PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS OF AGRICULTURE. 11 



In regard to Pitt's machine, the Moniteur says — 



" Pitt's machine has therefore gained the honors of the day. This machine literally de- 

 vours the sheaves of wheat ; the eye cannot follow the work which is effected between the 

 entrance of the sheaves and the end of the operation. It is one of the greatest results which 

 it is possible to obtain. The impression which this spectacle produced upon the Arab chiefs 

 was profound." 



One interesting feature attending the recent great improvement in the construction and 

 operation of thrashers and winnowers has been pointed out by Mr. Allen, of the American 

 Agriculturist — that since the introduction of these machines some of the choicest varieties 

 of wheat have been extensively cultivated, which, previously, were so difficult of separation 

 by hand-thrashing, as to be excluded from the best wheat-growing districts. Machines of 

 this character are now in existence, which, when driven by a single horse, are capable of doing 

 the work of fifteen men. 



Among recent novel improvements in harvesters patented, are machines for cutting and 

 collecting corn-stalks, harvesting corn, cutting and pulling cotton and cotton-stalks. 



Numerous trials for the determination of the value of the various patent inventions for 

 reapers and mowers have been made in various parts of the country during the past summer. 

 The results, however, from the want of any fixed rules, have exhibited but little uniformity, 

 and are of slight practical value. To obviate this difficulty, a "scale of points" has been 

 prepared by Colonel Johnson, of New York, Dr. Elwyn, of Pennsylvania, and other eminent 

 agriculturists. This scale will be found in full, in the pages of the Year-Book. 



The trustees of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture have offered a high 

 reward for the best mowing machine that can be produced. The prize is $1000 to the maker 

 or exhibitor of the best mowing machine, to be awarded in 1856. 



To entitle any person to the premium, the machine, with full particulars of its principles 

 of construction, weight, and selling price, must be entered for competition with the trustees 

 on or before the first day of June, 1856. A general trial will be had of all the competing 

 machines, due notice of which will be given, together with all needful particulars, at the com- 

 mencement of the season of 1856. The trustees, in awarding the one thousand-dollar pre- 

 mium, will not confine themselves to the single trial which will be afforded to competitors to 

 exhibit the powers of their machines, but they will also take into account the merits of each 

 as displayed in competing for this year's premium and in its ordinary working, both for this 

 and the coming year, whenever and wherever an opportunity is afforded of seeing it in opera- 

 tion. All communications relative to the subject may be addressed to Thomas Motley, Jr., 

 Jamaica Plains, or R. S. Fay, Boston, Massachusetts. 



During the past year a company has been established at Newark, Ohio, for the purpose 

 of manufacturing, principally, portable steam-engines, to be used for various agricultural 

 purposes, such as thrashing, winnowing, shelling, and grinding corn, &c. These portable 

 engines, in time, must form an indispensable appurtenance of every large and well-regu- 

 lated farm. 



The whole number of reaping and mowing machines estimated to have been sold in the 

 United States during the past season is upwards of fifteen thousand, possessing a value of 

 §2,000,000. 



The following conclusion of a report on reaping and mowing machines, presented by one 

 of the county societies of Massachusetts, contains some suggestions relative to the introduc- 

 tion of machinery worthy of notice: "Substitute," it says, "machinery for human muscles 

 as far as possible. Save the expenditure of exhausting labor and hot sweat whenever you 

 can. 'In the doctrine of eternal hard work, your committee do not believe!' It has come 

 almost to this : we must cultivate our fields by machinery, or not at all. Help is scarce and 

 high, and, what is worse, is good for little or nothing when we get it. Irish help is next 

 door to no help at all. The chief problem is not how much they cost, but how much they 

 waste ! Hence, if we must have them, (and who has any other?) let us have as little as we 

 can. As fast as may be, let us introduce horse-rakes, and corn-planters, and mowing ma- 

 chines to our farms, or hold them as neighborhood property. Let us domesticate among 

 our farming tools a horse-power, a circular saw, a thrashing machine, and so on ; and thus 



