1852 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
181 
Transactions of the N. Y. State Ag. Soc. for 1850. 
We intended to have given an earlier notice of this 
rich collection of agricultural matter, which in interest 
and value is fully equal, if it does not surpass any of its 
predecessors. The Agricultural Survey of Seneca County, 
by J. Delafield, President of the Society, the leading 
production of the volume, cannot fail to yield much in¬ 
struction to every reader, for, independently of the dis¬ 
tinguished ability with which it is executed, that county, 
small as it is, furnishes specimens of the most important 
soils of Western New-York, namely, the gravel ridges 
of the northern portion, the strong wheat land of the 
centre, and the thinner soils of the Portage and Chemung 
formations. The county contains, besides, immense beds 
of peat and shell marl. 
The Prize Essay on Agricultural Dynamics, by J. J. 
Thomas, is worthy the study of every farmer. The loss 
of time and force, which the ignorance of a few general 
principles of the philosophy of mechanics and the failure 
to observe a few simple every day occurrences, causes 
the farmer, is an item of no small amount in a yearly 
balance sheet. It is due to Mr. Thomas, to say that the 
engraver has made sad havoc with some of the figures 
illustrating its principles, and by which some portions of 
it are rendered perfectly unintelligible. We refer more 
particularly to the figure on page 651, where the straight 
road, instead of running over the top of the hill, is made 
to pass by its side, rendering the reccommendation of the 
author to pass round it, perfectly ridiculous. Also, on 
p. 632, the beautiful curve made by capillary attraction 
between two plates of glass, is represented like the wany 
edge of a slab; and on p. 702, the reader is presented 
with the preposterous exhibition of the course of smoke 
from a chimney directly in the face of a strong wind. 
For the sake of the reputation of the Society, correc¬ 
tions of these errors should be made in the next volume. 
Among the lesser papers, the Report on the trial of 
Plows, the description of the remarkable farm of D. D. 
T. More, of Watervliet, and of the two excellent farms 
belonging to Gen. Harmon and E. M. Bradley, the 
valuable miscellaneous matter in the proceedings of the 
county societies, and in the numerous communications 
from various sources, and the analyses furnished by Dr. 
Salisbury, are particularly interesting and important. 
Cheap Draining 
It is stated in the foreign correspondence of the Michi¬ 
gan Farmer, that a method of cutting drains has been 
adopted in Scotland, requiring much less cost than for¬ 
merly, being all done with the plow. It is very useful in 
all cases where the ground is clayey and tolerably free 
from stones. “ In the first place, a common plow is 
passed back and forth, turning a furrow out on each side. 
Then follows the draining plow, which goes down from 
two to two and a half feet, the mould-board being so 
formed as to turn the earth all out. In tin's manner, 
twelve acres in the vicinity of Stirling were drained with 
three plows in one day, the tile being laid in the furrow 
just as the plow left it. The earth was returned to the 
ditch by means of a scraper, in the form of the letter V,. 
the legs of course protruding forward, and a team at¬ 
tached to each leg, on each si<Ie of the ditch.” We have 
been long since satisfied that the cost of excavating ditches 
might be much reduced by more horse labor than is 
generally used. For instance, let a large Michigan sub¬ 
soil plow with ample team be set in a foot deep, a thing 
very easily done; by throwing a furrow each way (leav¬ 
ing but a narrow strip in the middle) the first foot of the 
ditch is at once thrown out with sufficient rapidity to 
prepare some miles for the spade in each day. By run¬ 
ning twice each way, a greater depth and more perfect 
work might be attained. A regular and thorough sys¬ 
tem of draining is at present quite expensive, costing some 
twenty-five or thirty dollars per acre; and if its cost could 
be reduced one half by the application of horse power, 
it would greatly contribute towards its general introduc¬ 
tion,—and be worth millions to the country, lying as it 
does, in most cases, at the very foundation of successful 
farming. 
-—- 
Rural Axioms. 
It is as cheap to raise one ton of grass or clover, as a 
ton of burdocks or pig-weeds. 
It costs no more to raise a hundred bushels of Bald¬ 
wins than a hundred bushels of cider apples; or ten bar¬ 
rels of Virgalieus or Bartletts than the same quantity of 
choke pears. 
An axe costing two dollars, with which a laborer may 
cut fifty cords a month, is a cheaper tool than an axe 
costing but one dollar, and with which he can cut only 
forty cords. 
A u cheap-plow” at five dollars, costing in one season 
three dollars in repairs, and three more in lost time to 
teams, men, and by retarding crops, is a dearer plow than 
one at ten dollars requiring no repairs. 
A cow bought for ten dollars, whose milk but just pays 
her keeping, affords less profit than one at thirty dollars, 
giving double the value of milk afforded by the former. 
A common dasher-churn at two dollars, used one hun¬ 
dred times a year, is not so economical a purchase, as a 
Kendall churn at four dollars, requiring but half the 
labor to work it. 
A ten-acre field, costing fifty dollars per acre, and 
ditched, manured, and improved at fifty dollars more, 
so as to give double crops, is much more valuable and 
profitable than twenty acres unimproved, costing the 
same money. 
The laborer who wastes half his strength in working 
all day with a dull saw, because he cannot give-a shilling 
or afford half an hour to get it sharpened, will waste at 
least twenty-five cents per day, or $6 or $7 per month. 
The man who loses half an hour of time, worth one 
shilling,—and wears his wagon and team equal to two 
shillings more, by going over a long and rough road, to 
avoid a plank-road toll of sixpence-; loses just two and 
sixpence by the operation. This does not apply to the 
loaded wagon, where the loss is mush greater from the 
smaller loads. 
State Fairs for 1852.— New- York at Utica, Sept. 
7, 8, 9, and 10.- Vermont, at Rutland, Sept. 1, 2 and 
3.—— Pennsylvania, Oct. 20, 21 and 22, place not deci¬ 
ded upon. 
