1847. 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
81 
Messrs. Rhode, and Laycocks. Most of the cows 
which I saw were Durhams or their crosses, and better 
cows for milk, in appearance, I never saw. They are 
preferred in the London Dairies, and are found to yield 
more milk than any others—and the ease with which 
they can be fattened when they fail to give the necessa¬ 
ry quantity of milk, renders them very desirable for the 
dairy establishments. 
Shepherd’s Dogs. —The sagacity of the shepherd’s 
dogs, which are used in driving cattle and sheep, is truly 
remarkable. The sheep are driven in small numbers, 
from 15 to 20 or 30 together. Several flocks arrive at 
the same time, and frequently they become mingled to¬ 
gether; yet the dog will find out the sheep of his mas¬ 
ter, and seldom fails of bringing the wanderer back to the 
flock. Frequently I have seen a dog directed to bring 
forward a sheep from the back side of the herd to be 
examined by a purchaser. He immediately jumps into 
the pen, and with a bite upon the heel of the sheep 
starts the animal forward, and he is placed ready for 
examination. Many similar feats are exhibited, show¬ 
ing that they possess in a remarkable degree intelli¬ 
gence, and if they could speak, it seems that often they 
would evince more than their masters themselves. P. 
PRINCIPLES OF PLOWING. 
The principal objects of plowing are, 1st, to loosen 
the soil for the purpose of forming a proper bed for 
plants; 2d, incorporating manures with the soil; 3d, 
destroying the sod or sward, and so placing or arrang¬ 
ing the soil and its ingredients that the matters which 
contribute to the growth of plants may be converted to 
a soluble state, and rendered available to their support 
when needed. 
The advantages of a mellow bed for plants, are that 
they more readily extend their roots, and are thus ena¬ 
bled to appropriate to their use the vegetable food con¬ 
tained in the soil, and at the same time obtain a firm 
hold by which they are better secured against injury by 
wind or other accidents. 
The advantages of incorporating manures with the 
soil, are in some degree obvious, though these advanta- 
tages are somewhat various under different circumstan¬ 
ces. It is evident that the most favorable action of 
manure upon soil cannot be attained without some de¬ 
gree of mixture. That the action of the saline princi¬ 
ples of the manure tends to render soluble those mineral 
ingredients of the soil which are known to form con¬ 
stituent parts of plants, there is no doubt; and to effect 
this result the soil and manure must be brought in con¬ 
tact. On tenacious or compact soils, it is desirable to 
produce a mechanical effect by the use of manures; that 
is, to render the soil more open and friable, and hence, 
in such cases, a thorough mixture of manure, or mate¬ 
rials of a fibrous nature, such as straw or long stable 
dung, becomes necessary. 
To facilitate the decomposition of the sward and 
other vegetable matters, and bring the food of plants 
into a soluble state, the soil and its ingredients must be 
placed in such a condition as to be easily acted on by 
the elements which promote decomposition. Oxygen, 
one of the component parts of the atmosphere, is the 
great decomposing agent of nature, and by the aid of 
heat and moisture, it effects the dissolution.of animal and 
vegetable bodies, as well as many mineral substances. 
In performing the operation of plowing, these princi¬ 
ples should be borne in mind, as they may furnish a 
valuable guide in regulating the depth and width of the 
furrow-slice, and the situation in which it should be left 
by the plow. It may be observed however, that the proper 
width of the furrow-slice, must depend somewhat on the 
nature of the soil. The object is to effect a proper de¬ 
gree of pulverization, with a due exposure to the action 
of the air. 
Loose, gravelly soils require, of course, less artificial 
division than those of a compact texture; and a width 
of furrow may therefore be allowed in the former case, 
which should by no means be taken in the latter. It is 
one of the greatest defects of our system of plowing, 
generally, that the furrows are too wide. This error pro¬ 
ceeds, probably, from the babit which prevails, of going 
over a great deal of land in proportion to the labor em¬ 
ployed. On all soils which tend to pack and become 
too close, this system is very injurious. The wider the 
furrow-slice, the heavier it will be, and the closer it will 
lie; and it is thus impossible to secure a proper state of 
friableness unless the soil is finely divided by the plow, 
Mr. Colman informs us that on the best farms in Eng¬ 
land the width of the furrow-slice is from eight to ten 
inches; and in our county the most successful farmers 
never permit a greater width. We are glad to see that 
the practice of making narrow furrows is becoming 
every year more common with us; and we have no 
doubt that in the course of a few years, its advantages 
will be generally acknowledged. 
Much discussion has been had in reference to the man¬ 
ner in which the furrow r -slice should be left—whether 
flat or at an angle. The same principles are involved 
in this question as in that relating to the width of the 
furrow-slice. The flat furrow leaves the soil less light, 
and in a situation to be penetrated w T ith more difficulty 
by those decomposing agents, air and heat. The ob¬ 
jections to this position of the furrow, are, however, 
something in proportion to the heaviness of the soil; 
and on very loose soils it would not be liable to any ob¬ 
jection. The proper depth of plowing, must depend 
much on the composition and nature of the soil and at¬ 
tendant circumstances. Though we advocate deep 
plowing in general, it seems to us that the system is not 
universally applicable. We cannot, for instance, dis¬ 
cover its advantages on cold, thin soils, where the under 
stratum is deficient in the elements of vegetable food. 
There would here however, be an advantage in loosening 
the subsoil; though we should prefer doing it by the sub¬ 
soil plow, rather than to bury the vegetable matters of the 
soil, and bring to the surface the cold and sterile subsoil. 
But some lands, unlike those just mentioned, contain 
the elements of vegetable nutrition to a great depth. 
Such is the case with alluvial soils, and all those which 
contain organic matter in the subsoil. In such instan¬ 
ces, an advantage is derived from deep plowing, which 
cannot be wholly effected by subsoil plowing. By 
bringing the lower soil to the surface, the action of heat 
and air reduces the vegetable food which it contains, to 
a soluble condition. We have several times witnessed 
the good effects of this operation. In one instance we 
have known a farm which had been so worn down and 
exhausted that the average yield of wheat was only 
ten bushels per acre, completely renovated and brought 
to produce from twenty to twenty-five bushels per acre, 
chiefly by thorough plowing to the depth of two to thre© 
inches below where the ground had been stirred before. 
The subsoil was rich, but in its natural position was 
altogether inert, and afforded little or no food to 
