1847. 
35 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
fed to hogs or poultry, unless it is scalded or ground. 
All seeds of weeds or grass in the soil intended to be 
seeded, should be sprouted and destroyed by frequent 
plowings. Chester Co.. Pa. A. B. 
ON THE USE OF LIME. 
In the September number of the Cultivator, is a com¬ 
munication from C. N. Bement, Esq., in which he as¬ 
sumes it as an established fact that “ lime produces the 
greatest effect upon a limestone soil.” 
So far as my experience goes, the fact is directly the 
reverse. Ten years ago I put about 1,500 bushels of 
lime upon about 30 acres of strong limestone land ; but 
I never could perceive the least advantage from it. I 
know of no better mode of improving this kind of soil, 
than by the application of stable manure, vegetable 
matter, sulphate of lime, and ashes. With the use of 
guano aud ground bones, I have no experience. 
The limestone rock of this valley is immediately 
covered by a thick bed of reddish clay. Where this 
clay approaches the surface, any coarse vegetable mat¬ 
ter, such as chips, cobs, or the refuse bark from the 
tan-yard, is of use to loosen the texture of the soil. 
If this vegetable matter is not spread too thickly, it re¬ 
quires no fermentation—its acid properties being quick¬ 
ly neutralized by the lime in the soil. 
In many places adjacent to the foot of the Blue 
Ridge, this bed of clay is covered with a thick deposit 
granite boulders, gravel, and fragments of talesse slate. 
In such places, a coating of this clay spread on the 
surface, is of very great advantage. Its chemical pro¬ 
perties are probably similar to those of marl. Its ef¬ 
fects on the soil are immediate and permanent ; and I 
believe it would well repay the expense of applying it 
in large quantities. 
In a communication in your October number, J. D. 
Jones. Esq., Ires related an ingenious experiment, 
which he has made in the improvement of worn-out 
soils. This experiment well deserves attention, but if 
Mr. Jones thinks it overthrows any of the arguments of 
Ruffin, he is, in my opinion, mistaken. Ruffin speaks 
of the permanent improvement of soils. His express¬ 
ions imply that where land is poor, there must be some 
deficiency in the chemical constitution of the soil, and 
this deficiency must be supplied before it can become 
permanently productive. Mr. Jones has doubtless great¬ 
ly improved his field, but will the improvement last? 
If he begins to take annual crops from his land, and 
permits his stock to feed off the surplus herbage, will it 
not soon be reduced to the same state in which he 
lound it? Now, a coat of marl, such as Ruffin ap¬ 
plied to the worn-out lands of Virginia, or a coat of 
green sand , such as is found in New Jersey, might bene¬ 
fit his land for fifty years, and enable the vegetable mat¬ 
ter left upon it to produce far greater effects. 
Yours, &c., E. B. 
Smithsburg. Wash. Co., ( Md .,) Oct. 31, 1846. 
RECENT AMERICAN PATENTS. 
Reported for “ The Cultivator” by Z. C. Robbins, 
Mechanical Engineer, and Attorney for procuring 
Patents, Washington, D. C. 
Improvement in Smut Machines ; Henry Staub, Mar- 
tinsburg, Virginia,'May 16th, 1846. 
e Claim .—“Having thus fully described the construc¬ 
tion and operation of my machine for cleaning wheat; 
I would observe, that I do not claim the use of beating 
wings with roughened surfaces, for cleaning wheat of 
smut, garlic, 8tc. ,• but what I do claim, as my inten¬ 
tion and desire, to secure by letters patent, is the giv¬ 
ing the face of the beating wings of my improved smut 
machine , a rough and sharp cutting surface, by covering 
them with a series of saws, over-lapping each other” 
(with their teeth projecting,) and arranged substan¬ 
tially in the manner herein set forth.” 
The above machine is simple and economical in its 
form and construction, and highly approved by millers. 
GOOD CROP OF CORN. 
Editors Cultivator —Below I give you an account 
of a field of corn I raised this season, containing eight 
acres; the ground had been cleared some ten years, and 
used for pasture; it was plowed for the first time a year 
ago last summer, and left so rough that it was neces¬ 
sary to harrow it over five times before I could fit it for 
the plow this spring; then plowed once and harrowed 
three times, and planted on the 22d and 25th of May, 
in hills three feet and two inches apart, each way— 
when plowed, the field was completely covered with 
Canada thistles, which fact will satisfactorily account 
for the enormous amount of time spent in hoeing : 
1 st harrowing, 
4 days, 
10 s 
$5,00 
Plowing, 
6 « 
cc 
7,50 
2 d harrowing, 
2 | “ 
a 
3,00 
Furrowing, 
ii a 
i a 
Cl 
2,00 
Planting, 
7 “ 
4 
3,50 
1 st hoeing, 
231.« 
cc 
11,75 
2 d “ 
21 i « 
Cl 
10,75 
3d “ 
15i “ 
k ' 1 
7',75 
Cutting up, 
12 | “ 
6 
9,56 
Husking, 
63i “ 
4 
31.75 
Drawing stalks 
6 “ 
12 
9,00 
Repairing fence 
6 “ 
4 
3,00 
$104,56 
Making an expense of about thirteen dollars per acre, 
as an offset to which we have husked 1500 bushels of 
ears of corn, which being mostly an eight rowed yellow, 
with large kernels and small cob, I think will turn out 
fully 800 bushels of shelled corn, besides sixty loads of 
excellent fodder. Yours respectfully, 
E. V. W. Dox 
La Fayette, Onondaga , N. ¥., Dec. 1st, 1846. 
TILE DRAINING. 
Messrs. Editors —I notice in the Cultivator for No¬ 
vember, page 330, in quoting Colman on tile draining, 
you say, an objection to this improvement in this coun¬ 
try is the liability of the tiles to be broken by frost. In 
1835, I sent for a tile from Scotland, for a pattern, and 
have since used a number, and have never known one 
broken by frost. 
I had upwards of 70 rods of tiles laid over winter 
along side of a drain ; winter with hard frost having 
come before I got them laid in, and they were as good 
as ever in the spring. When I see the like of you and 
Mr. Colman in error, it pleases me to set you right, 
more especially when the error may deter my brother 
farmers from such a beneficial improvement. The 
greatest objection to tile draining is the cost of the tiles, 
being three times the cost they are in Scotland ; howev¬ 
er I notice by the papers, that by the aid of machinery 
in Scotland, two men and a boy can make 11,000 tiles, 
fifteen inches long in a day. Of course, this must still 
reduce their price there very much, and I make no doubt 
some of our enterprising mechanics will immediately 
have the same plan of making them so that it will re¬ 
duce the price here. Mr. Wffiartenby, at Waterloo. 
Seneca county, makes them as good as they do in Scot¬ 
land ; the price he charges is twenty cents per rod, and 
even at that they are cheaper than stones, and much 
better. I can have the drains dug here as well as they 
can be done in any country, but not quite so cheap. The 
digging of a drain 2 \ feet deep, costs me about 5 or 6 
cents per rod, by hiring men by the month, and not ta¬ 
king board into the account. John Johnston. 
