79 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
draining last year. In fact the whole country 
ought to be drained. No man can believe how 
much good it does, unless thoroughly tested. I 
showed a neighbor thepotatoe pits on rny potatoe 
patch. lie-said it was wonderful. He had known 
the place for 40 years, and it was nothing but a pond 
hole until I drained it. He is now making pre¬ 
parations for draining in spring. Yours truly, 
John Johnston. Geneva, N. Y., Jan., 1858. 
The Way to get a Team for Sub-soiling, 
There are scores of farmers, who occupy small 
farms, who are well satisfied of the great benefits 
of sub-soiling, but who plead the impracticability 
of it, because they have not team enough. It is 
true, sub-soiling may be done by a single team by 
by shifting plows at each round: but this is rather 
a slow way of reporting progress. There are but 
few farmers who feel able to keep more than one 
team, on a farm of forty or fifty acres—because 
one span of good horses will be able to do all the 
work on such a farm, and stand idle nearly one half 
the time. And if two teams are kept, too much 
of the profits of the farm will necessarily be con¬ 
sumed in feeding them. But how are we going to 
manage to plow deep, or sub-soil, and make it pro¬ 
fitable. By keeping an extra team, the extra pro¬ 
fits are nearly or quite used up in maintaining 
them, and therefore, why is it not just as well to 
dispense with one team, and be satisfied with plow¬ 
ing as deep as possible with a single team. 
If adjoining owners could manage so as to unite 
their single teams, the difficulty would be obviat¬ 
ed; but this is not always practicable—for, when 
the season of plowing has arrived, each one is anx¬ 
ious to have his plowing done in season, and is sel¬ 
dom willing to leave his ground unprepared for a 
crop and go and help a neighbor—running the risk 
of getting the crops in in season, in consequence of 
too much wet weather. 
These aresomt^of the difficulties that I met with 
when I commenced farming operations. I found 
it impracticable to hire a team, just when my 
ground was in a suitable condition to plow; and 
keeping an extra team for plowing only a few 
acres, appeared to involve too much expense for 
the revenue of a small farm. In this dilemma I 
resolved to test the practicability of another ex¬ 
pedient. I knew about how much plowing I 
should have to do in a certain season; and it 
is easy to estimate the cost of keeping a good 
yoke of oxen. Accordingly, I purchased a yoke of 
oxen, and with them and a span of horses, was 
able to drive a plow as deep as was desirable at 
present. During the season the oxen helped plow 
about fourteen acres, for which credit was given; 
and for their hay, pasture, grain consumed in fat¬ 
tening, interest on the purchase money, from the 
time they were purchased till sold, a cash charge 
was made. (The manure offset against the ex¬ 
pense of feeding and other care.) They were 
purchased in May, for $85, an extra price—and 
sold for beef in the following January, (the price 
of beef being low,) for $114.10. Upon an esti¬ 
mate, I found that I had received for the corn 
meal which they consumed , about 75 cents per 
per bushel, and 38 cents per week, for each, for 
their pasture, and at the rate of six dollars per 
ton for their hay, which are very remunerating pri¬ 
ces with us. 
Reapers in Scotland—Results of Trials. 
The North British Agriculturist contains the 
statements of a large number of farmers in the 
north, giving the results of their experiments with 
the new reaping machines, and which contain much 
information of value; and they are the more in¬ 
teresting, because the experiments were all made 
by those not accustomed to the use of reaping 
machines, thus affording a fair test of their gene¬ 
ral adaptation under the care of workmen of ordi¬ 
nary skill. 
The reports are not by any means very flatter¬ 
ing, at the same time that the most argue that 
with some improvement, the reapers will become 
generally valuable. The kind used was Hussey’s, 
manufactured by Garrett & Sons, and by Cross¬ 
kill. Most of the reports give the amount reaped, 
at about one acre per hour, which required very 
strong teams, or relays of horses every two hours. 
One had reaped 12 acres in 10 hours; another 20 
acres in 20| hours; another had cut an acre and 
a quarter per hour, while another still had suc¬ 
ceeded in cutting only about half an acre per hour- 
This small quantity he ascribed to the awkward¬ 
ness of the hands employed. Most of the trials 
speak of the same difficulty which we have ob¬ 
served in this country, namely: the necessity of 
driving faster than horses can work to advantage, 
AfteT they were sold I began to look around for 
another yoke of cattle. As soon as 1 found one 
which suited in every desirable respect, especially 
in price, they were pur-chased, and immediately 
given one or two quarts of grain per day, until 
such times as was thought best to fit them as soon 
as possible for the butcher. During the season of 
plowing they receive extra feeding—and if they 
are good beef, working moderately half a day at 
once, will not work off any perceptible amount of 
fat. By this system of management, I am able to 
plow with a double team all that is desirable; and 
when my oxen are not at. work, they are improv¬ 
ing in flesh—and instead of incurring a bill of use¬ 
less expense, they are a source of profit. j 
In this experiment I have availed myself of some 
facts arid suggestions which may be of some prac¬ 
tical utility to others who may be similarly situat¬ 
ed. And in-the first place, beware of purchasing 
a yoke of old, poor, over-heat, worn-out, badly 
strained, mammoth skeletons—for their teeth are 
poor, and they cannot masticate their food, and of 
course, they will not be able to extract the nutri¬ 
ment from the grain which they consume. Another 
thing, they are generally a disagreeable team, on ac¬ 
count of their intolerable slowness. Their inability 
to endure the heat of an ordinary hot day, in spring 
or summer, is another valid objectionjto them; 
and What is most objectionable, they can seldom 
be made as fleshy as younger cattle, although fed 
with twice the amount of feed. And, if the price 
of younger cattle be paid for them-, my word for 
it, the purchaser will lose money. Another thing 
of no little importance is, such old lubber-like fel¬ 
lows are too frequently unruly —and an unruly 
ox, who can hear! My aim is, to purchase young, 
thrifty cattle, of fair proportion; and such cattle, 
with good treatment, will almost always be ready 
for the shambles Truly yours, S. Edwards 
Todd. Lake Ridge, Tompkins coN. Y. 
