388 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
Dec 
crop. If plowed in flat beds, or lands, with few or no 
parallel furrows for the water to pass off from the sur¬ 
face, the freezing and thawings during winter and spring 
will cause the mass to run together, and in the spring, in¬ 
stead of breaking up fine and mellow, the soil will be 
cloddy, and totally unfitted for profitable cropping. 
Narrow lands with deep water furrows, appear necessary 
to obviate this evil; but on some soil the natural tenden¬ 
cy is to wash along the furrows so as to make deep 
trenches, unfitting the land in many instances for crop¬ 
ping, without a large expenditure be made in reducing 
the surface to a perfect level. This influence of course 
must be guarded against, and it would be better not to 
attempt autumn plowing or deep-water furrowing unless, 
a great advantage would certainly accrue from them. 
The best method with which we are practically acquainted 
for deepening soils, is a species of deep trench plowing 
which is entirely unknown in the western country, and 
which, if neatly done, would act like a charm in pulver¬ 
izing, and in changing the wild and adhesive character of 
new prairie soils. A plow that will naturally turn a fur¬ 
row of fifteen inches, is set to turn thirty inches, and 
consequently only one half of the thirty are turned. The 
fifteen inches acted upon by the plow is made to rest 
neatly upon the portion not turned, so that the two ex¬ 
treme edges are brought exactly together. If the furrow 
be turned six inches in depth, the frost and atmosphere 
will act upon a surfa’ce of forty-two inches, instead of thir¬ 
ty in the ordinary case. The whole surface of the field 
would then present a trenched or ribbed appearance, 
exposing a much larger surface to the action of frost than 
would ordinarily be the case, and at distances of thirty 
inches would be a deep drain, which would thoroughly 
carry off any surplus water that might otherwise remain 
on the surface. In addition to this, a sub-soil plow might 
be made to pass along each furrow to the depth of six or 
eight inches, which would still deepen the soil, and by 
mixing the sub-soil, thus tempered by frost and the at¬ 
mospheric influences, a consistency would be given to the 
whole surface acted upon, which would eminently fit it 
for the production of wheat or any other crops, with 
much less labor than would be required if the common 
method had been practiced. Sod thus broken, by the 
two surfaces being brought evenly together, will undergo 
a more perfect decomposition than by any other process. 
The furrows being so close together, and numerous, will 
prevent the soil washing to any extent, and when plowed 
crosswise in the spring, the work may be commenced 
much earlier than land not thus treated, and the whole 
will be reduced to the finest possible tilth. 
To prevent winter-killing of wheat, a fVesh inverted 
clover sod, turned up in narrow lands; a liberal seeding 
of about two bushels per acre; early sowing; and drilling 
in the seed in rows about nine inches asunder, are among 
the mose feasible plans we are prepared to recommend to 
the favorable attention of those who may attempt to grow 
this crop extensively on a prairie soil. Where the iand 
is properly prepared for the use of the drill, it will per¬ 
form an important office, such as no other implement 
could effect with so little cost. The plants being in rows, 
become stronger than if scattered promiscuously over the 
ground; the roots intertwine in each other so perfectly 
that the frost can not remove the one without the others 5 
the tops of plants form an umbrella covering, which pro¬ 
tects the roots from early and late frosts, and hence the 
crop will arrive at an earlier maturity; and the free cir¬ 
culation of air between the rows imparts a hard outer sur¬ 
face to the straw, which will naturally aid it to resist the 
attack of rust and fungus productions. Some, we are 
aware, will object to sowing two bushels of seed per acre 
on a rich prairie soil, but if the system of culture we have 
hastily submitted for public trial and criticism be tested, 
we pledge our word for it that in nine cases out* of ten 
the result will be highly favorable, and when the system 
becomes generally practiced, the cry of hard times will 
be among the things that were. Keokuck, Iowa , 
Oct., 1851, _ 
Get in wood for fuel before snow falls deep. See that 
animals are well sheltered. 
State Cattle Show at Baltimore. 
We are indebted to our friend Dr. G. B. Smith, of 
Baltimore, for the following notice of this show, which 
appears, from all accounts, to have been one of the best 
ever held in the country. 
Fourth Annual Cattle Show and Exhibition op 
the Maryland Ag. Society. —This great exhibition 
commenced on Tuesday the 21st of October, and closed 
on Friday evening the 24th. It was the most splendid 
affair that has ever taken place in this State, and ac¬ 
cording to the opinion of many good judges, superior to 
anything of the kind that has ever occurred in the United 
States. At all events it is difficult to conceive how, or 
in what point, it could have been surpassed anywhere. 
The writer of this has been familiar with such scenes for 
thirty years, in all parts of the country 5 and has care¬ 
fully read details of those in Europe, but, taken as a 
whole, he is free to say the Maryland display of 1851 was 
unrivalled. In only two points this affair did not equal 
some of the Northern shows: Beef Cattle and Visitors. 
The first was strangely neglected by the graziers within 
our jurisdiction,—who supply the best beef in the world, 
and to whom the Philadelphia and New-York victuallers 
are indebted for a very large portion of their best sup¬ 
plies. Even in this point, however, there was a good 
display, and even old John Bull could have supplied him¬ 
self with roasting pieces to his'jolly heart’s content. Of 
the second point, visitors , if the numbers compared with 
agricultural population be considered, it will be found 
that even in this view we carried off the palm triumphant¬ 
ly. Peculiar circumstances rendered the receipts at the 
gate small in proportion to the number of visitors. The 
ground and buildings are owned by a large number of 
stockholders, all of whom were entitled to free admission 
with their families, and to duplicate or transferable 
tickets in number according to the number of shares of 
stock held by them • and all members of the Society’and 
their families; and all exhibitors, servants and assistants, 
were entitled to free admission. It will be obvious that 
these free admissions embraced a very large portion of 
the attendants; and yet the receipts at the gate amounted 
to upwards of five thousand dollars for admission alone.. 
The friends of agriculture, therefore, may congratulate 
themselves on the rapid strides this great interest is taking 
in the improvements of the age. 
The grounds of the Society are located about two miles 
from the center of the city, and about one-fourth of a 
mile from its northern limits. They comprise about 
twenty acres, nearly in the form of a square. About 
three-fourths of the ground is clear of timber, and the 
balance handsomely covered with a grove of thrifty oaks. 
A large portion is a fine level, the rest a gentle elevation, 
on which the buildings are situated. The Society’s build¬ 
ings are, a large “Household Hall,” in the form of a 
cross, for the accommodation of all the various domestic 
fabrics of the farm-house, dairy, &c. A large ladies’ 
saloon, a large house for office use, a vegetable exhibition 
hall, &c., and five large refreshment houses. All the 
ground is enclosed with a high board fence, and the whole 
line of the fence inside is occupied by stalls and pens for 
cattle, horses, hogs, sheep, &c. There are nine hundred 
