Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-08-20
Aorituilural.



and more in favor with every intelligent
farmer They are looking upon II with |
more favor, and beginning 10 inguire where |
the tools may be had with which the work
may be performed. In conversing with a
very observant farmer, on the subject, a few
days since, he Observed that so far as his ex-
perience went the average depth Of plow-
ing throughout the State, and certainly in
his neiehborhood, seldom averaged more
than six inches in depth, sometimes seven,
but the latter depth was exceptional He
was convinced, also, by actual experience
Of his own, that even on grayelly loan soils,
the subsoil became SO indurated and packed
by the trampling Of the team and the pressure
of the plow against IL, that after few
plowings the crust thus formed was not
only imrervious to the atmospheric infu-
euce, but he has found 1t also to become as
late and cold es stiff clay, for the surface
water was held by IL, and did not pass off
readily in the spring. For these reasons he
had almost came to the determination to try
the effects of the subsoil plow.
II must be borne in mind that the work of
subsoiling is not TO be done each year, but
that its necessity is only felt once in the
rotation. For instance q field is ALLOWED for
a wheat crop, the wheat to be followed by
clover, the clover by wheat, and the wheat
BY grass for hay, for four years; we have the
whole expense Of subsoiling spread over a
series OF six or seven years, during which the
successive crops get the benefit Of the sub
soiling process. ..r t....4. .i,--,.......-l
When this work has been carried ont In
connection with draining. il has more than
doubled the value Of the land, and the best of
TINS is not only in the superior value of the
crop, but also in the increased rent charged
for land which has been once made to pro-
duce by the mere work which has been cx-
pended in deepening the soil. In fact, the
deepening Of the soil is the same to the far
mer as the increasing bank capitalof the mer-
chant; II fncilitates every operation that Is
carried on, and gives the command of more
land; thar very land it renders more pro-
ductive, because il renders it earlier, 80 that
every crop which is sown or planted gets
the benefit of the whole growing season.
The land, with an increased depth Of worked
soil, being more susceptible to the influence
of heat and proving to be warmer as well as
drier, and this point alone in our short
seasons, is not to be too highly estimated.
Henry Stephens gives accounts of the
results OF deep culture undertaken on the
estate of the Marquis of Tweedale, one of
the distinguished Scottish agrieulturists,
in whole series of fields, but we extract
but one as an example, He says: "The
Long Bents field contained sixteen acres, of
sandy clay soil and subsoil; it was in oats
in lS48, and produced at the rate of thirty
seven bushels to the acre; in 1919 il was
bare-fallowed and SUBSIDIZED; in 1850 it
yielded thirty-one bushels of wheat to the
acre. In 1851 and 1852 it was in grass, but
the next spring it was plowed to the depth
OF fifteen inches with the Tweedale plow,
and produced six and one-fourth bushels OF
oats to the acre." From this single example
we may easily draw the inference that if
deep culture has such an effect in the moist
cool climate of Scotland in ours, where
vegetation has the benefit of a dryer and
warmer temperature, and, under ordinary
circumstances, comes forward so rapidly, ii
would be found equally as profitable.
TIE BEST AND MosT ErFRorUAL MoDE OF
USING THE SHovEL.-In the Young Farmers
Manual are some remarks on this subject of
interest to our laboring friends. The writer
thinks steel shovel better than an iron one,
and that much depends on the proper hang
of the blade and handle. Shovels are often
made far heavier than need be:
In using shovel all the force which q
laborer exerts sho uld be turned to the most
efficient purpose. II requires but little force
to shovel tun of earth when man handles
a good shovel with dexterity; but if a la
borer must bend his legs and back very
much in order to bring his shovel in the best
position to enter the substance to be show
eled with the least force, the fatigue pro-
duced by bringing his body into such
position and Strengthening up again, will be
greater than that caused by thrusting in the
shovel and lifting a shovel. For this reason
it is very poor policy for laborer to use
shovel with short handle, like a handle of
a spade, for shoveling any length of time,
because it is very laborious and fatiguing.
A man may shovel with short handle for
an hour OF so as fast as he would with long
handle, aud not discover any difference in
the fatigue produced or force expended but
let him continue to use shovel with short
handle all day, and If he does an honest
days work--unless his powers of endurance
are very great-he viii pronounce shoveling
very laborious business. In shoveling dirt
or manure with short-handled shovel, the
operator usually places the hand which holds
the hilt of the shovel against the inside of
one thigh, and bends his knee and body
forward, and in this position-by no means
an easy one-thrusts in the shovel. The
simple act OF bringing the body into such
position, and bringing IL again erect, will
require the expenditure of more force than 1
the shoveling alone. ,a- .s.- --- W. Il
In order to shovel with the least fatigue
laborer needs to stand almost erect, with his
back straight and knees bent but little; and
then, with the handle resting across one
knee the shovel is thrust into the dirt by
forward motion of the body; and, by straigh
ening the knees and keeping the arms stiff
with the shovel across the knee, che shovel
full is lifted a few inches with the least pos
sible fatigue. Them by making fiilcrtim Of
the knee across which the handle is resting
by thrusting the upper end of the handle
down with one hand, the shovelful may be
raised nearly foot high with the greatest
ease. II must then Q lifted by the arms.
But q mans back should be always kept
straight in shoveling, as he viii be able TO
work much longer and with less fatigue than
would be possible when he Is constantly
bending and Strengthening his back. The
knees should always perform the most labor
ious part in shoveling dirt, and the arms
should be kept as closely to the body as con-
venient. -t 2r
PREVENTION OF SxIPPEns rs HANs,--In a
communication to the Cotton Planter, Mr..
W. MELVILLE says;-"There is, according to
my experience, nothing easier to avoid the
skipper and all worms and bugs that usually
infest and often destroy so much bacon, II
is simply TO keep your smoke-house dark,
aud the moth that deposits the egg viii never
enter it. For the past twenty-five years
have attended 10 this, and never have had
my bacon troubled with any insect. have
now hanging in my smoke-house, hams one,
two and three years old, and the Oldest are
as free from insects as when first hung up.
am not aware of other causes for the ex-
emptiOn of my bacon from insects, but simply
the fact that my smoke-house is always kept
dark. Before adopting this plan, had tried