a screw was 
seen; and the plowman was rendered independent of 
the blacksmith—avoiding long bills and great loss of 
time. 
The exercise of mind, and amount of labor to perfect 
these improvements, can scarcely be appreciated by 
those who have not been engaged in similar pursuits. 
It was a new field, and everything had to be learned by 
experiment. To discover and procure the best mate¬ 
rials for patterns, as well as to prepare them, em¬ 
ployed him for a long time; and most men would have 
shrunk from the difficulties that met him at the found¬ 
ries. Often he had to overcome the awkwardness or 
unwillingness of the moulders by presents, or by show¬ 
ing them how to succeed with his own hands. 
I am satisfied that all his patented improvements 
were inventions of his own—originating in his own 
mind; and to avoid encroaching on what others had in¬ 
vented, he had every volume within his reach that 
treated of plows, (including several Encyclopedias,) 
carefully examined for that purpose. 
To Jethro Wood’s name belongs the honor of ren¬ 
dering the plow that cheap and efficient instrument that 
we now find it—enabling us to cultivate our fields at 
less than a quarter of the former expense, and saving 
millions to the country. David Thomas. Greatfield, 
Cayuga Co., 12 mo. 10, 1847. 
House-Feeding Sheep. 
Richard Simeon, Isle of Wight, England, has very suc¬ 
cessfully practiced stall-feeding sheep for several years, 
one house containing 140 stalls, the other 150. 
The stalls should accord with the size of the sheep, 
it being essential that they should not be so large that 
the animal can turn round and dirty the trough. Each 
sheep is confined by a leathern collar, attached to a 
slight chain, furnished with a couple of swivels, suffi¬ 
ciently long to secure comfort to the animal, but not 
long enough to hang back beyond the division of his 
stall, and to interfere with his neighbor. A feeding 
trough is placed at the head of each sheep, divided for 
turneps at one end, and chaff, meal, &c., at the oher, 
and a small rack for clover above. A cast-iron trough 
to every two sheep, is supplied with water by a stop¬ 
cock from a common cistern. A manure trough, two 
feet wide and deep, made of brick and water lime, and 
covered with a wood grating, receives the manure, the 
sheep standing in rows back to back. This needs 
cleaning once in ten weeks. Shutters to the stalls 
regulate the amount of fresh air in cold and mild wea¬ 
ther. The manure is of the richest quality, equal to 
guano. The sheep are healthy, and thrive fqst, gain¬ 
ing usually two aud a half pounds per week, often three 
pounds, and in some rare instances a pound a day. 
These advantages could not be less in our severer 
winters. These facts were stated in the Gardener’s 
Chronicle. 
Farming on a Large Scale. 
According to a statement of S. S. Griscom, in the Far¬ 
mer’s Cabinet, the farm of R. R. Bolling, below Rich¬ 
mond, Virginia, consists of 7000 acres of excellent 
land; 2,700 acres are under cultivation, all having 
been limed, and enormous crops of clover turned under 
at every plowing for a crop. Tho wheat-field has 910 
acres, about 20 bushels per acre. There are 545 acres 
in corn, estimated to average 30 bushels per acre. All 
the buildings, barns, stables, &c., are of the best con¬ 
struction, aud in the most perfect order, and the best 
management and strict economy are maintained in the 
manufacture of manure. A spacious barn is furnished 
with a steam-engine, working a saw mill for the use of 
the farm, a mill for grinding corn-meal, another for 
grinding plaster,—and threshing machines capable of 
cleaning out about 1000 bushels per day. While the 
writer was there, they averaged 800 bush, wheat per 
day, threshed, cleaned, and put in the granaries—yet so 
large is the crop, that nearly a month is employed at this 
rapid rate, to thresh the whole. The threshers are on 
the second floor, from which the wheat falls into the 
fans on the floor below; it is then taken by elevators to 
the third story, where it passes through screens, and 
then into the bins, almost without any assistance from 
manual labor. A cupola surmounts the barn, in which 
is a large clock, with four faces, so that the time can 
be seen from nearly all parts of the farm, and the bell 
which strikes the hours can be heard much farther. 
The proprietor offers very liberal terms to northern 
men of enterprising, industrious, and virtuous habits, to 
purchase and settle upon his lands. 
Sound Views. 
Dr. P. Crispell, in his address before the Ulster Co. 
Ag. Society, makes the following sinsible remarks in 
relation to the necessity of understanding the princi¬ 
ples of agriculture, in order to prosecute farming suc¬ 
cessfully. 
11 The time has been that a man was ridiculed if he 
attempted by education or by study, to prepare himself 
for attending to his farming scientifically. It is a fact 
which need not be disguised, that by many, the book 
farmer, as he is sneeringly called, is looked on with 
contempt and ridicule. It seems to be the opinion 
of those who are opposed to education on this all im¬ 
portant subject, that farming is simply plowing, and 
reaping; and that manual labor is the main and al¬ 
most only element that is required to make the farmer. 
