VOL. XXIV.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., MAY 18,1889.
NO. 20
Level Shallow Cultivation.
There has been a great change ln the
past few years In the method of cultiya
ting corn. The old shovel plow method
has given way to level and shallow cultivation, and the result has bean a marked
increased production. This improvement
is largely due to the agricultural colleges
and experiment stations, where the importance of level and shallow cultivation
haa been demonstrated. Upon this sub
ject, Prof. Sanborn, of the Missouri College, says: "Deep tillage in time of drouth
is an erroneous practice founded on erron
eous views. Oar double shovel plow
works too deeply, our true policy in
drouth for corn Is frequent shallow tillage.
From my experience I do not hesitate to
emphatically advise level and shallow cul
tivation for corn."
, The last bulletin of the Illinois Agri
cultural Station at Champaign, contains
the record of some comprehensive experiments in this direction which maybe read
by any of our readers who care to apply
to Prof. Morrow for a copy. The sum
mary of the results obtained by a test of
corn grown on plats, both root, pruned
and shallow cultivated, shows that root
pruning gave no benefit to the crop what
ever. Bat there is a still more important
point which may be advanced in favor of
shallow cultivating implements for corn,
and the system they represent. Prof.
Hays, of the Minnesota Experiment Station says in hia January-bulletin that the
spread of corn roots is very considerably
lessened, and the area of sacking cells—
the number of feeding mouths—diminished by deep culture. In short, surface
culture in the best possible manner aids
the corn plant to develop its feeding roots
and more perfectly assimilate the plant
food in the soil. Another point: the surface cultivator is much less dangerous in
the hand of young corn tenders. The old
fashioned cultivator, plowing deep, destroyed an immense number of strong,
healthy plants, and cut many of the brace
roots—or horizontal roots—"in cleaning
but the hills." The demand of the times,
according to ProfsssorHays,is"cultlvato*rs
which combine all the good qualities without the fault of going too deep, and can
we construct one that will do the work
well? The desideratum is a two-horse
implement which will oultivate thoroughly yet not go so deeply. One that will cut
all the weeds between the rows and cover
those in the hill; that is 'easy to handle'
and scours well; that can be easily kept
in order; and that will leave a 'dust
blanket' or 'dirt mulch' two to four
Inohes thick entirely across the space between the rows.'
Numberless devices have been tried to
take the place of the shovel, but nothing
handles the ground with as little resistance for the work done or will work in all
kinds and conditions of ground. But the
trouble has been that in the ordinary cultivator there is not enough of them to cut
all the ground, and a part of the weeds are
only covered, the growth of the topis
checked, but the roots remain, and in our
rich Western soils they spring up as soon
as the cultivator stops and the corn fields
are fall of them ia the fall; they go to
seed and the ground becomes more foul
every year. If moro shovels are used with
the ordinary standard the trash soon clogs
them up.
■ The Albion (Fig. 1) seems to have solved
the difficulty. "The teeth," write the
manufacturers, "are made of spring steel,
stiff enough, so they will hold their position in hard ground, but their constant
vibrating loosens the trash that may catch
on them, and keeps it working through,
Where a rigid standard would hold it and
soon load up. With this, five teeth on a
Bide can be used in place of two, as ordinarily; these cut every inoh of the ground,
tearing every weed ont by the roots, and
the spring motion throws them to the
surface where the sun kills them. As the
teeth cut all the ground and the points are
short they thoroughly stir the ground
when run shallow,  breaking any crust
ring the ground or killing the weeds. The
ground is also cut fine and left level so it
will hold the moisture. The small teeth
can be run close to the hill, cutting the
weeds out and killing them instead of cov-
FI0.-1.—jTK_C-AIjB1ON spkinq tooth cultivator, manufactured BT THE ALBION man
TJPACTUBIJSro CO., ALBION, MICH,
which the rains may have formed, killing
every weed, and yet, as shown in Fig. 1,
do not disturb the roots, while If the long
pointed shovel was run shallow enough to
not interfere with the roots it would only
Fig. 2 shows how the ordinary shovels tear corn  roots
.iPCeS.   and ia frnm aprt, ra,A    TTKJa.iiraman,    mBrfatw    \f>*   W<
rig. a -jiowbdow me ordinary snoveis tear corn  roots
Sioees, and is Irom accurate measurement made by  Mr. Wm
lays, of the Iowa State Agricultural College live waefcs aft.r
the corn waj> planted.   Oo theleltls shown tin Albion Spring
nn,,,   jmJJtni. nil ..... ......._,.  .....J .  JI.i ■_. ._._ ._ J*
-_,c «_uiu *.»■. pmovru.   uo ine leuis soown tn-s Aioion e
Tooth cutting all the ground without disturbing the rools,
FIQ. 3.
lxake a "V" shaped trough, neither stir-
ering them, thus the oorn gets the whole
strength of the soil that the weeds use up;
the roots are not injured, the ground is
left level and cut fine, and the result is a
heavier increase in the crop. Again, corn
will mature fully two weeks
earlier if the roots are not disturbed, as every time they are cut
offit retards the growth. This
two weeks In a season of early
frosts often saves the entire crop.
The advantages of this system of
cultivation are too apparent to
need argument, and iu the Eist
this style of cultivation is rap-
Idly displacing the old shovel
cultivator; but in the West they
have met the serious difflaulty of
not scouring in our sticky soil.
The Albion has at last overcome
this with a tooth (see figure 3)
which combines the narrow
shovel with the spring standard,
retaining all the advantages of
the latter, and scouring as well
as the best shovel cultivators.
It also has a first-class broadcast
force feed seeder, which can be
attached and the grain can be
sown at the same time theground
is fitted, saving all the labor and
expense of sowing with the ordinary broadcast sower, and does
the work as well as the finest
hoe seeder.
Many of our readera already have them
and their letters are enthusiastic, as they
find the yield of corn is heavily increased
Ssth Cole, of Back Creek, Tippecanoe
county, says he tried it with a shovel cultivator and had 30 bushels more to the
acre when he used the Albion. We might
give many more, did space permit, bat the
following, from our own university, will
suffi 3e. Prof. W. C. Latta, of Purdue University, says: .
"We have used the Albion for two years
on the college farm and it has given excellent satisfaction. It is a first-class harrow, and as a oorn cultivator is not surpassed by anything we have tried. It
leaves the ground very nearly level and
completely breaks up the entire surface
and is far superior to the oorn plows in
common use.' It is also a good broadcast
seeder, distributing the seed regularly and
covering it at the same time."
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
OUB FEATHERED FHIEND8 OF INDIANA—No. 2.
A Brief Bird Census.
by w. s. B.
Having found out "what a bird is," we
will now turn our attention tothe number
birds occurring in Indiana in the course
of a year.
About 8,000 kinds of birds are known
to naturalists. O (these, about 875 are residents of, or regularly visit North America. 560 of them are known to occur in the
Mississippi valley, and during the past five
years several hundred persons have been
Btudying, more closely than ever before,
the movements, and as far as possible, the
dally life of these species.
No complete list of the birds of Indiana
has been published, but lists of those occurring in Ohio and Illinois, have been ,
prepared, and from them we can estimate
very nearly the number of birds in our
State. In volume IV of the Ohio Geological Survey, published in 1882, Dr. J. M.
Wheaton, of Columbus, describes 298 species, known to occur In that State; while
Mr. Ridgeway In a Ust published in 1881,
enumerates 352 species as occurring in Illinois. Therefore, we are safe in assuming over 300, possibly S25 kinds as being
found in Indiana within a year.
Several lists of the birds noticed in certain counties ot this State have been published front "ttme to "'time.   Perhaps' the
most complete of  any of  these is that of
Mr. A. W. Butler, of Brookville, Franklin
county, who names 233 species as having
been seen  in his county; and in almost
any county of the State 200 kinds maybe
detected in  the  course of  two or three
years, if a person learns  to use his eyes
and ears to the best advantage. This large
number Is, I have no doubt, a surprise to
many of my readers,who if they had been
asked to estimate the number of birds occurring  on   thoir farms  within  a year
would have answered 35 or 40.   Many of
them know nothing of that great number
of grosbeaks, warblers, vireos, etc., which
twice each year sweep along in one grand
army filling tbeir orchards and woodlands
with their joy ful songs and brilliant hues.
Dr. Wheaton observed in his garden, a
lot 187x75 feet in the central part of Columbus, Ohio, no less than 101 different
kinds of birds, besides seeing 12 additional
species fly over without alighting—all
these in the space of eight years. If so
many were noticed in a densely populated city, how many more should be seen
In the open country with its meadows and
streams, its thickets and woodlands? The
birds are there, but the trained, observing
eye necessary to detect them and note
their habits is too often wanting.
Terre Haute.
The last quarterly report of the Kansas ■
State Board of Agriculture is not only interesting but' quite valuable. It contains
a summary of reports of correspondents
on condition of crops, fruit, live stock,
etc.; papers contributed on various subjects; proceedings of State D___rymen's
Association, etc. Oae of its best features
is the amount of space given to the illustrations of the native grasses, about 40
pages being devoted to these cuts. M.
Mohler, of Topeka, is the secretary of the
Board.
Gov. Hovey has appointed Prof. Collett
State Geologist.    Prof. Collett held this
position four years ago and gave such general satisfaction that we are glad to see
him reinstated.   He has the experience,
judgment,   patriotism and enthusiasm
necessary to give to this important depart-'
ment the greatest efficiency possible.   He,
has appointed S. T. Yanoy, of Fortville
State Oil Inspector, and Thomas Tilson, of'
Peters-burg, State Mine Inspector. ;