1847, 
809 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
in milk when other cows shrink, she is before every 
cow I ever owned. She always has been thin in flesh, 
and is so now. No. 2 is a little brindle cow—the 
smallest cow of the lot ; and No. 2, heifer, from which 
was churned fourteen ounces of butter from nineteen 
pounds seven ounces of milk, was not two years old 
(and is very small) when she came in, and her calf was 
so large that I lost it, and came near losing her ; but 
the experiment has proved that she gives the richest 
milk of all the cows. 
It has not been as much trouble as I anticipated to 
try this last experiment, and no person that intends to 
make butter making the most profitable to him, should 
neglect to try it once a year. It would show him the 
exact value of each cow, and the satisfaction will well 
repay the trouble. Eli Westfall. Rliinebeck, Dutch' 
ess county. Sept., 1847, 
Foot Paths alongside of HiGHWAYS.^Public 
roads are for the use and accommodation of all the 
people, and there is no reason why they ought not to 
be improved for the benefit of those who go on foot, as 
•well as those who ride in carriages. 
I have long thought of this improvement, and a late 
notice in the Cultivator, that foot-paths along highways 
are common in England, induces this notice. 
With a neighbor, who had an interest in making a 
good path to the village, in common with myself, we 
made a foot path of about half a mile, at so little ex¬ 
pense and to such manifest advantage, that I am in¬ 
duced to give an account of it for the benefit of all 
whom it may concern. 
A space about five or six feet wide, on the side of 
the road, is made the foundation. A few furrows are 
plowed alongside, of perhaps an equal width. The 
earth from these furrows is thrown by a shovel upon the 
paths, equallizing the surface as near as may be, and 
the edge protected by sodding, thus forming a raised 
path for foot passengers. 
Where no extraordinary difficulties exist, such as 
filling up low ground, or removing stones, this kind of 
path can be made for less than one cent a foot in 
length, (I have had 400 feet graded for $3,) and oc¬ 
casional gravelling when necessary, can be done at 
leisure times when it may be said to cost nothing. The 
advantages are hardly to be estimated, especially at 
night, and as the cost is but about $50 per mile, a 
neighborhood can readily do all that is wanted, each 
working on his own part. Walking is the natural and 
best exercise of the body, and everything ought to be 
done to promote it. P. 
Improved Cultivator. —In looking over the Au¬ 
gust number of your paper, in an article on the imple 
ment called the Cultivator, \ notice the following re¬ 
mark: “We have rarely seen an implement of this 
kind constructed exactly to our liking.” A similar re¬ 
mark is frequently made by others. Besides the ob 
jections which you have named, I have noticed one 
serious one in the circumstance of their leaving an open 
track or furrow next to the row of corn, which, on hill¬ 
sides, in case of heavy rains, conducts the water, and 
causes it to gully near, and sometimes directly under 
the hills. To obviate the above-named objection, there 
has been a cultivator constructed in these parts, the 
present season, on a plan entirely the reverse of the 
ordinary form, being widest in front, and terminating 
in a single tooth behind, so. that the last track or fur¬ 
row, which is the one left open, is at or near the cen¬ 
tre, between the rows. It consists of a gang of shovel- 
plows, some 4^ inches wide and nine inches long, at¬ 
tached to posts or standards of wood by screw-bolts. 
The first and second pairs of teeth are attached to cross¬ 
bars passing through a beam like a plow-beam, the front 
one (say) two feet long, the next one foot, and the 
last tooth is attached to the hind end of the beam. The 
teeth or shoes are pointed at both ends, so that when 
one point is worn out it can be easily turned and will 
then wear as much longer. The implement is light, 
(weighing less than fifty pounds,) is of easy draught, 
and at the same time appears to be of sufficient strength, 
and performs the work far superior to anything else 
of the kind that has ever come under my observation. 
It can be made to run shallow, just skimming the sur¬ 
face near the rows, and at the same time stirring the 
soil in the centre as deep as if it were plowed; or it 
will work equally deep next to the rows, if necessary. 
It is certain death on sorrel and all kinds of summer 
grass and weeds, and pulverizes the soil to perfection. 
A further description can not well be given without a 
drawing. I forgot to mention that this implement 
never clogs or chokes with weeds or coarse manure so 
much but that a small effort will clean it. Ward- 
well. Elba, Mich., Aug. 27, 1847. 
" Break the Crust.” —Reading in the June num¬ 
ber of the Cultivator an article with this title, brought 
to my recollection a circumstance that I was partially 
acquainted with. Many years ago, when I lived in 
Connecticut, a man from among my acquaintance re¬ 
moved from that state into Vermont. He was a far¬ 
mer that understood his business and attended to it. 
Some years after, I made a tour into Vermont, and the 
first call that I made after crossing the river out of 
New Hampshire, was at his house. He had got a fine 
farm, a good proportion of which was intervale on the 
Connecticut. There was a field of three acres, on the 
intervale before the door, which, he said, when he came 
to make his purchase, had on it a very stunted growth 
of corn. To use his own words, “ It was but little 
bigger than pennyroyal. He asked the owner the rea¬ 
son of the corn making such a miserable appearance. 
He said he did not know. But, said my friend, “ I 
knew.” He finally bought the farm, and the next sea¬ 
son undertook to renovate that field solely by plowing. 
He plowed every opportunity through the season, 
taking care to plow only when the dew was on, or im¬ 
mediately after a rain. He went over it a number of 
times in the season, and sowed it with wheat in the 
fall; and when he came to harvest and thresh it, he 
had 1544 bushels, averaging 51| to the acre. J. W. 
Tunbridge, Vt., 1847. 
Good Yield of Potatoes. —Mr. Henry Hall, an 
Englishman, rented last year one acre and one rood of 
ground, one and a hplf miles from Zanesville, Ohio, 
on one acre of which he raised more than 400 bushels 
of superior Pink-eye and Mercer potatoes,—the result, 
not of high manuring, but of systematic and thorough 
cultivation. The spade was the only implement used 
in preparing the ground. The tubers were planted 
early, in drills, and very close, and the ground kept 
perfectly .clean. J. Townsend. 
Bearing of Trees in Even and Odd Years.— 
The editor of the Boston Cultivator believes that fruit 
trees bear most in “ even ” years. He has lately made 
a journey to the western part of Maine, and he states 
that the "crop of apples in that section is very light 
and of poor quality. He p,dds—“ In the same region 
we saw good crops last year—confirming our views 
as to having good crops of apples in even years if the 
season be favorable, and light crops in odd years, even 
in good seasons.” We suppose 1847 is as “ odd ” a 
year in the vicinity of Albany as in the Western part 
of Maine, yet the crop of apples here is greater this 
season than for many years—almost every tree being 
loaded to the utmost. 
