254 WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
but on all smooth, mellow land, whether rows are to be made 
one way or both, I prefer a double hand-planter. A man who 
understands them, will put in ten acres per day. Jones’ 
planters are generally used here. They plant even and are 
durable. Myself and neighbor used one jointly for twelye 
years, besides being borrowed and used by others. The horse 
planter does good work, but does not make -the rows perfect 
both ways. The question naturally arises, Why is machine 
planting preferable to hand ? On land which needs under¬ 
draining, hand planting—and shallow at that—would be much 
the best; but upon all good, dry, natural com land, the rea¬ 
sons in favor of the planter are, that it takes only one-fourth 
the labor, plants deeper, and more evenly. The advantages of 
deep planting are, that the corn is more out of the way of 
gophers; never fails to come up however dry the weather may 
be, and if the seed is such as I have recommended, it will 
come up as soon as it becomes warm, however wet and cold it 
may have been previously, and it does not pull up in tilling 
and harrowing. Some years ago when planters were not as 
plenty as now, I was in a hurry to finish a lot and put in some 
of the field with the hoe, mixed along with the machine work. 
It came on very dry, and I estimate that I lost 200 bushels 
on account of the hoe planting failing to come up. 
However large the field, I would try by changing work or 
otherwise, to plant it all in one day, that it may come up 
evenly. The importance of its all coming up at the same time 
will more readily appear when we come to tilling. 
The brush is now to put on the finishing touch. It can be 
driven by a boy. It kills weeds and prevents gophers from dig¬ 
ging up hundreds of hills. In the absence of a brush, a harrow 
may do to follow after the planting. 
Tilling. —One great error in cultivating is in not working 
the ground soon enough after planting, and another in not 
working near enough to the hill the first time over. In my 
opinion the great secret of successful cultivation is in tak¬ 
ing the weeds out of the hill—which otherwise would take up 
