40 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
(?) The leaves are the necssary organs for elaborating the food 
of plants, and when these are taken away the plant must cease to 
grow. The sap is useless until it undergoes elaboration in the 
leaves. Hence, when corn is topped in the usual way, the supply of 
food is cut off from the grain, except what may be elaborated in the 
husks. On comparing corn gathered by the first and second modes, 
it was the opinion of those who assisted in husking, that the first 
was soundest, brightest and heaviest. The third mode I have not 
tried. But it seems probable, that the grain might acquire an in¬ 
crease of volume, though it would lose again by depredation and 
waste. The first method has these further advantages that it pre¬ 
serves the cob from being saturated with rains, and secures the fod¬ 
der, when it is in its highest perfection and greatest quantity. 
Science of Agriculture. 
ploughing! 
Ploughing is justly considered the most important of agricultural 
operations, as on the manner in which this is performed, depends 
the facility of executing all succeeding operations on the same piece 
of land. The manual operation of holding the plough in a proper po¬ 
sition, and directing the horses or cattle which draw it at the same 
time, is only to be acquired by experience; when once attained it is 
perhaps one of the most agreeable and healthy of agricultural exer¬ 
cises, the body being kept upright, the arms and legs being brought 
into action, and also the eye and the mind, to keep the furrow straight, 
and of regular width and depth, and the voice to speak to the horses. 
Three different points require particular attention in ploughing : 
1st, The breadth of the slice to be cut; 2d, its depth ; and 3d, the 
degree in which it is to be turned over;—which last circumstance 
depends both upon the construction of the plough, particularly the 
mould-board, and the care of the ploughman. 
The breadth and depth of the furrow-slice are regulated by judicious¬ 
ly placing the draught on the nozzle or bridle of the plough ; setting 
it so as to go more or less deep, and to take more or less land or 
breadth of slice, according as may be desired. In general, the 
plough is so regulated that, if left to itself, and merely kept from fall¬ 
ing over, it would cut a little broader and a little deeper than is re¬ 
quired. The coulter is also placed with some inclination towards 
the left or land side, and the point of the stock or share has a slight 
tendency downwards. 
The degree to which the furrow-slice turns over, is in a great mea¬ 
sure determined by the proportion between its breadth and depth, 
which for general purposes, is usually as three is to two, or when 
the furrow is nine inches broad it ought to be six inches in depth. 
When the slice is cut in this proportion, it will be nearly half turned 
over, or recline at an angle of forty or forty-five degrees ; and a field 
so ploughed will have its ridges longitudinally ribbed into angular 
drills or ridglets. But if the slice is much broader in proportion to 
its depth, it will be almost completely overturned, or left nearly flat, 
with its original surface downwards ; and each successive slice will 
be somewhat overlapped by that which was turned over immediate¬ 
ly before it. And finally, when the depth materially exceeds the 
width, each furrow-slice will fall over on its side, leaving all the ori¬ 
ginal surface bare, and only laid somewhat obliquely to the horizon. 
Ploughing with the breadth and depth nearly in the proportion of 
three to two, is best adapted for laying up stubble land after harvest, 
when it is to remain during winter exposed to the mellowing influ¬ 
ence of frost, preparatory to fallow or turnips. 
The shallow furrow of considerable width, as five inches in depth by 
eight or nine wide, is understood to answer best for breaking up old 
lays, because it covers up the grass turf, and does not bury the ma¬ 
nured soil. 
Ploughing with the depth of the furrow considerably exceeding the 
width, is a most unprofitable and uselessly slow operation, which 
ought seldom or never to be adopted. 
The most generally useful breadth of a furrow-slice is from eight to 
ten inches, and the depth, which ought to be seldom less than four 
inches, except in soils uncommonly thick and fertile. When it is 
necessary to go deeper, as for carrots and some other deep rooted 
plants, a trench ploughing may be given by means of a second 
plough following in the same furrow. 
Shall on> ploughing ought always to be adopted alter turnips are 
eaten on the ground, that the manure may not be buried too deep; 
and also in covering lime—especially if the ground has been pulve¬ 
rized by fallowing, because it naturally tends to sink in the soil. In 
ploughing down farm-yard dung, it is commonly necessary to go 
rather deep, that no part of the manure may be left exposed to the 
atmosphere. In the first ploughing for fallow or green crops, it is 
advisable to work as deep as possible, and no great danger is to be 
apprehended, though a small portion of the sub-soil be at that time 
brought to the surface. 
The furrow-slices are generally distributed into beds, varying in 
breadth according to circumstances ; these are called ridges or lands, 
and are divided from one another by gutters or open furrows.—■ 
These last serve as guides to the hand and eye of the sower, to the 
reapers, and also for the application of manures in a regular manner. 
In soils of a strong or retentive nature, or which have wet, close sub¬ 
soils, these furrows serve likewise as drains for carrying off the sur¬ 
face water, and being cleared out, after the land is sowed and har¬ 
rowed, have the name of water-furrows, 
Ridges are not only different in breadth, but are raised more or 
less in the middle, on different soils. On clayey retentive soils, the 
great point to be attended to is the discharge of superfluous water. 
But narrow ridges or stitches of from three to five feet, are not ap¬ 
proved of in some of the best cultivated counties. In these a breadth 
of fifteen or eighteen feet, the land raised by two gatherings of the 
plough, is most commonly adopted for such soils; such ridges being 
thought more convenient for manuring, sowing, harrowing, and reap¬ 
ing, than narrower ones; and the water is drained off quite as ef¬ 
fectually. 
Ridges on dry porous turnip soils, may be formed much broader; 
and were it not for their use in directing the laborers, may be, and 
sometimes are, dispensed with altogether. They are often thirty or 
thirty-six feet broad, which in Scotland are called ban-win ridges, 
because reaped by a band of shearers, commonly six, served by one 
binder. If it be wished to obliterate the intermediate furrows, this 
may be done by casting up a narrow ridgelet, or single bout ridge, 
between the two broad ridges, which is afterwards levelled by the 
harrows. 
The mode of forming ridges straight, and of uniform breadth, is as 
follows : let us suppose a field perfectly level, that is to be laid off 
into ridges of any determinable breadth. The best ploughman be¬ 
longing to the farm conducts Ihe operation, with the aid of three or 
more poles, shod with iron, in the following manner : The first thing 
is to mark off the head ridges, on which the horses turn into plough¬ 
ing, which should in general be of an equal breadth from the bound¬ 
ing lines of the field, if these lines are not very crooked or irregular. 
The next operation, assuming one straight side of the field, or a line 
that has been made straight, as the proper direction of the ridges, is 
to measure off from it with one of the poles, half the intended 
breadth of the ridge, if it is to be gathered, or one breadth and a half, 
if to be ploughed flat; and then the ploughman sets up a pole as a 
direction for the plough to enter. On a line with this, and at some 
distance, he plants a second pole, and then in the same manner a 
third, fourth, &c. as the irregularity of the surface may render ne¬ 
cessary, though three must always be employed—the last of them at 
Ihe end of the intended ridge, and the whole in one straight line. 
He then enters the plough at the first pole, keeping the line of poles 
exactly between the horses, and ploughs down all the poles success¬ 
ively ; halting his horses at each, and replacing it at so many feet 
distant as the ridges are to be broad ; so that when he reaches the 
end of the ridge, all his poles are again set up in a new line parallel 
to the first. He returns, however, along his former track, correcting 
any deviations, and throwing a shallow furrow on the opposite side 
of his former one. This mode has a decided preference over the 
common practice, of laying the two furrows first towards each other. 
By first throwing them from each other, and then reversing them, the 
whole ground is ploughed ; and, if the first furrows are shallow, the 
ridge has but a slight elevation in the centre. These furrows, when 
reversed, form the crown of the ridge, and direct the ploughmen who 
are to follow. The same operations are carried on until the whole 
field is marked out. 
The direction and length of ridges are points which must evidently 
be regulated by the nature of the surface, and the size of the field. 
Short angular ridges, called butts, which are often necessary in a 
field of irregular boundaries, are always attended with a considera¬ 
ble loss of time, and ought to be avoided as much as possible. 
In ploughing sleep land, it is advisable to give the ridges an in¬ 
clination towards the right hand at the top, by which, in going up 
the acclivity, the furrow falls more readily from the plough, and with 
less fatigue to the horses. Another advantage in forming ridges in 
