64 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
the Messrs. Pratts of Madison county, of 170 bushels per 
acre. What will be the nature of the emotion felt by 
every one who knew Judge Buel, towards the man who 
could make the reckless assertions quoted from “D.,” or 
what name shall be given to the assertions themselves? 
“D.” asks when it ever entered into the head of a 
man to plant corn 3 feet by 2J? I answer; corn is so 
planted every year in multitudes of instances at the North. 
1 planted it myself in that way last season.; and notwith¬ 
standing the severe drouth, got more than 60 bushels to 
the acre; and in the same way have frequently had from 
70 to 80 bushels per acre. 
The only mitigating circumstance in the paper of 
<£ D.” is to be derived from his evident ignorance. The 
man who does not know that Judge Buel long since de¬ 
scended to the grave, universally revered and lamented, 
cannot be expected to know much of the agriculture of 
the United States. The truth clearly is, ££ D.” knows 
nothing about the culture of corn at the North. He is 
ignorant of our soil, our climate, our varieties of corn, 
our methods of planting and cultivating; and he deems 
any deviation from the standard adopted on the worn out 
sand plains of his slate an impossibility. ££ D.,” I trust, 
is one of a number which is daily decreasing in that sec¬ 
tion of our couutry. It cannot be there are many plant¬ 
ers in the South who think that 28 bushels per acre of 
corn is enough, when that quantity may easily be dou¬ 
bled. The excellent journal from which I have quoted 
is proof to the contrary; and before the citizens of our 
broad country undertake to assert so dogmatically what 
can and what cannot be done in another part of it, a lit¬ 
tle acquaintance with facts, and the state of things there, 
would seem to be desirable. 
An Onondaga Farmer. 
Onondaga County, N. Y., 1842. 
POTATOE OATS. 
Editors of the Cultivator—I have been requested 
by several respectable gentlemen concerned in horses, 
to call the attention of farmers to the bad quality of po- 
tatoe oats for horse feed. They state that a very large 
portion of them pass through the animal undigested; so 
much so, that their horses began to decline very much 
in flesh while feeding on them before the cause was sus¬ 
pected. They say that the chaff covering the grain is so 
firm and impervious that digestion is impossible. I can¬ 
not agree with them in the cause of the evil, however 
correct they may be in their observation of the evil it- 
st'lf, which I of course do not doubt. We all know that 
all kinds of oats, as well as other grain, will pass through 
the horse unchanged, unless it be crushed by the teeth; 
as nature has provided all grain with a skin that the 
juices of the stomach cannot dissolve. If, therefore, 
more of the potatoe oats pass undigested than of other 
kinds, it must be because of their being more difficult to 
masticate. Whatever be the cause of the evil, however, 
the evil itself cannot be questioned; consequently, no 
one that keeps many horses here, or at least, no one that 
I have seen that pays proper attention to them, will now 
purchase potatoe oats at any price. I have consulted 
several, and they all concur in opinion. The purchasers 
of forage for the army horses here will not purchase 
them at all. I have therefore thought it advisable to 
caution farmers against their cultivation. 
Baltimore, Feb. 1, 1842. G. B. Smith. 
VALUE OF AGRICULTURAL PERIODICALS. 
The value of the sciences as applied to agriculture, 
the necessity of a more extensive diffusion of intelligence 
among farmers generally, and the importance of agricul¬ 
tural papers as a means of promoting an improved hus¬ 
bandry, are things so universally admitted by all whose 
opinions are worthy of notice, that we have long since 
ceased to occupy the pages of the Cultivator to any ex¬ 
tent, with papers relating to these topics, as they may be 
considered settled, and beyond argument. At the re¬ 
quest of a friend, however, we give place to the follow¬ 
ing extract relating to the subject before us. 
££ But methinks I hear some one say— £ I never thought 
there was much to be learned from books and papers 
about farming. Those that write on the subject know 
very little about it in my opinion. They are not prac¬ 
tical farmers; they never used a plow or hoe in their 
lives; their theories may appear well enough on paper, 
but you can never reduce them to practice. In fact, sir, 
I have not much opinion of book farming.’ But to such 
a one I would say—Friend, you are, I fear, prejudiced. 
Go and subscribe for the Cultivator one year, and my 
word for it, you will alter your mind; and if you don’t 
get the worth of your money, make the fact known to 
the publisher, and I am sure he will refund the same. 
An examination of the papers from some three or four 
hundred contributors, will show that a vast majority of 
the writers are practical farmers, and speak from their 
own personal knowledge. And not only to such an ob¬ 
jector would I say—subscribe for an agricultural paper, 
but I would say to all engaged in the business of farm¬ 
ing—go and do the same. Think not that you know all 
that is necessary to be known on the subject of agricul¬ 
ture. Seek to be successful, and eminent in your pro¬ 
fession. Look upon it as not only most pleasant and 
useful, but also most honorable. Make farmers of your 
sons. Imbue them with a love for rural pursuits. In 
short, use every means in your power to improve your¬ 
self in your profession, and elevate the standard of agri¬ 
culture throughout the land. 
“ West-Hartford, 1842. X.” 
A, a slat pierced through the dial plate to correspond 
with the division on the opposite side, of from 2 to 400 
lbs. traction. C, a drawer sliding under the dial, divided 
into cells corresponding with the pointer on the dial 
plate. B, a cup, containing about a cubic inch of sand 
in the form of the upper half of an hour glass, with a 
close cover. 
The working part of the instrument to be constructed 
in the usual form; its extreme action to be from 0 to 
500 lbs. upon a half circle. When prepared for opera¬ 
tion, the cup being filled, the pointer would stand at 0, 
and the cup at 500; the sand would consequently be re¬ 
tained until the resistance of the plow brings the sand 
cup to 200 or more, when it would continue to empty 
itself in the cells corresponding with the number of 
pounds draft exerted; like the hour glass, it would dis¬ 
charge itself in a given number of minutes. The drawer 
being taken out, the quantity of sand in the gradated 
cells would determine the average quantity of power 
expended. 
The trial should be made with the same team attached 
to all the plows to be tested, and upon the same descrip¬ 
tion of soil, and driven by one person, and at the same 
speed. - 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —I am far from being 
convinced that we have as yet arrived at the right form 
and construction of that most important of all farming 
implements—the plow. 
The Scotch plow or some of its congeners are, in my 
opinion, nearer the truth for greensward plowing than 
any other now in use; but their unwieldy form renders 
them objectionable to many of our countrymen, partly 
from prejudice, and partly from the stumpy and uneven 
surface of our newly reclaimed lands. 
There is but one form of the operative part, that is, 
strictly speaking, just and correct; and that form is the 
one that will 'perfectly invert the furrow with the least ex¬ 
pense of power. 
In passing through our farming country from Georgia 
to Maine, you can hardly find one form of plow to pre¬ 
vail for a greater distance than one day’s travel. Almost 
every community, especially if they happen to have a 
foundery in the neighborhood, have some form peculiar 
to themselves, and frequently of the most absurd and un- 
philosophical construction; and yet they all have their 
users and apologists, who will die in the last furrow to 
maintain that they are the best in the world, from igno¬ 
rance of better kinds, and from the esprit du corps of par¬ 
ticular communities. 
It strikes me that this important point can be settled 
without a very great exertion of personal attention or 
mechanical ingenuity. 
It is unfortunate that horses are not gifted with the 
powers of speech, or their owners would be better ad¬ 
vised on the subject of the variable draft of different 
plows. 
A span of horses will draw a body out of a well (by a 
rope traversing a pulley) weighing from 10 to 1400 
pounds. The power required to perform ordinary green¬ 
sward plowing varies from 250 to 400 pounds; a requir¬ 
ed power so much less than the power of the team, that 
the faulty construction is not so apparent to the driver as 
it would be if the rate of power was greater; conse¬ 
quently, a body of that weight descending into a well 
would cause the plow to perform its required task. 
The form of the plow should vary with the quality of the 
soil, the speed of the team, and the kind of work required 
to be performed. A tender clover ley requires a form 
of moldboard of slacker twist, or more elongation, than 
the firmer and more tenacious greenswards; and cross 
plowing may be performed with a short moldboard, that 
cannot do good greensward work. An ox team can do 
good work with a moldboard, that a quick team would 
entirely fail to perform; and I think it must be admitted 
that the best greensward plows are not the best for cross 
plowing. 
For more than 20 years past, my attention has been 
particularly called to the construction of the cast iron 
plow, from having been engaged in the foundery busi¬ 
ness; and having early introduced the article among the 
farming community, and during the existence of the 
former law patronizing agricultural societies, I con¬ 
structed a dynamometer for the use of the Saratoga socie¬ 
ty, where I then resided; from the trials of which, I be¬ 
came convinced of the difficulties in the way of settling 
with anything like accuracy, the different degrees of 
traction required to perform the process of plowing 
with the various articles experimented upon. 
The instrument being attached between the motive 
power and the resisting body, it has to be observed 
while in motion, and the variable resistance from roots, 
stones and inequality of surface, render the index so fluc¬ 
tuating that it is next to an impossibility to arrive at any 
satisfactory conclusion. It was remarkably exemplified 
at the trials at the slate fair at Syracuse, as the commit¬ 
tee engaged in that service will freely admit. 
Since I have had the honor to preside as the president 
of the Monroe County Society, I have been so repeatedly 
called upon to endorse the things of various constructions, 
that I am more and more impressed with the necessity 
of having some unerring test of their qualifications. 
At the suggestion of our friend Solon Robinson, (from 
whom I had the pleasure of a call on his return to his 
log cabin at the Far West,) my attention has been parti¬ 
cularly turned to the construction of of a self-registering 
dynamometer, that shall of itself give a true average 
final result of the required power to turn a given width 
and depth of furrow in any soil, with any speed, and with 
any plow. 
How I have succeeded you will be enabled to judge 
by the drawing (fig. 36,) I herewith inclose, with a de¬ 
scription of its construction and operation. If you think 
it deserving an engraving, you may thus dispose of it, 
or you may subject it to the examination of the principal 
officers of the institution, and other competent judges. 
L. B. Lang worthy. 
Hfindford’s Landing, Monroe Co., N. Y. 1842. 
ON EARLY HARVESTING OF WHEAT. 
I am much surprised to perceive that your correspon¬ 
dent, (John Hannam, Esq.) should claim the advantages 
gained by cutting wheat in a green state to be a recent 
discovery, for I remember hearing when I was a little 
boy, (say twenty-five years ago,) farmers speak of its 
being advantageous to cut wheat previous to the time of 
its having arrived at what some people call maturity; and 
I know, from personal observation, that in the East Rid¬ 
ing of Yorkshire and the North of Lincolnshire, as long 
as twenty years ago, a person allowing his wheat to 
stand until it was dead ripe, would have been considered 
to possess very antiquated notions of farming. I can, 
however, add my testimony to Mr. Ilannam’s that the 
practice of cutting wheat..in a raw state, is attended with 
a favorable result. The cause of my noticing this sud- 
ject, was to caution such of your readers as may adopt 
the practice of cutting wheat in the state recommendet.. 
against binding it in large sheaves, as in such a case - 
will infallibly mold in the center of them. I have 
known persons who have sustained great loss from this 
cause, and I have known others commit the great error 
of leaving it laid in the swath, by which means the sap 
contained in the straw is suddenly dried up, and the grain 
being thus deprived of its support, becomes lean and 
shriveled. The best plan is to form it into small sheaves 
as soon as it is cut, and be careful not to bind them so tight 
as to prevent the air taking effect upon them. 
I am, yours, &c., J. Harland. 
ON REARING CALVES. 
Messrs. Gaylord & Tucker —D. B. C., in the first 
number of ninth volume, wishes information on the 
treatment of calves for the butcher or for rearing. I 
do not say I know the best way; but from some experi¬ 
ence I can inform him of a good one: for the butcher, I 
let them take all the milk they will from the cow (and 
if one does not give enough I give them more) till they 
are five or six weeks old, keep them in a close dark 
place, clean and dry, and they never fail of being good. 
For rearing, I take them from the cow soon after they 
are dropped, and feed them new milk two oi three the 
first w r eeks. I then set my milk from morning till night, 
take off the cream, boil potatoes or beans and mash 
them fine, and put with the milk with very little salt. 
I feed them with that food till they are twelve or thir¬ 
teen weeks old, when I begin to wean them by reducing 
the quantity, at the same time put a trough in their pas¬ 
ture where I put dry oats, and they soon learn to eat 
them; one pint per day each through the summer. In 
the fall, or first of foddering time, I feed them that mess 
morning and evening. Through the winter, feed hay, 
corn fodder, oats in sheaf, and when the weather is not 
extremely cold, give them a few potatoes, carrots, or 
turneps, with plenty of clean water and salt, and be sure 
to protect them from all inclement weather. In the 
spring, I turn in pasture with other cattle—no extra 
care. My heifers never fail to come in at two years 
old as large as my neighbors’ are at three; be the feed 
what it will, feed plenty. If my cattle from any cause 
get troubled with lice, I have a remedy I have never 
seen in the Cultivator. I keep a box with fine dry sand 
in my barn, and if I discover any lice on them I put it 
on from back of the horns the whole length of their 
back a few times; it has never failed to effect a cure. 
It may be observed that cattle, or any animal that has 
free access to the ground, are seldom troubled with lice in 
summer. If you think the above remarks worth notice, 
they are yours. I have used many words to convey a 
few ideas, but I could not make them plainer with less. 
I have been for several years a careful reader of your 
paper, and surely I have derived much benefit from what 
I have learned from others’ experience. 
Glen's Falls, Feb. 14, 1842. Lewis Numan. 
