THE CULTIVATOR. 
10 
especially by mutilating them irregularly, as is done bv the plough. The 
injury done by this piactice is readily seen by the procrastination of the 
gunvlh ol the plants, until ihese new sets of roots are formed 
1 have carefully pruned, and too often ruggedly mutilated annual plants, 
by various injudicious systems of cultivation: but evil, instead of good, 
invaiiably followed, except when I removed ihe suckers growing near .o 
the roots ol their parent stern, and believe that even this operation should 
be very carefully performed, and while the suckers are very young. 
Slill, I do not question that the gentleim n who recommended plough¬ 
ing from and to plants, grew good crops in that way. It should still, how¬ 
ever be remembered that talents, capital, and industry, have often done 
this, when a highly interesting part of the management has been exces¬ 
sively bad. 
'I he usual mode of cultivation is not well calculated to subdue weeds. 
The seeds are as often turned dow n beyond Ihe power of vegetation, as 
thev are turned up. They are al-o buiied underneath the heaped up 
ridges, and when the grounds are cultivated for the small grain, they are 
spread abroad. As this favors Ihe vegetation of them, they often greatly 
injure the crops. These facts are best seen when the grounds have been 
manured for a tallow crop, with dung made by cattle led on clover hay. 
In that case, the seeds buried under the ridges often produce as luxuriant 
crops of this grass as it they had been sown. This does not happen when 
a level cultivation has been properly executed. It turns up none of the 
seeds that are buried beyond the power of vegetation. They of course 
remain torpid, and as those near the surface vegetate, they are destroyed. 
1 have before observed, nothing but tire, or some cause that acts in 
the same poweiful way, will destroy the vegetative powers of plants, as 
soon, or so effectually, as a well directed fermentation. Numerous in¬ 
stances of the poweiful effects produced by this simple operation of na¬ 
ture, might be advanced. I have already mentioned some of them; but 
as it may lead the tanner to recollect others, and prevent the injury 
caused by them, I will briefly observe, that if a long spell of niny 
weather takes place after grass lias been mowed, and the swaths be not 
turned in due time, both the tops and Ihe roots of the grasses covered 
by them are sadly injured, and sometimes effectually killed, by the fer¬ 
mentation occasioned by this covering alone. It also but too often hap¬ 
pens, that both small grain and grass plants are greatly injured, or des¬ 
troyed, by the still mm-h lighter covering of the leaves blow n on them 
from adjacent woods; when a boy or a gill w ith a rake, timely used, could 
have prevented the injury. 
Now, if fermentation alone be capable of diring this, when but par¬ 
tially favored, certainly vastly more is to be expected from this powerful 
agent, when its whole force is brought into full effect. No question but 
this is done when plants are turned upside down, and the vegetation aris¬ 
ing from them regularly cut off a little within the surface of Ihe soil by 
the hoe hanow, also overturned and effectually mangled by the fined 
harrow following it. The wounds inflicted on them, together with the 
close covering of earth above them, greatly promote fermentation, and 
of course hasten their destruction. 
The reason w hy this powerful agent has not been brought into general 
use. seems to be simply this; farmers have not seen, when the tops and 
roots of the grasses, or other enriching manure a>e buried under the soil, 
arid a proper cultivation pursued, that fermentation more etiedually ex¬ 
pands, divides, and keeps the grounds open and mellow than can be ef¬ 
fected with the plough. We might, however, have long since seen the 
impropriety of the usual mode of cultivation, merely by walking through 
these parts of our wooes which still remained well set with timber, and 
other native vegetation. There we might observe that our feet sunk 
freely into a soil, which nature had kept covered with leaves, and so ef¬ 
fectually cultivated through the medium of this simple covering by fer¬ 
mentation alone, that the grounds were kept more open and mellow than 
our best cultivated fields: also, that the depth of this open texture was in 
due proportion to the animal and vegetable matter contained in the soil 
underneath the covering of leaves. We might likewise have seen that 
nature did not cut, rend, or mangle either ihe tops or the roots of the 
plants, and by this means debilitate, and procrastinate the growth of them, 
nor form hills or mounds around, nor furrows or ditches between them, to 
run off the moisture necessary to their growth. 
There can be no difficulty in altering the present mode of cultivation. 
60 as to save the farm yard manure, also that arising from the roots ol the 
grasses; and at the same time, preserve the roots of the plants from in¬ 
jury by a level cultivation, when fallow crops are grown, or grass or clo¬ 
ver lays alone. As peas and beans are frequently sown broad cast, and 
good crops of them are obtained in that way, they will certainly yield 
much larger crops, when kept free from weeds by a level cultivation. 
Starch .—To make starch from wheat, the grain is steeped in cold wa¬ 
ter until it becomes soft and yields a milky juice by pressure; it is then 
put into sacks of linen and pressed in a vat filled with cold w ater; the 
pressure should be continued as long as any milky juice exudes; the fluid 
gradually becomes clear, and a white powder subsides which is starch. 
Elements of Practical Agriculture, 
By David how, Professor of Agriculture, &c. 
SIMPLE OPERATIONS OF TILLAGE—PLOUGHING. 
In ploughing, it has been seen, a slice of earlh is to be cut from the 
len-hanri side, and fo he turned over to the right-hand side. In this ope- 
ration, the lelt-hand or nearside horse Walks on the ground not yet plough¬ 
ed, the right-hand or off side horse walks in the furrow last made, and 
the workman follows holding the handles of the plough. By means of these 
handles he guides the plough, and he directs the animals of draught by 
the voice and the reins. When he is to turn the plough at the end of a 
ridge, or when it encounters an obstacle, as a large stone, he presses 
down the handles, so that the heel of the plough becomes a fulcrum and 
the share is raised out of the ground. 
In ploughing, the instrument ought to beheld vertical. If it is inclined 
to the left-hand side, the same work is performed in appearance, though 
not in reality; a portion of the ground below not being tilled at all, but 
left thus:— ° 
Fig. 1. The plough is of the most 
perfect form, when its various 
parts are so adjusted that they 
shall not oppose each other’s 
motion: but it is very difficult to form a plough that is perfect in the form 
and combination of its parts. Even in those of the best construction, 
there is frequently found to be a tendency to rise out of the ground or to 
turn to one side, generally the right-hand or open side. The tendency to 
rise out of the ground can be corrected by giving an inclination down¬ 
wards to the point of the share; and the tendency to turn to Ihe open or 
right-hand side, can be corrected by turning thp point of the share slightly 
to the left hand side. By these means however, the labor of draught 
is increased, and care mint therefore be taken that this tempering of The 
irons, as it is frequently called, be not in any case carried further than is 
necessary to correct the defects of the instrument. AH that is necessary 
beyond this is effected by changing the position of the line of draught by 
means of the bridle on the beam. 
With regard to the depth to be ploughed, this, we shall see in the se¬ 
quel, depends upon the kind of crop to be cultivated; and other circum¬ 
stances. It has been shown that a furrow-slice often inches in width re¬ 
quires a depth of seven inches: that is, a depth of about two-thirds of the 
width, in order that it may lie at an angle of 45 3 . But although it is ne¬ 
cessary to proceed upon this principle in forming a plough, we cannot re- 
gulate the depth to the width in this manner in practice. It is not neces¬ 
sary that the depth should be to the width in the proportion of two to 
three, or that the sod should lie precisely at the angle of 45°. In the Held 
all that can Ire arrived at is a kind of approximation to the true propor¬ 
tions. When the sods are considerably too wide in proportion to their 
depth, the ploughman will be admonished of this by their lying too flat, 
and too slightly overlapping each other. When their depth is considerably 
too great in proportion to their width, they will stand too upright, and be 
apt to fall baci< again into the furrow. 
The medium depth of good ploughing may be held to be seven inches. 
When circumstances, as the kind of crop and the nature of the soil, do 
not require deep ploughing, the depth may be less: but it will be conside¬ 
rably more in those cases to be afterwards adverted to, where deep plough¬ 
ing is from any cause expedient. 
In the moist climate of this country, and indeed in most others of Eu¬ 
rope, it is necessary to form the ground into what are termed ridges, so 
as to admit of the water which falls upon the surface finding a ready 
egress. And even in lands so dry that little injury will result from stag¬ 
nating water, such ridges are generally formed on account of their conve¬ 
nience in the different works of tillage. 
The first operation in the forming of ridges is striking the furrows. 
Let it be supposed that a field has been laid level by previous plough- 
ings, and that the marks of former ridges being obliterated, the lines of 
the new ones are *o be laid out. The usual breadth of ridges is from 15 
to IS feet, and sometimes more, We may assume in the following de¬ 
scriptions 15 feet to he the widlh of the ridges. 
Let a steady ploughman be furnished with three or more poles of wood, 
shod with iron, eight or nine feet in length, and divided into feet and half 
feet. The first operation is to mark off' at two sides of the field what is 
termed a head-land. This is merely, a ridge formed parellel to the side 
of the field, on which the horses are to turn, to afford sufficient spice for 
which, these ridges may he IS feet wide. The lines of them are marked 
off before the other ridges, in order that the ploughman may know, on ar¬ 
riving at the end of the ridge, when to turn his horses. After the rest 
of the field is ploughed, the headlands themselves are ploughed and form¬ 
ed into ridges. 
In the following diagram, representing a field, let EF, GH, represent 
the lines of the head-lands, drawn parallel to AB and CD, the sides or 
boundaries of the field, and at the distance from each of these sides of 18 
