298 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Oct. 
all kinds of soil in one sweeping blight, without the 
escape of a tenth part of the whole. Perhaps one 
of the most destructive instances of this sort occurred 
in northern Indiana in 1840. Early and late sown, 
upon every grade of soil, on hill or dale, woodland or 
prairie, all was affected. In sheltered situations in 
woodland , it was least injured. Another instance 
occurred many years ago in western New-York. We 
are informed by Isaac Hathaway, of Farmington, 
Ontario county, (who first suggested to us the plan of 
leaving belts of wood, in clearing - ,) that out of two hun¬ 
dred acres of promising wheat which he then had 
growing, all was completely destroyed except those 
portions sheltered by woods , the total loss being four 
or five thousand dollars—most of which he believes 
would have been saved had his land been protected in 
the manner we have described. 
All the preceding remarks are intended to apply to 
those farms which are nearly level, or moderately roll¬ 
ing or hilly, and which have not an excessively broken 
surface. In some cases, lands may be situated in deep 
valleys or on the sheltered sides of high mountains, 
where of course this treatment cannot apply. On our 
western prairies, where the severe and constant winds 
are found to be a most serious evil in many respects, 
and a large drawback on successful farming, there is 
no question that these effects might be astonishingly 
softened by artificial timber belts, which a very few 
years on a fertile soil, would amply furnish. We have 
known an ordinary English thorn hedge, which was 
allowed to vur. up without shearing, some twenty feet 
or more in height, to shelter and save from winter- 
killing, a crop of wheat as far as its influence extend¬ 
ed, while beyond this the grain was nearly destroyed ; 
yet this narrow hedge, only a few feet in thickness, 
formed a very imperfect screen when compared to a 
mass of trees several rods in breadth. 
Seasonable Suggestions—Muck and Draining. 
The present drouth is making heavy inroads into 
the profits of the farmer. For severity it is in many 
places quite without a parallel during the present age 
of men. Pastures look browner than after the latest 
November frost—the corn crop had been so severely 
checked that some farmers long since plowed it up to 
sow buckwheat,—and now they are about to plow up 
the buckwheat to sow wheat. Cattle have already 
began to consume the fodder intended for next winter’s 
use. But a single year of loss should not dishearten 
enterprising and thrifty farmers, among so many in 
succession that give abundant products, and especially 
should they look about them to see if this unusual 
state of things cannot be turned with peculiar advanta¬ 
ges to profitable account. We shall furnish one or two 
suggestions of this character, and the practical farm¬ 
er will doubtless think of many more. 
Every observing cultivator has had an opportunity 
of seeing this year the great advantages of “ high 
farming”—or in other words of deep tillage, high 
manuring, and thorough management. Deep and rich 
soils suffer incomparably less than others. We have 
now crops growing on land worked a foot or more 
deep with subsoil and trench plow, and well manured, 
that grow with great luxuriance and appear to hold 
the drouth in sovereign contempt. Other land plowed 
in the ordinary manner, is unable to retain the moist¬ 
ure, and the plants are perishing. In other cases, a 
copious application of manure , well mixed with the 
soil, has imparted such early vigor to the crops, that 
they have in a measure grown beyond its reach. Sea¬ 
sonable attention , has again obtained signal advanta¬ 
ges. Oats, sown almost at the departure of the win¬ 
ter’s frosts from the soil, have given an abundant in¬ 
crease, while some that have been sown out of season, 
will not be worth cutting—if indeed they can be cut 
without a pair of fine scissors,—to say nothing of ra¬ 
king with a pocket comb. Now, we know that all 
these points of good farming and good management 
will not wholly avert the evils of drouth, but they will 
certainly greatly mitigate their severity. We there¬ 
fore earnestly commend good farming , as one of the 
best means for preventing similar disasters in future, 
even if an occurrence of like severity should not hap¬ 
pen. Drouths of some magnitude are met with every 
few years, and should be guarded against by those who 
wish to insure uniformity of profit. 
There are certain actual operations for which the 
present season is peculiarly adapted. High cultiva¬ 
tion cannot be given to land without the assistance of 
abundance of manure,—and this abundance is very 
largely promoted by securing at the proper season a 
good supply of well dried peat, muck, or turf. Peat 
or swamp muck is, when wet, more than five-sixths 
water; and therefore if dug and carted in winter or at 
any wet season, the work is attended with a vast 
amount of unnecessary labor, in the removal of so 
much water. At the present time many muck swamps 
are comparatively dry, even among those that have 
never been drained, and which are commonly inacces¬ 
sible on this account. Large masses might now be 
thrown out into heaps, and protected from the weather, 
so as to become well dried for winter application. 
Those who do not enjoy the benefit of swamps, may 
secure supplies for a similar purpose from low, rich, wet 
pastures, or from wet waste grounds, not otherwise of 
much value. 
The present unusual season also affords great facili¬ 
ties for draining swamps and marshes. Ditches may 
be cut through places which from their usual wetness, 
would be attended at other times with double or triple 
the labor now required. Light, dry muck may be 
shovelled out with great rapidity, but when soaked with 
water, it is not only performed with greater labor, but 
the flowing in of water renders the work especially 
disagreeable. Every farmer who possesses low, wet, 
worthless or poor land, should seize the present oppor¬ 
tunity to give it a thorough draining. We could give 
instances almost without number where lands of this 
character have been increased more than ten fold in 
value by efficient ditching, one or two years crops in 
some instances fully repaying the cost of the whole 
